Phyllis and Jerry---NY Tourists
The “tourist” side of the trip was fantastic. We had a week’s subway pass, and used the system with ease. I only had one time that I went “downtown” instead of “uptown” and it was some several stops, and about 15 minutes before I realized “Hey, we’re going the wrong way!” (That was on the first day, about the 4th or 5th time we were on the subways, so it was to be expected..) Jerry was a good sport about that, just when I realized we were going the wrong way (they said something about Canal Street, which I then realized was in Little Italy, which was way south in Manhanttan), the doors shut, and the next stop was some distance over the river between Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was one of the crossings, though, that is above ground rather than under the water, so Jerry said “Well, we get to see the Brooklyn Bridge and we’ll know where to go tomorrow!” as we were going to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge the next day. He’s a good guy, always seeing the silver lining!
We spent Saturday going to Times Square, Mood Fabric (home of Project Runway, one of my favorite shows, which started up their new season last week!), Central Park, Macy’s, and just acclimating to New York in general.
Sunday our group worshiped at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. It was a great service, and the message was about God’s plan for your life (it’s like they would have known our group was there, but obviously they didn’t, I guess God knew we would be there and the message would be so pertinent!). That afternoon Jerry and went to Brooklyn, walked across the Brooklyn bridge (and you are walking in the middle, above traffic—really different!), and then went to southern Manhattan, to Battery Park where we saw the Statue of Liberty. We didn’t go to Ground Zero, as it is being reconstructed and at present is a construction site with a large fence surrounding it.
During the other “off” times in New York we went to Times Square at night. What a crush of people! I couldn’t believe the number of people there at 11:30 on a Wednesday night—and the stores that were open until midnight or 2 a.m. But I guess since we were there shopping, I’m sure everyone else was doing the same. We went by the Port Authority, which has the statue of Jackie Gleason as Ralph from the Honeymooners (I always find the odd things to look at in cities!). We went by Madison Square Gardens. One day I would love to see the Westminster Dog Show live, at least now I know where it will be! Since our free time was limited and we wanted to get as much an overview of the city itself, we didn’t take the time to go into any museums. There were so many that I would love to see the next time we are in New York. And yes, both Jerry and I would love to have a “next time.”
Part of our group who were still in town after the missions event went to a daytime Yankees game on Thursday (they played the Brewers and won). The stadium was really nice - high-end kind of place, not the ballparks I remember going to A’s and Giant’s games (though those have probably changed a bunch as well).
We spent Saturday going to Times Square, Mood Fabric (home of Project Runway, one of my favorite shows, which started up their new season last week!), Central Park, Macy’s, and just acclimating to New York in general.
Sunday our group worshiped at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. It was a great service, and the message was about God’s plan for your life (it’s like they would have known our group was there, but obviously they didn’t, I guess God knew we would be there and the message would be so pertinent!). That afternoon Jerry and went to Brooklyn, walked across the Brooklyn bridge (and you are walking in the middle, above traffic—really different!), and then went to southern Manhattan, to Battery Park where we saw the Statue of Liberty. We didn’t go to Ground Zero, as it is being reconstructed and at present is a construction site with a large fence surrounding it.
During the other “off” times in New York we went to Times Square at night. What a crush of people! I couldn’t believe the number of people there at 11:30 on a Wednesday night—and the stores that were open until midnight or 2 a.m. But I guess since we were there shopping, I’m sure everyone else was doing the same. We went by the Port Authority, which has the statue of Jackie Gleason as Ralph from the Honeymooners (I always find the odd things to look at in cities!). We went by Madison Square Gardens. One day I would love to see the Westminster Dog Show live, at least now I know where it will be! Since our free time was limited and we wanted to get as much an overview of the city itself, we didn’t take the time to go into any museums. There were so many that I would love to see the next time we are in New York. And yes, both Jerry and I would love to have a “next time.”
Part of our group who were still in town after the missions event went to a daytime Yankees game on Thursday (they played the Brewers and won). The stadium was really nice - high-end kind of place, not the ballparks I remember going to A’s and Giant’s games (though those have probably changed a bunch as well).
The last morning we were there, we went to Kleinfelds (the store for "Say Yes to the Dress" which Jerry describes as a bunch of women trying on clothes). I was surprised by the fact that it was small (we didn't go inside as it wasn't open yet), they only have two shop windows on the block where it is located. We walked around the Chelsea area and went to Grand Central Station. Now every time we see it on a TV show both Jerry and I say "We Were There!" out loud (Jeter, our cat, gives us a look like "you both are crazy" when we do that).
All in all, we loved New York, we want to go back. We both thought the people were much more friendly and nice than we anticipated, and the city was a lot cleaner and felt safer than we had thought it would be (especially the subway system). Except for the fact that you have to walk a whole bunch, especially up and down stairs (Jerry logged 60 miles on his pedometer the week we were there), I could almost see myself living there well into my old age.....
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