Inside Trinity church...We're back from the big city. What a place! We blew into Manhattan on Wednesday at lunch time and checked into our hotel. We were at the Crowne Plaza in Times Square! Gorgeous hotel. The entrance was next door to the Hershey's store and right across the street from M&M World!! Our rooms were on the 37th floor overlooking Broadway. At night, from our window we could see the Mama Mimi marquis all lit up with about 8 limousines parked and waiting for the show to end. I wonder who they were waiting for. The staff was awesome, friendly, helpful, accommodating - perfect! Two thumbs up.
After dropping off our luggage we hit the streets in search of lunch. We were determined to avoid chain restaurants. We opted instead for side street delis. There was one a block from our hotel and they served everything from wraps and hot entrees to pastries and burgers. YUM! We found a couple of different delis for breakfast and lunch the next day also! It's amazing how good the food is there! Sometimes we'd pass by a cart selling food on the sidewalk and the aroma would practically pull us over to check it out! We didn't buy anything from the carts though - I like my food servers to have access to running water - calling me crazy. For dinner Wednesday night we did go to a chain restaurant - Planet Hollywood. So yummy.
After lunch we boarded the subway headed to the Staten Island Ferry and the World Trade Center site. The subway was incredibly easy to use and the trip there and back was uneventful. The ferry ride was a bit chilly and it did start to rain on the way back but the Statue of Liberty is beautiful no matter what the weather. Finding the WTC site was a bit tricky but with the help of a few kind New Yorkers we got there. It was intense. To think of what happened there - to pass the fire house located directly across the street from the site - to watch other visitors' faces as they process it all too -- it was powerful. Some day there may be a memorial called the Freedom Tower built on the site - maybe. I guess it wasn't about what we saw so much as what we thought about as we stood there and looked around imagining the horror of that day. Wow.
From there we headed back uptown for some Times Square shopping, dinner, more shopping and finally BED!Thursday we went to the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. Very cool! I have some really cool pictures of the view from there. We also sat in on a Catholic Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. What an amazing building - the architecture is so beautiful, the stained glass windows so ornate. I don't think Katie and Michayla really knew what to make of it all. After that we made our way to Herald Square and browsed around Macy's for a bit. More shopping, more walking, and then finally back to Times Square to get ready to come home.
Thursday also included meeting some very interesting, very kind New Yorkers. First there was Marco - a veteran who sells sunglasses on Fifth Avenue. He turned 40 yesterday and we sang to him. He's been to combat three times and is hoping to reenlist again. Nice man. So dedicated to serving our country. Then there was Rich - an aspiring Hip Hop artist. He's been to college, loves basketball, and follows politics. He's also very charismatic. It was neat how just chatting with these guys was fun and interesting.
I also realized how blessed I am to have the mother and mother in law that I do. They are so different from each other. But one area they are very much the same is in their desire to tell others about Jesus. My mother is a strong witness for Christ wherever she goes and is ready when an opportunity to share what Jesus did for us comes up. My mother in law is bold and unafraid to talk to strangers about how they can go to heaven one day. Yesterday she handed out tracts to Marco, and Rich, and a man named Chevrus. Rich said he knew all about being saved but Marco and Chevrus were so open and ready to have Jesus in their lives. It was really cool. God is good.
