Going to the Chapel....

OK - it wasn't a chapel, it was a HUGE Cathedral! We decided to go to church at The Cathedral of St John the Divine. It was absolutely gorgeous, inside and out. It is the largest Gothic-style cathedral in the world. It was built in 1892 but is only two-thirds complete. The nave is 600 feet long and will hold 5,000 worshippers! The service was very nice. I don't think I've ever attended a Presbyterian service. It lasted an hour and a half.

This picture doesn't begin to do the building justice. It's too big to even get the whole thing in the picture!

This picture was taken from the side.

After the service we headed down to Riverside Park on the Hudson River. It was pretty warm here today - 82 degrees and people were all over the place. We saw one group in swim suits and bikinis lying on blankets, soaking up the sun. It was nice to see families out walking together with babies in strollers, lots of dog walkers and bike riders. There was a real nice soccer field down there too with astroturf and a skateboard park. Then we decided to head up to Central Park and find a street vendor selling hot dogs. You can't come to NYC and not buy a hot dog from them! To make a long story short, there weren't any in the area we were in so we just kept walking.

Can you imagine a city with millions of people that you can find a place that looks like this? The next picture was taken in the North Woods area of Central Park. You know Conrad thought he was in seventh heaven! But, it was a little too warm for him to go stomping off through the woods, carrying the camera bag! But, we may do that one day if it cools off and I'm sure it will!

This next picture is taken at Harlem Meer in Central Park. It is the third largest body of water in the park. There were people fishing here. You can catch and release here. You can see a lot of scum on top of the water at the upper end. It was beautiful though and there were also lots of families hanging out here too.
Finally, about 3:00, we found the hot dog guy! I thought I was going to starve!! We decided we were so tired and would head back early. We had spotted a grocery store and decided to stop there before heading back. The closest one to us is not much of a store. We looked around, picked up necessities and headed for the subway. From this end of the park, it takes an hour by subway to get back to Brooklyn.

I guess I forgot to mention the reason we were so tired is that is was a noisy night in the neighborhood. The bar behind us was pretty quiet last night but people were out on the street partying since it was such a warm night. We heard a big cuss fight outside our apartment. Then about 11:00, the person upstairs came home with friends and they were sort of noisy. We heard sirens almost constantly from about 9:00 until midnight. We don't know what was going on but do know that one of the police precincts is about 3 blocks from us. So, tonight will be an early night for us. We still need to decide what to do tomorrow. We talked about going to the Columbus Day parade but found out it is about a 35 block parade and a million or so spectators usually attend. Too many people for us so we'll find something fun to do.

One of my favorite things to do on the subway is to shut my eyes (you don't want to make eye contact anyway) and just listen. There are so many different languages being spoken. I saw my favorite sign there again for a mini-storage company. It said "In my father's house are many rooms. (John 14:2) Under that it says "Obviously, Jesus wasn't a New Yorker!" I'm also making a list of stuff we see people bringing on the subway. Today a girl was carrying a half gallon jug of orange juice. And, watch some woman sit down and open her purse/bag......you should see what all they pull out! It's sort of like those clowns coming out of a Volkswagon!!

So, it was a short day today. We ONLY walked 7 miles today! It was really too warm to do much. We only have cool weather clothes. If it stays like this, we may need to go shopping!

Until tomorrow........

Conrad and Linda