New York City, NY

On Wednesday, I took the Amtrak down to Penn Station in NYC. I was going to meet my friend Andy, who was staying out on Long Island for some work to help him train to teach some high school classes. God's timing worked perfectly on this one because I had no place to stay in New York and the cheapest hotel cost a little more than I had, so it was great that he had a place for me to stay in his hotel. I took the Long Island Rail Road out to his place and we had a good reunion over a meal. It has been a little too long since I have seen him. He was the last one of the four of us who were climbing the mountain 3 summers ago that I had yet to see. It has been pretty important to me to see Lucas, Caleb, and Andy again because we have a special connection that not too many friendships have.

On Thursday morning, Andy had to go into his training early, so he dropped me off at the train to ride into the city. My plan was to spend the day wondering around the city and I was going to come back at night to Long Island.

I got off at Penn Station and took the Subway down to lower Manhatten because I wanted to walk around where my Mom lived when she lived in the city for a few months back in the day. I had breakfast at our favorite bagel place and walked over to the September 11th memorial to see what that was like. Last time I was in the city, there were only a couple holes in the ground so in a few years, I saw that they had done some good work. The Freedom Tower was amazing as well.

I walked through Battery Park and was able to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island far off in the distance.

I walked up towards Wall St and saw the New York Stock Exchange and the area where President George Washington gave his inauguration speech as he was sworn in as the first president.

Close by was the restaurant the chef, tv show host, and author Anthony Bourdain was the executive chef at for many years so I had to walk by because I think he is a pretty crazy man.

I continued walking around and found an old church that was close by my Mom's apartment. Just to see how it would feel, I wanted to go in and sit in a pew and pray. I didnt feel that the spirit was grabbing hold of me but I wanted to see how it felt to pray in a beautiful church. I basically came to the conclusion that it doesnt matter what the building looks like that you are in or where it is, when God wants you, he will grab hold of you. It was still a wonderful experience to go inside.

I continued doing some more walking around and made it over to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked over it to the Brooklyn side.

I walked back over through Chinatown and checked that place out and it was really cool to see how different of a culture it was over there. I continued to the Greenwich Village area, which has been my favorite area of the city because it is a little calmer and not as much bustling going on over there. I stopped in Washington Park and sat down in front of a bluegrass band that was playing. I just sat down for a while, listeing to the music and caught my breath for a few minutes.

I continued on the the village and I had to find Bedford and Grove Streets because that is the place that the Friends from the tv show lived, so I went there and found it. It is too bad that Central Perk is not a real place because I could have used some coffee from there.

I ventured over to the Chelsea Market area after that, after hearing about how big of a food mecca that place is from all of my college classes. I walked in and was in awe from how big it was. If you needed any type of food or spice or anything to consume, you could find it right there.

Because I am a sucker for a good donut, I found a place that served small homeade donuts with all sorts of wild flavors. I stopped there for a quick pick me up of donuts and a Dr Pepper.

I walked out of the market and saw a cool walking trail that was an old elevated train track that they converted into a walking trail.

Since I was getting close by, I began making my way to the tourist things uch as Times Square and Rockefeller Center. I stood in the herds of people and all of them were tourists just like me. There was a bit too much nonesense going on over there for me tro stay too long.

From there, I went up to Central Park to walk around for a little bit. I got there and was immediatley amazed at the size of the place. I thought it was so cool how so much nature could be placed in so much humanity. I really enjoyed picking a park bench and sitting there for a while before heading on back to Long Island.

That pretty much concluded my journeys to New York City this time around. Once I have a little more time, I will tell you some of my deep thoughts that took place in the past couple places I have vivsited.

Until then, make a positive impact.

Ryan