Farewell New York!

For our final day in the city, we decided to visit the Manhattan Temple.

As a side note, I felt much less touristy wearing a skirt. I was
surprised that most women here wear dresses or skirts. I'm sure that
part of it was an effort to beat the heat, but it was mainly tourists
and teenagers wearing shorts or capris.

The temple was peaceful and beautiful. It is decorated with a nature
theme reminiscent of the Sacred Grove. Spending a few hours there was
a lovely was a lovely way to end our trip.

John and I feel very blessed to have been able to spend so much time
together over the past 2 weeks.

PS It is 105 here today. I can't wait to get back home to paradise!

Day Four in NYC

We headed downtown today in hopes of a concert at Trinity Church, but
they had changed the schedule. We decided to stay for the Eucharist
service. We enjoyed the stained glass windows, the organ music and
the air conditioning!

Then we walked up the street to St. Paul's Church. This was the church
that housed and fed the rescue workers after 9/11. It has become a
sort of memorial to them. Both churches have lovely old cemeteries
that are great to stroll through (especially on a cooler day!)

Next we lost our mind and decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
The walk is actually quite picturesque and I highly recommend it if
the temperature isn't 98. That may not sound very hot, but remember
how humid it gets in NY. I had to keep taking off my sunglasses to
wipe away the sweat.

We cooled off with a late lunch and then went to the financial
district to meet up with my brother Scott. He gave us the grand tour
inside and out of his building including a bird's eye view of the
construction at ground zero. We enjoyed a gelato before he headed
back to work.

Thanks to Scott's directions we found our way to the ferry and rode
over to Staten Island. Two buses and a meltdown (mine unfortunately)
later we arrived at a lovely park where we listened to an amazing
performance by some of the Metropolitan Opera's finest singers.

On the ferry ride back we had gorgeous views of the Statue of Liberty
and the city skyline.

It was getting late so we headed back to our hotel. The only place to
eat nearby was an Irish pub that came highly recommended by our
shuttle driver. I was skeptical as we walked down the dark street and
into the pub, but we were greeted with a real Irish accent. The food
was the real deal too! It was the perfect ending to our very hot and
sticky day.

Day Three in New York

1. The train near our hotel is above ground and the station is old and
grimy , but it has gorgeous stained glass windows!

2. The Guggenheim museum is an amazing structure. We walked around the
giant spiral and saw everything. I love smaller museums because it is
possible to see it all!

3. We had a delicious lunch at a local deli. It was pricey ($7 for a
small frozen yogurt) and packed with locals.

4. Our last ditch effort to get tickets to a Shakespeare play failed.
I'm really disappointed.

5. We took a walk through Central Park and saw lots of kids with their nannies.

6. The New York Public library is incredible! We said hello to the
lions on the way in and headed up to the reading room. It was quiet
and cool. Ahhh! John found us some great books to read. His was
about death-bed quotes!

We also saw some amazing works on display: the Guttenberg bible, a
quarto of King Lear and a copy of the Star Spangled banner from 1814.

7. Just around the corner at Bryant Park we enjoyed an outdoor
concert. Thankfully it had cooled off a bit.

8. Dinner was at a chic and trendy Thai restaurant. Although we are
neither chic, nor trendy, the food was fantastic!

Day Two in New York City

The only craziness today was the heat. Thank goodness we spent most of
the day inside at the Museum of Modern Art. I was in heaven looking at
all the amazing art by Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Dali,
Matisse, Mondrian and others.

The MoMA has a lovely sculpture garden where I saw this piece by Joan
Miro. This is the view from the back so you can see the garden too.

In the evening we went to see Mamma Mia. I'm glad we only paid half
price, because I felt like we only got half a show. The music was
great, but the play was mediocre. Actually, the best part of the show
was the 3 song "concert" after the final bows.

I recommend getting the soundtrack or listening to ABBA's greatest hits.

After the show we made our way through Times Square. The crowds and
lights kind of stress me out, but it was fun to go and especially to
see the huge billboard for mormon.org

Day One in New York

We survived the crazy people in the subway station, found our hotel
and had a fabulous dinner at an Italian restaurant in SoHo. John had a
salad that had squid and octopus in it and he loved it.

The best part of dinner was being with my brother Scott who works in Manhattan. Thanks for a great evening Scott!

Excuses

Dear Blog,

I know I haven't spent much time with you lately.

I've been spending time with my sweetheart, touring the rainforest,
strolling on the beach, eating fancy desserts nearly every night,
exploring Old San Juan and enjoying views like this.

Talk to you soon!

Love,
Melanie

After nearly 4 weeks of waiting . . .

Aaron has received his mission call!


He has been called to labor in the Canada Toronto Mission. He reports to the MTC in Provo on October 19th and will be speaking Korean!

아론 축하

(Congratulations Aaron!)

It looks like David was the closest with his guess of New York since New York borders the mission.  Let me know what type of gift card you want David.