ANOTHER DAY IN NEW YORK (June 1st 2009)

We had our first meeting in NY yesterday and got to meet more brothers and sisters. There are so many different races in the congregations over here its wonderful but can be quite hard to understand some of the answers in the Watchtower because of the accents.

Our big plan for today was to take the subway from Queens into Manhattan, get off at Central Park, take a walk through Central Park then go to the Rockerfeller Centre and watch the day turn into night from the top of the building. This adventure started with the subway, well there in lies the first story!

We asked Rudy which subway to take and where to get off, bla bla bla. He gave us a subway map and told us get on the "A" train from Queens and get off at any of these stops here, pointing to the stops along Central Park. Sweet As we though to ourselves looks easy. Well it was, that’s the boring bit. The funny bit was this: We got up to the platform and bought our tickets no worries, we got on the right train, no worries we are riding the train mentally checking which stops had passed and how many there were to go until we had to get off. Pro’s we thought, no problems. Looking at the map we thought we should be able to get off at either the 86th or 96th street stop and we would come out right about half way up Central Park, giving us a nice walk through the park. Weeeeeeeeeeellllll yes and no. The train is whizzing past the stops and we look and see that we need to get off at the next stop, but then the train just goes straight past and doesn’t stop. We thought, okay, that was weird, but its okay we’ll just get off at the next one, 96th street. The train whizzes off again and this time, does not stop again! Now we’re thinking, this aint right. So trying not to look like kidnapped or should I say train napped tourists we quietly said to each other, we will just get off wherever the train stops next and walk back to Central Park. This we did, no problem at all. The next stop was 126th street. We got off here and walked purposefully through the streets in the general direction of Central Park. As we are walking we see some pretty rough house and some seedy looking people and think, hmm this is a pretty rough part of the city, but its not too bad. We keep walking and after about 4 blocks we find the entrance to Central Park. Yay, we made it! Whats funny???? Well, we’re walking through CP (Central Park) and find a sign/map which says "you are here" we’re looking at it, seeing where we should go next. While looking at this map we notice the area we got off the train in. Can you guess where our accidental subway stop was???????? It starts with an H and ends with an M and has an ARLE in the middle. What does that spell? HARLEM baby!!! Yes, we got of the subway on the depths of Harlem New York City!!!!!! Oh and lived to tell the tale! It was quite funny when we think back, as we got a couple of really strange looks from a couple of people and it was kinda a rough there and if I think about it there were only two white people in the whole neighborhood, ohhhhh that was us!! So funny. At one point we had to ring Rudy to tell him what time to expect us home and we told him we got out in Harlem and he yelled "WHAAAAAT, NOOOOOOOOO" into the phone, he he he. So. hmm, yes, that was our trip to Harlem!

Anyway, we walked for possibly two or more hours through CP and it was beautiful! From within the park you would have no idea you were in one of the biggest cities in the world unless you knew it. In most parts of the park you cannot see the skyscrapers at, occasionally they pop their heads out above the trees but not very often. The park is full in lakes, walkways in all directions, horses and carts to take you around if walking becomes too much for you. There are specially designed bike and runner paths for all those fit freaks and man they were busy. It was like a little highway just for them. If you wanted to cross the road at one of these areas you had to be very carful you weren’t run down! Within the park itself there are Museums, Zoos (the animals that escaped the zoo in Madagascar the movie, came from CP) circuses, playgrounds for kids, tennis courts, softball pitches and the list really does go on and on. The park is massive to say the least but absolutely stunning. It is really well looked after and a tribute to the city. Some parts of it you could tell must be where a number of homeless spend their nights as it would stink of urine, but for the most part it was great. Very safe, clean and tidy. Now that we are homeless too, you notice these things, I would sleep there for sure!

Finally, after hours of walking we made it to the end of CP. We had walked from 126th street all the way down to 42nd street by the end of the day, you figure out how many blocks that is! Tooooooo many I say! At one end of CP is Columbus Circle. It is awesome here. There are street performers, horses with their carriages, hundreds of people, stalls selling everything from water to T-shirts and souvenirs. From here we headed off toward the Rockerfeller Centre where we intended to spend money on a "sight". Man was that money well spent! That will be the next story for ya all, so stay tuned!

Ciao for now.