Sunday in New York

Interior of St. Teresa's Church

     Today is Sunday so I started out by trying to go to mass. There is a lovely, old parish church called St. Teresa’s just around the corner. It has been there since the 1840’s serving the varied immigrant communities living in this area (the Lower East Side). The neighborhood was originally Irish and it is now a Chinese and Spanish speaking community. The tower clock is the oldest hand-wound tower clock in New York City. There is a beautiful mural over the altar and the pews are the original oak pews.

     However, I missed mass because they changed the time. By now we needed to head out to meet Hildie and her friend for lunch. Today the Gay Pride Parade is being held along Fifth Avenue, so we were a little concerned about the subways. And we did have some problems, but nothing too serious. Don had to be creative in choosing alternate routes, but he is pretty good at that. We were only ten minutes late to join our friends for a delicious Indian buffet at Benares.

Hildie, Don, & Suzanne at Benares

     Then we whiled away the afternoon trying to negotiate transportation. We discovered the R subway went directly to the Staten Island Ferry/White Chapel station so we took the subway to the ferry and went back and forth on the free ferry ride. It was a lovely day and a pleasant ride. We saw all the places we had walked from a new prospective and it is always a thrill to see the Statue of Liberty.

     When we got back we walked through Battery Park. We discovered the Seaglass Carousel, inspired by the chambered nautilus. The riders sit on and amid iridescent fish in a spiraling pavilion of glass and steel. It was very beautiful to watch. They have really spruced up the park with native flowers and greenery. Again there were many people enjoying this outdoor experience.  We found several other green spaces to relax while walking around this tip of Manhattan and Wall Street neighborhood.

     When we were tired and decided to head for home we walked along Wall Street (which has been turned into a partial walk street) to take the M15 bus which let us off directly by our hotel.