the BIG apple

Chris was given the opportunity to go to New York City to write about two churches that Southeast helped plant in Manhattan. We decided to use the trip as a little getaway.

Given the fact that we were on a tight budget, we decided to book a bargain-rated hotel. At least by New York standards it's a bargain. We checked into the historic Hotel Deauville on Saturday afternoon.

As promised by the Hotel's website, the accomodations were far from deluxe. For starters, the elevator was hand cranked and could only be operated by hotel personnel. We also knew in advance that our room would not have a bathroom, only a sink. So we knew going into this we would be sharing a bathroom with other guests of the hotel. What we didn't know was the shared bathroom was on floor 3 and that our room was two stories above it. We also didn't know that no one would be around to operate the hand-cranked elevator when nature called in the middle of the night. We've never been so tempted to pee in a sink! But we resisted.

The hotel was clean though and the staff helpful and friendly. Our only real complaint was that the traffic outside the hotel made it difficult to sleep. I'd heard that New York is the "city that never sleeps." Now I know why. The steet noise can be maddening. Similar to scenes I've seen in movies, I was tempted to stick my head out the window and scream, "Shut up!" Again, restraint won out.

While Hotel Deauville is a far cry from any Holidy Inn, we definitely would go back for another stay. We checked out with lots of hilarious memories that never would have happened surrounded by the typical amenities.

Right after entering our hotel room for the very first time, our eyes immediately were drawn to the roll of toilet paper used to keep the window open.


At the recommendation of one of the hotel staff members, we ate at this Italian restaurant our first night in New York.


During my first subway ride I learned that there's no such thing as personal space. Another observation is everyone appeared a little cranky. At one point, I mentioned to Chris, "This isn't quite like the Disney bus, is it?"


The main reason for the trip was to visit two churches, both in the heart of Manhattan.


Little Italy was one of many neighborhoods we walked through during our visit.



This old firehouse is located on the outskirts of Little Italy.


While we were there we picked up some postcards to send to Juan, the little boy we sponsor through Compassion.


On our third day in NYC, we headed downtown where we walked through the Financial District, saw City Hall and other government buildings, and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.





I found Chinatown to be a very interesting place---lots of markets with seafood and interesting produce and more knock off handbags than you can count.


Chris likes the Simpsons so when we saw Homer we had to get a picture.



A few random pictures from Greenwich Village.


Chris was practicing his covert photo-taking skills when he shot the dog pooping.


We stumbled across a tiny bakery, literally about the size of our closet, while walking through the neighborhood of Soho. Cupcakes By Melissa sells little baby cupcakes. They are 3 for $3 and folks were lined up to get them. Melissa is making a killing.


We stopped briefly to watch people ice skate in front of Rockefeller Center.


This fancy restaurant is located inside Central Park. Unfortunately, we could only afford to window shop.


One of our favorite parts of the trip was strolling through Central Park.


Please excuse the quality of this photo. We begged a random person on the street to take our photo.


One regret is that we didn't dine at any of the vendor carts. The food always smelled so good!


This church, one of New York's oldest buildings, is directly across from where the World Trade Towers once stood. It is amazing that it didn't sustain any damage from the collapse.


The inside of the church now displays 9/11 memorabilia.


While visiting Central Park West, we came across a gigantic flea market with lots of funky items for sale. Love the chairs!



Chris and I both would go back to New York City in a heartbeat. We had so much fun and it was just what we needed.