Adventures in Manhattan

Enjoying FAO Schwartz

Ryan is a speaker again at Do It With Drupal, which is being held in New York City this year.  Many of you know that I have an aunt (with associated uncle & cousins) who live in Brooklyn, NY... put the two together, and we had a perfect situation for a week-long trip to The Big Apple.  While both Ryan & I had been before, we had not been as adults, nor since being married, and since Eowyn needed to complete her fashion-tour of Paris, London & New York City, we HAD to come.

Ryan's conference is Wednesday-Friday, with a speaker's dinner on Tuesday that we both get to go to (yay for family babysitting!).  We flew up on Saturday and have spent several days taking in the city and visiting with family together.  Another Ruiz aunt & her family will fly in Wednesday night & we'll get to enjoy them too before leaving Saturday.  I plan to take Eowyn to several fun places around Brooklyn while "Daddy" is working Wed-Fri morning.

Hmmm.... Do we buy this or send Eowyn to college?

On the Staten Island Ferry

Approaching Manhattan

Watching all the pretty lights!

Sunday morning we worshiped at a SGM church called, simply, City Church, literally 2 blocks from my aunt's house in Park Slope (love that 9 Marks Network Website!).  It was great to get to sing and be refreshed from the word in the middle of the stress of travel!  Eowyn even did great in the nursery. :)

Sunday afternoon my aunt graciously showed us around Manhattan (my uncle feeling ill with what turned out to be walking pneumonia), letting us pop into FAO Schwartz, a Godiva shop (got some truffles YUM), several gorgeous churches, and leading us down Wall Street to the Stock Exchange & Times Square, and a bit of Central Park.  Ryan & I even caught the (gorgeous!!) grand finale of an organ recital in St Patrick's Cathedral.  I have a soft spot for the organ played well... especially in a cathedral!  Definitely can't wait to meet Bach in Heaven.

Monday morning Ryan, the little E & I walked around Brooklyn (more on that later) and then took the Staten Island ferry past Lady Liberty and back.  I liked that we got to do so much walking around, just trying to get a feel on this city's pulse, its rhythm.  Not an old steady rhythm like the cobblestoned majesty of Paris nor the inescapable press of history & passing time like London-- but an intense swirling busyness full of many languages and the best of hundreds of cultures.  We heard more languages in New York City than anywhere else. 



As always, we saw and heard one thing we would never have expected- a woman playing the musical saw!!  Eowyn was quite enthralled, as you can see in the clip below.