New York City

March 9, 2017

6:30 a.m.

The sun is rising as we begin our initial descent into New York. Feeling its warmth and bathed in its light I pop open sleepy eyes and slip on my glasses. In awe of the bright glowing orange ball of fire steadily climbing up over the horizon all thoughts of sleep quickly dissipate.  Below us, New York City slowly appears. Its giant high rises, arching so proudly against the sky, look tiny and toy-like from above. It reminds me of the words of Psalm 8: When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?

7:30 a.m.

I shiver in the cold and wrap my blanket tighter around my legs as we wait for our hotel shuttle bus to pick us up. After walking through a maze of hallways, moving walkways, and taking a subway, we are finally waiting on a metal bench outside the airport for our hotel shuttle to pick us up. Although the sun is up it’s still low on the horizon and its warmth has not yet reached the inner recesses of the airports' concrete structures. 

When we finally arrive at our modest accommodations we quickly drop off our luggage in our rooms and head back up to the lobby area for our free breakfast. My watch, still on B.C. time, says its 5:52 a.m.  but in New York it’s almost 9:00 a.m.. Since our flight to Port au Prince doesn’t leave for another 21 hours we have some time to explore the city. 

Our first stop of the day is the subway which takes us all the way across the city. 

The subway is crowded and full of interesting sights and smells. Personal spaces bubbles are quickly encroached upon as more and more people embark. 

Running late for our tour due to technical difficulties on the subway we are forced to run through the city to the docks to reach our scheduled ferry. Although we don’t quite make it on time, the ferry runs at regular intervals so we can get right on to the next one. 

Once embarked, I find a spot at the bow and enjoy the exhilarating feel of the cold wind blasting my body. Struggling to hold on to the railing, I still manage to take beautiful photos of the Statue of Liberty. 

We disembark on both Statten Island and Ellis and enjoy the various sights and smells and learning some of the immigration history the islands’ museums have to offer.

Our next stops include the Word Trade Centre memorials, Observatory, Central Park and Times Square. 

By the time we are done it’s nearing 10:00 p.m. and our bodies, especially our legs, which have put on many miles, are barely co-operating. We quickly shower and fall into bed. Tomorrow morning will come much to soon as we need to be up before 3:00 a.m..