Day 2....

Sunday in Central Park- you cant see the buildings but they are there
The buildings that I was trying to get into the picture
Waiting for the subway... I think this is on the way to church but maybe not since it seems to be the wrong direction. 
still waiting
the trinity church- just in case you have seen national treasure this is where the treasure was buried... not true but it would be cool if it were. 
You can't see the letters on the building, but this is the New York Stock Exhange aka accountant heaven (well maybe not in the current economic climate)
The other entrance to the NYSE
This is the building kitty corner to the NYSE- this is where Washington took the oath of office. 
Ground Zero
The view of ground zero through the fence

*I do know how to put pictures into the post but figure that most people dont want to actually read the narrative, this helps aid in the quick skim I know most of you are going for. 

Today started like most sundays. We had the plan to do what all good mormon couples do on sundays and go to church. In theory this was a great plan. We looked up the meeting time and location the night before and planned our route, we set our alarms and set out our clothes and went to sleep. We got up and got ready (and in reality we were running a few minutes behind) but we were ready to go, and then we left. Things still seemed normal and then we got on the subway. Since this is our 2nd day here we failed to realize one important thing, the subway changes on the weekend. Sure there are posted routes and sometimes if you are lucky even a posted map but all that goes out the window on the weekend. Trains make funny stops, skip stops, and switch tracks but not labels. This is what happened today. We got off where we thought we should but it turns out we were wrong, had it been a normal day this would have been no problem, we would have hopped back on this no problem... today not so much. In addition to getting off at the wrong time we got locked out the subway (you can't use your far care within a certain amount of time), we chalked it up to being newbies and decided to walk (it wasnt too far). We finally made it to Lincoln Center (the church/temple is across the street) and headed up to the chapel where we found out... it was stake conference and we had missed the whole thing. Oh well better luck next week. On an interesting though I am not sure exciting note Senator Harry Reid was also leaving stake conference... not sure what he was doing in NY since I thought he represented Nevada but whatever Brian recognized him. 

After leaving the church building we took a quick walk over to central park. Central Park is fun but I noticed one thing, I have been at BYU too long. BYU has immaculate grounds, every few weeks they rip out the perfectly lovely flowers and plant new ones, the grass is always manicured (they mow more than once a week) and the trees are neatly trimmed. Central Park is a little different. The grounds are still lush and green (due more to the climate than the grounds crew) but I think a little bit of help from the BYU army of gardeners is needed, or at least a lawn mower. One other slightly related thing I have noticed in NYC, there is gum on the sidewalk, BYU doesnt have this so I am not sure what to think but I am not a fan. 

After our lovely stroll in Central Park (it was chilly) we headed off to get some lunch. I know we went to eat on sunday... I have no comment to that other than this is not a regular occurrence. Brian has been wanting to go to Chinatown since we found out we were moving here so we thought today was a good time to try that. We got on the subway and headed off. We made it there without too much trouble and went off to find some lunch. So I think people may have the wrong impression of Chinatown. It isnt an area decorated like China for tourists (although tourists love it), it is the section of the city where the chinese immigrants settled, as a result things are a bit different. We passed by tons of shops with interesting things (every type of dried mushroom and seafood you can imagine), lots of fruit stands (really the prices could even beat buy low), fish markets (fresh fish at low prices) and butcher shops with things I cant even begins to imagine what they were (lots of ducks). We finally made it to our lunch spot and took a seat to wait for a table. This seems to be a "happening local joint". I think we were the only white people in the place- at the very least some of the few, the waiters preferred to speak in chinese (which is great except we dont speak chinese), The place was so busy- lots of chinese families there on a sunday afternoon. The food was good- a little different than say panda express, but delicious- my beef lo mein (not adventurous this time) came in an 8in pyrex pie plate, I never thought of using it that way but I may have to in the future.

After lunch we decided to head over to Wall Street. Since it was the weekend we thought things would be a bit less hectic in that area and let's face it, like the good accountant he is Brian wanted to see where everything happens. We found the NYSE, well really we walked down the street, and Brian was able to "soak it all in". From there we headed to ground zero- as you can tell from the picture it looks a bit different than it used to. On our way to the subway we passed by where I will be working (you can literally see ground zero from the building)... more updates tomorrow about the internship, wish me luck. 

A few more lessons learned

1. there is not enough purell in the world to get your hands clean after using the subway

2. rats are not just in the movies

3. everyone asks for money- these people are extra annoying.