Begin in Brooklyn

One of the challenges of traveling with a group of people is that everyone doesn't always want to do the same things.  I really lucked out having Christina as my roommate as we were both early risers, had similar priorities in what we wanted to do and neither of us cared to shop.  We found it was easy to compromise when our interests differed.  My desire to walk the Brooklyn Bridge one morning dovetailed nicely with her desire to visit The Little Church Around the Corner, where her great grandparents were married in the early 1900's, and that's what we did Thursday morning.

We took the subway from a stop near our hotel to High Street.

Like Kelowna it seems NYC has two seasons....winter and construction.

I'm not sure where this tradition started but I first heard about it after we'd missed the oportunity to put a love lock on the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris.  Apparently you and your sweetheart write your names on a padlock and affix it to a bridge, then you throw the key into the water, thereby ensuring your bond will never be broken. 

City Hall

Reminds me of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

Christina's husband is a lawyer, so we took a quick trip into the Supreme Court building after chatting with some security officers on the street.  They told me I'd have to give up my camera during the visit, but I could use my iphone.  We stepped into what we thought was an empty court room and I raised my phone to take a picture.  Suddenly a clerk poked his head from behind the Judges bench and shouted "No photographs!"  We beat a hasty retreat but I did grab a quick snap of what looked like a jury deliberating in a nearby "Room". 

We spent a little more time in Chinatown and Little Italy this time

The Little Church Around the Corner

We had a really nice chat with Bill, the receptionist who told us some of the history of the church.  Christina wasn't able to get any information about her Great Grandparents but Bill took her information and promised to pass it on to their archivist when she was next in.