More sights and tastes of NYC

 Day #3--And we were off to Manhattan to attend the temple, which was a very enjoyable experience.  It's a small temple, but beautiful.  And I can't describe the joy of being in such a place with family.  It is also amazing how quiet it is inside.  You can truly leave the world behind.  

    Afterwards, we took advantage of a farmer's market in the square in front of the temple, picking up some cider donuts, rosemary bread and home-made cheese (called "frolic" because their cows can frolic in their grassy pasture!)

With our picnic in hand, we jumped on the subway and headed for upper Manhattan--for a park on the site of a Revolutionary War fort overlooking the Hudson River.

The large granite outcroppings were very interesting.  I kept wanting to grab my athletic shoes and go scrambling over them!

We also visited The Cloisters--a museum constructed around pieces of medieval architecture, like an arch taken from a castle in England, or windows from someplace in Italy or France.

 So it was fun to see.  It even had a medieval garden.  With a plant called rampion!  I always thought that was just made up for the story of Rapunzel.

 On the way back, we were intrigued by the black squirrels.  Here in Iowa, we have grayish ones with some chestnut brown.  And I didn't even bother taking out the red eyes, because it looks even more like it belongs on Halloween. 

On the way home, we got off the subway in downtown Brooklyn to find this bakery that is supposedly one of the best (as described by Tito--one of Deborah's neighbors).

With lots more walking, and the aid of the GPS on Kevin's phone, we finally found it, and I have to admit, it was worth it!

 These three pastries weighed a couple of pounds.  The lobster-looking one was filled with a delicious whipped cream.  The others had a nutmeg-flavored cream.  We split them four-ways and had dessert for two different meals.  Amazing!  (And probably tons of calories--good thing we were doing so much walking.)

Day #4 and we were off to church.  The Bensonhurst ward, which is a very diverse congregation.  Russian, Japanese, Puerto Rican, Liberian, and so on.  We were lucky in that the subway stop is right in front of the chapel.

In the afternoon, we took advantage of the wonderful weather and walked to the Greenwood Cemetery, only a couple of blocks from the apt. 

But first,their apt. is very identifiable.  Pink shingles on the outside.

 The fall colors were just coming into their height of color, and the cemetery was beautiful.  It was huge, and with such diversity of "residents", from the founder of Steinway piano, Pres. Grant, and Leonard Bernstein, to a regular people.  It was established in 1838, as an alternative to church graveyards.

 Some had such touching poems.  Others were touching because of the date.  Like the fireman who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

Some were simple.  Some were amazingly ornate.  One looked like it belonged to Sleeping Beauty.  But when we went to look, it was for a man.  I didn't recognize the name, but someone wanted to memorialize him!  With a carved man on a pedestal-bed, covered with the huge roof. 

Then we ended the day with a video chat with A & E.  They did very well in our absence. 

 Day #5, we were up early and off, back home to Iowa.  And it's good we traveled on the day we did, because the next day brought canceled flights at Chicago with severe winds. 

All along we felt we were blessed with the right help at the right time,

and the whole visit was wonderful.

I couldn't have asked for a better October trip!