Manhattan New York Temple & Lunch

We said a little prayer before we left the hotel, asking for the Spirit to go before us that we may find our way and be safe, and off we went! We bought a day pass to ride the subway and hopped aboard!

I loved all the mosaic murals on the walls at each subway station - granted some of them were - ahem - "artsy" and well I liked this one the best! I love historical anything!

The local #1 train was not running, so we had to take the #1 express beyond where we needed to go and then catch it back to where we wanted to get off. It was an adventure and a half... and a great way to "get our feet wet" to subway traveling!

Uh... I think we missed the train!

We ended up at Times Square waiting to get back on to go back to 66th. It was fun!

Hey Times Square! We'll be back for YOU later! ;)

Subway travel! Wahoo!

The subway was filthy... but in a railway kind of dirty. It was hard to imagine how many people ride these trains everyday and how many OTHER trains there were! Amazing! New York has a whole city practically UNDER it's city! LOL

WAHOO!!!!! WE MADE IT!!!!!! And when we emerged from the subway...

We were met by a familiar friend!

It was neat to see angel Moroni in the midst of all this "world". The temple is an interesting building... half of it is the Museum of Folk Art. It was pretty cool though!

Across the street from the temple is Julliard! Sweet!

So after our subway adventure post nap time... Patty and I were feeling quite hungry! We decided to find food before entering the temple. One problem... we didn't know what was good and close by! As we started walking to look, a man passed by me. I felt strongly impressed to ask him for help and when he turned around he had a missionary name tag on!!!

This Elder was delightful! He gave us TONS of ideas, tricks, tips and whatnot! It was a huge blessing! (After all... we had only known we were going to New York just over 24 hours now! LOL) At the start of our conversations, he recommended a place a few blocks up that had great sandwiches. Then we proceeded to talk all about the places to see and what not to bother with and our hometowns etc. He invited us to come back to the temple in the morning for Sacrament Meeting! Apparently their chapel was on the 3rd floor of the temple! (HOW COOL IS THAT!?) They were having a "meet and greet" for all the neighborhood to "come and see what the Mormon's are all about". We said we would try. After about 20 minutes we snapped some photos with him and said goodbye. (and thank you!)

We started walking in the direction of our restaurant destination, when we realized we could not remember the name! Uh oh! We kept walking... and finally Patty said to me..."OK... I think I know the name... but I don't dare ask anyone! I think he said 'Big Dicks'! " We both burst into giggles and agreed we would only ask if anyone knew of a great "hole in the wall" that served sandwiches, pizza etc.

A block later, there was a really tall, but nice black man whom we asked... and he replied "oh yeah! Big Nick's! It's across the street right there!" Bwahahahaha! Ah good! Big Nick's! That's the place!! Whew!

It really was a little hole in the wall! It was this tiny little place... but it was packed with people for being about 2 in the afternoon! And now we know why!

We were seated and it took forever to decide to order! The menu was huge and full of yummy things to choose from! Talk about variety! When asked what we wanted to drink, Patty asked if they charged for ice water. Our cute waiter looked SHOCKED! He leaned back and asked "Why? you pay for water where you come from??" (imagine a thick italian accent) It was really funny! So, we both got our waters - for free - WITH a pitcher just because he was worried about us out of towners that have to pay for water! LOL We ordered a Philly Cheese steak sandwich to share and half fries/half onion rings. I also wanted a hot cocoa... so I got one! :) Talk about a meal!

HOLY CAMOLEE!!!!!!!!!!! This is THE best sandwich I have EVER eaten!!! The steak melted in your mouth! (How in the world do you get steak to melt in your mouth? Marinate for weeks?) WOW! It was SO good! Fresh American cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms on a home baked garlic subway. TO. DIE. FOR. I would go back to New York JUST to have another sandwich! LOL The onion rings were wonderful too! They were minced up onion made into rings so they fell apart in your mouth when you bit into them... no onion pulling out of the batter... ah! So good! We asked for mayo and ketchup and a bowl and made Fry Sauce... our waiter was very intrigued! LOL

And on a funny side note... my hot cocoa was DIVINE! I kept saying so to Patty. It had whipped cream with cinnamon sprinkled on it... oh! yum! About half way through our meal... Patty says "Hey Heather... look on the shelf over there!" There, embarrassingly enough, was a box of Nestle Hot Cocoa!! Huh! Whatever. It must have been the New York water! (bwahahaha) It was STILL the best cocoa I have ever had! *WINK*

This was our waiter (which, honestly, I think he owned the place too) He was very kind and when his co-worker told him to smile for the photo he replied "Dis is my smile"! LOL!

We walked back to the temple with really full bellies, falling in love with New York City! The people were SO nice! They look you in the eye and smile! If we were looking at our map trying to figure out where to go, they would ask if we needed help! I have never experienced anything like it! Hate to say it... but my home state people, heck most west coast people, walk around afraid to look at each other or talk to each other I swear! It was very eye opening to experience outside of Happy Valley culture like this! I liked it a lot!

When we arrived at the temple things only got better! The temple is GORGEOUS!! It was almost as if we were the only ones in the temple the way we were waited on! We asked if we could do initiatory ordinances so we would not be all day in the temple and could explore NY a little bit more. They gave us the clothes and we headed to the dressing room to change. A sister quickly came and asked if we would consider doing Sealing ordinances instead. They needed more help! We agreed and she ran off to get us clothing. We hurried to dress and were guided upstairs to the sealing rooms. They were in the middle of an ordinance so we waited outside the door, drinking it all in. I was suddenly overcome with joy and peace and tears filled my eyes. Almost at the same moment, Patty turned to me and said "this family needed us to come all the way from Utah to New York to get their work done today!" I smiled through tears and said "I know! I feel it too!" It was very cool!

There was a lovely Spanish speaking couple in the room with family names. They did half the names in Spanish and half in English. It was SUCH a neat experience for me! I grew up speaking Spanish all through grade school (Spanish immersion) but rarely use it now I am an adult! I closed my eyes and tried to figure out each word (as I never learned any religious type terms in a public school!). I loved it! It was very enlightening to hear it that way. I understood more than I ever had before.

After we were done with the ordinances, the sealer asked the sister if he did the Spanish OK. She said yes, that he had spoken really well. I said, "yeah... your accent was great!". He smiled and told us he doesn't speak Spanish!! He reads the words and the Spirit helps him with pronunciation! I was covered in chills! This truly is the Lord's work! And it IS worldwide! I have always KNOWN that... but I guess I had just never really *realized* that. If that makes any sense! (talk about breakin' my bubble big time huh? LOL)

After the sealings, the sealer took us to the Celestial Room. It was AMAZING! SO beautiful! I felt so honored to be in the Lord's Home that day... and it was small and quaint and elegant and truly FELT like His home! As we were getting ready to leave the celestial room, the Temple President came in and talked to us. He was from Mapleton growing up! It was cool. He invited us to Sacrament Meeting the next day as well! I decided I really wanted to... but knew I had to wait to see how I was feeling after no sleep and prowling the city all day before I committed for sure! LOL

I can't wait to go back! I LOVE the Manhattan Temple!!

THIS was the BEST reason to go to New York! Though I am not sure any other temple dates Patty and I have from now on will be able to compare! Ever! *GIGGLE*