(Sent: Thu, January 29, 2004 1:36 pm)

Hi again. As you know, I am in New York. My time here has been a moment of dropping my bundle. I have hardly done any tourist things at all... and yet there seems to have been a lot done anyway. I met up with a friend of a friend, Becky, who is a radical Christian just like me. Together we have had heaps of fun tearing up the town and doing lots of cool stuff.

What I Did In NY

Some of this stuff included the normal: Times Square, Broadway, Wall St, World Trade Centre, Waldorf Astoria Hotel (very expensive), St Bartholomew's Church (St. Barts), Central Park, and wandering around. This was fun. But even more fun was when we headed over the Brooklyn Bridge. It was amazing to journey over the top of this incredibly busy bridge, with the massive suspension wires holding it up and the city buildings in the background. Becky and I were pretty stoked about it all... yelling and jumping around the place. It was during this moment, little understood by those passing us, that the unthinkable happened, and Becky's beloved hat went flying off her head down into the heavy traffic. It provided a little entertainment for a while as drivers swerved to miss the unknown black object on the road, but we were soon back on track crossing this remarkable bridge.

On the other side, after countless stops in the freezing cold wind for me to take a photo or six, we headed down to the waterside. This was a remote park in Brooklyn that had a fantastic view of the city skyscrapers through the suspended arches of the bridge we had just crossed. Excited at the photo opportunities here I did a little dance and then set up shop. Just on the waterfront was some park benches which I decided would be better filled with someone to add interest to my photo. Becky provided just the person I needed. With a burst of energy she ran down and leaps over the benches, planting herself on the seat in one go. Except there was ice on the seat. It didn't work like that. Instead she continues on across and down the seat, straight onto the ground. Sorer and wiser, she returns to the seat and generously remains there as my model.

Empire State Building

We also climbed up the Empire State Building. Twice. Well, climb is not actually the right word, but at the top of 86 floors the view is pretty fantastic. The trouble with our first journey to the top ended up being the snow in the air. Our views were restricted to only the buildings below us. It was an exciting view but New York looked so much smaller because of it. The second ride to the top, after a debacle over having my tripod confiscated during the security inspection, yielded magnificent views of dusk forming into evening over the city and surrounding areas. We could see right through to the ends of the city in all directions. It was a fantastic sight.

Times Square Church

After a fun day of sight seeing, we took off to church. This happened to be Times Square church, based in an old theatre and run by David Wilkerson. The worship, with a full choir, was absolutely awesome, and I loved every minute of the whole service with the guest preacher from Montreal. Afterwards I met a couple of nice guys, Charles, and Tracy from the church over pizza.

Snow Fall

I had always wanted to see major amounts of snow falling and hoped that I would see this in Finland, but the weather ended up being too good there. Instead I got to see snow in New York. Twenty centimetres of it actually (8ins). Charles, who lived near my hostel, and I headed off into the park around midnight, after the pizza joint, for a wander through the new snow, taking his dog for a walk. It was so wonderfully fluffy and interesting. I loved it. The next morning the snow had been cleared mostly and only mushy goop was left on most roads and pathways.

Next Stop

Well, now my time here is almost up and Washington is the next city on my list. So take care and keep in touch.

Brazilian Visa

I have some exciting news... I GOT MY BRAZILLIAN VISA!!!! Yesssssiiiirrrreeee! I am going to Brazil... which is just totaly way cool. You can rejoice with me now... let out a big YAAAAHHHHHHOOOOOOO!!!! and tell 'em Rob got his visa! :-D

Rob.