I will start this with an overview of city life. It has been one week since we arrived in NYC, and it has been a full week. For those who have spent a few days in NYC, a description of life here is hard to describe. For those who have never been in a city of this size, one cannot capture the reality or magnitude of such a place. As you walk the streets, you want to see as much as possible, and by doing so, you are most often in the way of someone. But if you just concentrate on where you walk, you miss so much! The traffic is almost always bumper to bumper, horns blowing a second after the light turns green, pushing everyone along. Bicycles, mopeds and people on skateboards and electric bikes and tricycles with a seat for passengers cutting in between stopped vehicles (and some moving) is amazing. How people escape death or destruction is a wonder. Then there is the ambulances and fire trucks seemingly everywhere, plus policemen with their funny sounding sirens. I hear that people who think they need to go to hospital, just call either ambulance or fire to take them in, because how else would they get there? They can’t afford a ride on subway and no other way to get there.

An important part of city life is the food, and there is every kind you can think of (and some you can’t) and it is good food! We have had pizza, mexican, Italian, chinese and good ole burgers to name a few. We have steered clear of the upscale restaurants, way to expensive for us, where we do go is spendy enough. Everything is expensive in NYC because everything is trucked in. They say the city has three days worth of food in reserve. The trucks stop in front of stores and unload the pallets and leave them on the sidewalk for the workers to breakdown and everything goes thru the front door.

The city has much history that is interesting to explore. There are many museums of all kinds. Today we visited the American museum of Natural History, very interesting to see the vast objects and animals. Anything associated with nature was displayed in amazing detail. From dinosaurs to voles all were displayed in their natural habitat. Whales and sea creatures of all kinds. Also, the rocks and trees and farming practices, explained for those who have never seen the like. We overheard a dad tell his son (probably 12 years old) that next they would see an apple orchard display. The boy asked what is an apple orchard. City boys don’t know I guess, apples come from stores. More than a day is needed to see everything for sure.

This morning the boys and us went to Roosevelt Island to sing a few Christmas songs at the farm market where Israel Wengerd from Pennsylvania sells his goods. Stan and Marilyn and Lawrence Penner and two of Israel’ boys helped to. Where we crossed under the river in the subway, we were two hundred feet deep. Impressive, both the depth and all the steps up to street level. My step tracker app says I walked a little over six miles today, yes I feel it. Well, just a little of our week recorded. It has been an enjoyable time here in NYC. Hope your week went well to!