A Miner Modification

Columbia University

Today we took the bus up to the Columbia University area. I have discovered I love to ride the bus. If you are not in a hurry, it is the best way to go. Not so many people, and you can see all the scenery on your route. The main reason we went to the area was to eat lunch at Five Guys. We had seen it there when we went to St. John the Divine Cathedral, and were craving good french fries. Good french fries have been scarce in NYC. After we ate we walked around the campus. I was surprised that it looks much like a college campus with a quad and everything. It was very cold outside, so we didn't stay too long. Dad didn't remember his camera, so no pictures.

Tonight we have family home evening. A brother Bushman who is a sealer at the temple and a professor at Columbia is going to speak to us. He has written a book about Joseph Smith and has had something to do with compiling the Joseph Smith papers. I'll let you know more later.

What we did on our winter vacation

Our two week vacation while the temple was closed for maintenance went by quickly, and yesterday we started back at the temple. We did many touristy things during the break. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and a museum on the lower east side called the Tenement Museum. The Tenement Museum teaches how many immigrants lived in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It was one of my favorite places we went. While we were down there we walked through Chinatown and Little Italy. We ate dinner in Little Italy.

One day we went to Macy's and bought dad a new suit. We spent another day going to pick it up after alterations. That day we went over to the main NYC public library. There is an exhibit there of many rare or noteworthy books, manuscripts, and items owned by the library. One of note is the original Pooh and his friends that were the toys of the author's son and inspired the writing of the stories. We went to two Broadway plays-War Horse and Mama Mia. The puppets in War Horse were amazing, and Mama Mia had us smiling the whole time.

Some days we just stayed home and watched TV and rested.

Here are a few pictures that Dad took. The first is Washington Crossing the Delaware at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The second is a Picasso at the Museum of Modern Art. The painting Starry Night by Van Gogh is also there, but Dad did not get any good pictures. The third is the entrance to the tenements that we viewed while on tour at the Tenement Museum.