Homeward Bound - Adventures with Lucy, Part I

We spent our last two nights in Montreal at the Marriott Residence Inn.  On Monday, April 29, we had a few last-minute errands to run before we checked out of the hotel and started our drive home.  One of those errands was to visit St. Kevin's church on Côte-des-Neiges. Every time we've gone to see Dr. Abkizher, we passed it.  Pat had been inside, but not me.  So while we were in that area, we made a visit.  It is a rather small, plain church that caters to the Filipino Catholics in the area.

Exterior of St. Kevin

Main altar

Side altar

Another side altar

Infant of Prague

Infant of Prague, Ste. Theresa, Ste. Anne and Mary, St. Joseph, and St. Anthony

Mary, Infant of Prague, Christ, Mary (window of salvation helping folks into heaven), a new Filipino saint (Pat doesn't know his name.)

We left our car in the apartment complex garage, so one of our errands was to take the metro to the Sherbrooke Station one last time so that we could get the car.  We met Sister Evans just outside the garage, so we could have one final hug and give her the apartment keys and the fob for the garage.  Just for the record, I don't like good-byes!

We had planned on going to Palmyra via Cornwall.  Somehow we couldn't make that happen, so after meandering around for a while, we just plugged Palmyra into Lucy and hoped for the best.  By the time we left Montreal, we just had a few Canadian coins; we'd used all the rest of our Canadian money.  Lucy announced that we would have to pay a toll if we were to use a bridge on Auto Route 30; then she wanted to know if we would prefer a different route.  We didn't think about using a card to pay the toll, so we opted to go on a different route resulting in an increase of about 2 hours driving time.

While in Upstate New York before arriving in Palmyra, we saw two chapels along the way--they were just on the same road that we were on!  How cool is that!

 We made it to Palmyra around 7:00 p.m.  Long, tiring day.

Tuesday we spent a glorious day in Palmyra.  We drove a very short distance to the temple and walked around the exterior.  It is a lovely temple, very similar in style to the Montreal Temple.

Grounds of the Palmyra Temple

We had about 45 minutes before the temple session started, so we went to the Smith Farm that is just down the road from the temple.  Here are some pictures:

Frances made out of wood 

The Smith cabin.

Interior shots of the Smith cabin:

 This is the room where Joseph would have had his all-night visits from Moroni who told him about the plates.

We then walked up the road to the frame house that Alvin started for himself and his parents.  He died before it was completed.  It is a lovely home.

Prior to going inside the house, we saw the outbuildings:

Cooper's shop

Interior of the cooper's shop

Barn where the grain was separated from the chaff and where items were stored.  No animals were housed in it.

Interior of the barn

19th Century version of a carport!

Interior of the house

We then headed to Main Street and the Grandin Printing Co. where the first copies of the Book of Mormon were published. Learned a lot about printing!

 

 Our next stop was the Hill Cumorah

Moroni Monument

Pat gazing at the Moroni Monument

The view from the top of Cumorah

Another view from the top

Monument at the entrance of the site

The Whitmer Family were kind, nurturing, and supportive of Joseph and his family.  Although the cabin that is on the land that once belonged to the Whitmers is not original, it is representative of what the family would have had.  This is what greeted us as we turned into the farm:

 Peter Whitmer Farm Visitor Center and Fayette Chapel

A cabin representative of the Whitmer cabin on the property

 Interior of the cabin

 Bust of Christ in the visitor's center

 A painting of Christ

 The chapel of the Fayette church.

We returned to the Smith Farm so we could spend time in the Sacred Grove.  Met two beautiful sister missionaries:  Sisters Griffith and Polfer.

Although so many places in Palmyra are sacred, we spent the last part of our day in Palmyra at what is perhaps the most sacred spot: The Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith saw the Father and Christ.  It was such a wonderful experience to stroll through the grove and ponder the glorious event that took place there.

Pat in the Sacred Grove

 

Wednesday we left Palmyra and headed for the Priesthood restoration site near the Susquehanna River.  Like all the sites the Church restores, this one was wonderful.  

We visited two restored homes, a cemetery, a visitor's center, monument, the Sugar Bush, and the Susquehanna River.  As with Palmyra, such sacred events took place here that there is a special spirit all around.

These two monuments greeted us as we drove into the visitor's center.  The first memorializes Joseph's and Oliver's ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood under the authority of John the Baptist; the second, the ordination of Joseph and Oliver to the Melchezeoik Priesthood under the authority of Peter, James, and John.

This is the Sugar Bush where Joseph and Oliver prayed desiring information about baptism.

As in Palmyra, there are fences made out of logs and rock on the property.

 

Emma's parents lived in a home that was at this site.  This is a restored home.  The Hales were quite well to do, as evidenced by the home and its furnishing.

Dining room

Room next to the dining room

Bedroom off the kitchen where Joseph and Lucy probably were

Emma's father wanted to see the plates. Joseph wasn't allowed to show them, but he built a box and put the plates in them so that his father-in-law could feel their weight.  The weight was about 50 lbs. He still didn't believe the plates were real.

Kitchen table with the box

Kitchen

Small home where Joseph and Emma lived.  Seventy percent of the translation of the Book of Mormon took place in the two homes - making it a very significant place for those of us who love the Book of Mormon and like Church history.

Their bedroom

Kitchen where much of the translation occurred

Kitchen

Room added to the original house

Another shot of the addition

In 1960 Avard Fairbanks sculpted the original commemoration statue.  

Emma's parents are buried at the cemetery. . .

 . . .as is their infant son.

 Looking at the house from just below the cemetery.

 The Susquehanna River where Joseph and Oliver were baptized.

Now for a chuckle.  As we were walking from our car to the visitor's center, look what we saw!  A TiWi!

Thursday, after leaving the Priesthood Restoration site, we drove to New York City.  Driving in Montreal for the last 19 months prepared me for the craziness of driving in downtown Manhattan. As we were driving around, we saw the Lincoln Center, a performing-arts center.

We contacted the temple to see what we needed to do for parking, found the parking garage, and made it to the temple in good time. The session was very small, similar to Montreal. And here is the Manhattan New York Temple, dwarfed by the skyscrapers surround it.

This is a multi-function building.  The temple is on the 5th floor and other church entities, i.e., a ward chapel with a pipe organ and all the offices and classrooms that go with it, the Distribution Center, a Family Search center, are on other floors. To access the 5th floor, we went through these doors to the recommend desk.

After the temple session and before picking up the car, we strolled through part of Central Park. The day was warm and the park beautifully green:

We were on our way to the hotel after getting the car, when Pat realized he'd left his bag with his wallet and other important items in it at the temple.  We drove back to a street near the temple, he hopped out, and I drove around the area.  It was pretty unnerving because we have no way of communicating with each other now that Pat no longer has the mission SIM card in his phone.  On the second pass, I found him, so we headed to the hotel.  Happy to report that Lucy is doing a pretty good job; us, not so good.  We drove past the hotel and thought Lucy was being her erratic self when we unknowingly passed the hotel and she announced it was behind us.  It took us a while, but we finally found it. The hotel was in an area close to Times Square and Hell's Kitchen.  We discovered there are lots of great restaurants in the area.  We ate at a Thai restaurant.  It was very good.

On Friday we headed to the 42nd Street Port Authority so we could purchase subway tickets to go to the 911 memorial.  Outside the Port Authority is a statue of The Honeymooner's Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden, a NY city bus driver.

During our stay in Montreal, we learned to love the metro.  Although the NY system is much more complex, we were grateful for it:

 And here is the 42nd St subway station with the train coming down the tracks.

Inside the train car; similar but different from Montreal.

This is the exterior of a shopping mall and the subway station where we disembarked.

One World Trade Center.  There is an observation deck, but we didn't have time to go up, and we didn't think we'd be able to see too much because the top of the building was in the clouds.

Pictures of the pools at the 911 memorial.

  

Some of the names on the memorial

Hotel next to the mall and across from the memorial

Across from the memorial

There is construction near the memorial.  This is what conceals the worksite from the public.

Before we left, we walked across the street to St. Paul's Anglican Church. This church dates from the 18th Century.

 

The Bell of Hope is directly in front of the church.  It was cast by Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the same company that cast the Liberty Bell and Big Ben. The bell was presented to NY on the 1st anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by the Lord Mayor of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

Around the church is a cemetery:

Interior shots of St. Paul's:

When we walked back to the subway station, I realized that we were actually in the mall we saw when we exited the station earlier 

A mural inside the station:

We heard musicians in Montreal subway; here is the NY version.  His music was gorgeous. 

We arrived back at the hotel with 15 minutes to spare before we had to check out.  We walked to the car and drove to Wayne, Pennsylvania, where we will stay until Monday.  The hotel is in a lovely area with shopping opportunities, including Target, all around.  We walked to Target.  Look what I found:  Edy's ice cream!

Saturday - a wonderful, delightful day in Philadelphia.

Our goal for today was to go to the Philadelphia Temple.  Before we left for the temple, I decided to take a stroll around the neighborhood.  The weather is perfect--not too hot, and not too cold.  Making it even more beautiful are the flowers:  Here's an example of what I saw this on my walk this morning:

We were off by 9:45.  Lucy got us there, but the going was very slow.  We arrived with only 5 minutes to get ready for the session!  We made it!

Philadelphia Temple

Angel Moroni atop the Philadelphia Temple.

After exiting the temple, we walked around the grounds.  The azaleas were gorgeous!

This picture was taken just across the street.

As we were walking around the temple grounds, Pat spied the dome of Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral.  During his time as a Catholic monk, he spent many days in the cathedral.  The freeway separates the cathedral from the temple. Here is the cathedral taken from the sidewalk by the temple.

Interior shots of the cathedral 

As we walked through the basilica, we saw many mosaics: 

The ceilings were exquisite: 

 Statue of Peter

Statue of Paul: 

 The Stations of the Cross were all quite elaborate statues:

One of the places Pat went to often when he was in Philadelphia was Wanamaker's Department Store.  We asked someone at the church if it were possible to take a bus or subway there.  She said no because it was so close.  She said we had to walk past Billy Penn's statue on the top of the City Hall building. I finally figured out that Billy Penn was William Penn!  And here he is:

We passed Penn Station as we walked to the store: 

And here is Wanamaker's, now owned by Macy's.  Macy's purchased it to preserve the famous theatre organ  in Wanamaker's.

Ceiling of the store.   

Here is another famous item found in the store:  the eagle. 

The console of the organ.  We missed hearing it because we were in the temple.

Although the store is Macy's the building is still the Wanamaker Building: 

And here's John Wanamaker himself: 

There is so much history in Philadelphia.  Here's a reminder of some of the important players, Ben Franklin and George Washington: 

On our way back to the parking lot, we saw a Holocaust Memorial:

Before Pat and I married, I worked for the Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction.  One of the assignments that I had rather frequently was to work in the Haverford, Pennsylvania, school district.  I stayed at what was then St. David's Inn.  It has changed names, but looks very similar to when I stayed there.   

Villanova University is just down the street from the old St. David's Inn.  Pat professed his vows to become a monk at St. Mary's at Villanova.  We were not able to go to St. Mary's, but we visited St. Thomas. where he would attend mass frequently.

 Interior of St. Thomas:

Statue of St. Thomas.

This was truly a wonderful day.

Sunday was rainy!  We attended the Valley Forge Second Ward.  It is so green and lush here. Here's what it looked like on our way back to the hotel:

And tomorrow we will make a stop in Somerset, Pennsylvania, before heading to Columbus, Ohio.