New York City ‘13

We want to thank Bill and Marie for the outstanding job they did in hosting our latest reunion for us all to enjoy.   We all descended in to New York on different days but everyone was there at the Marriott Downtown by Thursday evening on the 21st for the check-in and get-together.    We all enjoy renewing acquaintances and meeting new people.  After a couple of drinks and getting our itineraries for the rest of the week, we broke up into groups and went to dinner.   

The Marriott is about a half block from Ground Zero.  Everyone went to see it at least once while we were there.  It’s still in progress but is an impressive place to visit.  Some of us also went to another 9/11memorial over on Staten Island which is  smaller, but is very beautiful.  

Friday morning we were in the lobby at 9:15 to meet Annaline Dinkelmann, our guide for the morning walk and tour of the area around Wall Street.   Ms. Dinklemann is a trader on Wall street but does the tours in the mornings and trades in the afternoons. 

We walked by the Trinity Episcopal Church, one of the oldest and one of the most wealthy churches in U.S.  

Next, we walked to Federal Hall which was built as new York’s City Hall and later served as the first capitol building of the United States of America where George Washington was inaugurated.  As they were inaugurating George Washington they realized that they didn’t have a Bible for him to take the oath on.  They had to go borrow one from the Free Masons.  The Bible has been used by most of the U.S. presidents.