New York before South Africa

Weatherwise, it turned out to be a dreary day in New York City. It rained from the time we got to our hotel near JFK airport until we returned to the hotel after midnight. We didn't make it to the Mets game which was rained out, and we didn't get to walk the streets of NYC as much as we would have otherwise, but it was still a great start to the trip. We were welcomed to the sacristy at St. Patrick's cathedral, and were able to pray for about an hour before concelebrating a Mass there at 5:30pm. Fr. Scott was introduced as a new priest at St. Patrick's but the celebrant cut off the folks before they could applaud him. Unfortunately, the celebrant consumed all the precious blood for our concelebrated Mass, so that was a letdown, but it still was a joy to concelebrate a Mass at the main altar of such a historic and inspiring gothic Church in New York. After Mass we grabbed pizza with some old friends of Fr. Scott's at Lombardi's, voted one of the top pizza places in the city. It was delicious! Then we met some other of Fr. Scott's friends for cheesecake at Junior's in the theatre district. Again, the weather was crummy, and I didn't get to cross the new Citi field off my list, but that will be for another time. We got back late, and are excited to head to the airport in the morning to check-in for our flight to Dubai, then to Johannesburg. We arrive in Johannesburg right in the middle of the first World Cup game - South Africa vs. Mexico! Go Bahana Bahana!