Happy Bastille Day!

Happy Bastille Day everyone! It's that day of the year where everyone breaks out their French accents and their berets (though, admittedly, I have neither). Stephanie and I went in to the city to the French Festival in midtown. We were greeted by an arc or red, white, and blue balloons, though none representing the U.S. of course. Beyond the French banners and flags was a man boxed in by police barriers shouting at every passerby in French. This same man happened to be wearing a U.S.A. collared shirt, but who's counting. We grabbed a couple of chicken pitas and made our way from east to west down the street. In the distance a stage was erected on the side of the street. As we made our way towards it, a chorus of French audience members joined together in gang-vocal fashion singing something which I didn't understand. Stephanie got a bon-bon (or two) and I got a strawberry crepe. They were delicious! At five o'clock we headed back downtown to go to mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Inside the Cathedral I couldn't help but think back to when I read Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth. The architecture was amazing. The ceiling was immense. You really feel small in such a large place. Going to mass there is a strange experience in itself. The place is kind of like a mixture between a church and Disney World. In the back of the room there was a shop selling gifts and a reception desk. There were even people taking pictures of the place. Once the Mass was over we went outside and I saw this sixty year old Asian man dressed in full goth gear. He was wearing a red kilt, knee high leather buckled boots, spikes, studs, leather, mesh, eyeliner, fingernail polish, and had about a seven inch spike of hair sticking up out of the middle of his bald hair. Only in New York can you step out of a church and into the circus.

We were hungry for some good pasta, so we headed down to Little Italy. There are so many places to choose from down there. We settled down at a small restaurant called Benito's I. The food was fabulous! The best meal we've had thus far.