My Travel Adventures

I spent my first day back in the US hanging out with my friend Michael, who has previously appeared on this blog here , here , and here . As he had just arrived from California, we stored his suitcase in my room while we went out to explore the city. Although I have been to New York many times (most often in connection with voting and obtaining visas), there are many places I regret never visiting. Since Michael had no preferences as to what to do and see, I got carte blanche to make up for some of these omissions. We started the day on a spiritual note, visiting Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and the Episcopal Saint Thomas Church. The former struck us with its sheer vastness and atmospheric stained-glass windows. The latter had a sprawling organ, which we heard being played as we entered. We also tried to visit the Central Synagogue, but found it closed due to the pandemic. The only exigent item on my itinerary was to buy a phone plan for my upcoming road trip, the two requirements bei...

We arrived at the train station in Salisbury in the evening, so we quickly checked in and ate dinner. As my friend had never been to the UK before, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to immerse him in the local culture: not only did we have dinner at the local Wetherspoons, we stayed the night in the adjoining King’s Head Inn Wetherspoon. Before going to sleep, we made a quick excursion to Salisbury Cathedral, which was beautifully lit up and peaceful (I resisted a few disgruntled calls to be spontaneous and just walk in any direction for an hour).