I love Boston way more than New York, well Manhattan at least. I mean,
yes they have all these Time Square with billboards and huge screens everywhere,
but I am not a fan of all these worldly attractions, Hollywood characters and
branded retail stores. We took the free ferry ride to Staten Island to snap
some pictures of the Statue of Liberty, went to the Museum of National History,
the Central Park and 9/11 site where the World Trade Centre collapsed and
changed the whole world.
The only thing I love in New York was the wonderful, delicious,
delightful and appetizing hotdog booths. They sell other foods too like
Falafel, Kebab, Lamb Gyro and sausages. We can find it almost anyywhere in Manhattan
and almost all of them are Egyptians. We would usually order the foods in colloquial
Arabic. Amazing how many Egyptians we found in this city selling these good
halal foods.
We managed to also visit Park 51, or as Americans call it the Ground
Zero Mosque. We were surprised to find out that the mosque looks like a closed
shop along the street. There was a custodian of the mosque; a well built Muslim
African American who guards it. The place was dark; the basement seems to be
under construction. There is no specific allocated space for ablution. We do it
inside the restroom. The cultural centre on the side of the main prayer hall was
empty. There is no one else except another man besides us. We were told that there
is no permanent Imam to lead the prayers. It is quite sad to see no one
prospering the mosque. I hope it is just because it’s Sunday and that it is
lively on other days.
