A walk around Manila

I saw one sight today, the oldest church in the Philippines, Nuestra Señora de Gracia Church. Ground was broken in 1601 and completed in 1629. The hotel told me it would be fine to take the public train called the MRT to the stop for the church, but to take a taxi from the train station. I asked a policeman at the station where was the best place to get a taxi. He told me to follow him. After a bit of walking I asked him where we were going and he told me we were going to the church, "It's my service." I saw why after we turned the last corner to the church. It's in a very run down part of the city. His name was Leo and he said I would be fine after I got to the church and to take a jeepney or taxi to the hotel. He must have felt sorry for me because he stuck around (he wanted to say a prayer he said) and walked me back to the station. We had a nice chat to and from the church. He wanted to know what he had to do to find a cop job in the USA. I had no idea of course, but he wanted to give me his phone # and email address. I took it figuring it wouldn't hurt to have a police contact while I was here. I'll try to get some information to him of course. It's the least I can do. The pictures are of the church, the policeman Leo and the street.

The church was interesting. It's run by the Augustinian monks now. It's one of the most popular places in Manila for weddings. They were getting it ready for one when I walked in. I tried to video the statue of Christ that was in the back. They parade it on feast days. On certain feast days all the ladies where pink and the men wear light blue as those are the colors of the Virgin Mary.

The train was no problem. Lots of people on it; although I don't know where they were going. Almost nothing was open. Everyone was very quiet and minded their own business. It only cost 10 pesos each way (about 25 cents). It was clean and ran well. It was as good as any train in Dallas or Chicago.

After 10am most of the stores are open, but very few tourist sights. I had gone to the hotel concierge for some advice and they told me they would call me tomorrow with my options. I decided to go over to the Glorietta Mall to check things out and go to one of the super markets to pick up a few things I was running low on. It's just as well. The day stayed sunny and it got super hot. This will be the first day it hasn't rained at all.

I've gotten some requests for pictures of the hotel. I posted a video of the outside of the hotel I took while I was leaving this morning. I'll post some more. All the videos are at YouTube. My ID is jimtexan1. In the meantime, check out the website for some pics: http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/manila/makatishangrila
The pictures there will be better than any I could take.