On a rainy day we visited the First Presbyterian Church in Lockport NY just across the Canadian / US border to see the Stained Glass windows made in the Tiffany Studios New York. Some of them are made by Louis Comfort Tiffany himself! The latest one in another Studio in Tiffany“s tradition.
As expected it took us about half an hour to pass the US border. We had our new Austrian passports with all fingerprints in it and had registered properly via internet from Austria and then we waited in a hall with a crowd of other people. After answering a lot of questions like „Are you member of a terrorist organization?“, writing down our names and date of birth for another 4 times, we were asked to give our TEN fingerprints again and also our iris was scanned! Is this the freedom of the USA which made so many people come to the New World with lots of hope and engagement? Also by the officers allover, in bullet proof vests and with guns, we were rather reminded of our visits at checkpoints in the Westbank. Thinking of all the Palestinians standing in lines, waiting for hours, not knowing if they will come to the other side, it gave us patience as we could be quite certain to enter the US at the end. But I really would have liked to ask if they don’t want to have tourists!
Anyhow, after this not so pleasant experience we where so much delighted by the visit to this church with its marvellous windows! Remember, it was a rainy day, so you would not think of seeing nice shiny colours! Standing inside the church and being surrounded by all these beautiful colours, each of them telling another touching story of the bible, our mood was changed. Touching the glass (you are allowed to!) you can feel the masterart of craftmanship bringing all that life in the shown scenes, mostly taken from St. John’s Gospel. Again words can’t tell what we saw and felt admiring these messages in glass. Please just follow the pictures and enjoy! The photos are all taken by ourselves, today, during rain and without any supportive light!