Manhattan Day 4
Back on the bus today to go back downtown. We hit the deli again for breakfast and I did my best to try to look cool and New York-ish but this was the most I was willing to do.
We got off to see the World Trade Center site and the tiny church that was right next to the buildings but miraculously wasn't damaged. Of course it's all cleaned up and major construction is going on in the lower levels. All the memorials are gone but there are huge city signs erected to tell you the timeline of 9-11-01 and where everything was. I've never had a bigger lump in my throat I couldn't seem to swallow. Nathan and I didn't say a word the entire time and it took a few minutes after we walked away to even say anything to each other. It's so hard to imagine the massiveness of the buildings that were once there and the destruction that occurred but seeing the footprint of where the buildings once stood definitely put things into perspective and swallowed you back almost five years to all the news footage that made the area seem so familiar. The cross made from the structural beams is still there.
We strolled along Battery Park to the ferry and headed over to the Statue of Liberty.
It was very hazy and visibility very poor. They're letting people up into the base but still not the statue itself. We then made our way to Ellis Island where we spent about 2 hours taking the audio tour which I think is the best US tour I've taken. Go at your own pace and see/hear what you want much like the European museums and tourist sites.
We caught the ferry back and Nathan HAD to make some business calls while on the ferry. I swear sometimes I want to bite his head off the way that phone is ALWAYS ringing.
As we were standing on the back of the ferry, Nathan mentioned how my hair was blowing straight up and it looked like I had Statue of Liberty hair. I laughed and smoothed it down and glanced around and actually every single person's flyaway hair was standing on end. It was VERY weird. Due very much to the electrical storm that was blowing in from Jersey.
Back in the financial district we stopped for a late lunch at a pub and by the time we got back out on the street the storm had blown in and it was POURING! Lightning, thunder and LOTS of rain. It was an amazing downpour and the thunder reverberating up and down the streets was awesome. We put on our free rain ponchos and waited for our bus with tons of other people and quickly realized we were not going to get on a bus for awhile since the upper decks were soaking wet and everyone was shoved into the bottom floor like sardines. So we tramped down the financial district looking for the subway wearing our ponchos/garbage bags among all the men in suits with umbrellas. It was quite comical.
We took the subway to Penn Station and headed for daylight to Macy's. Penn Station has to be the ugliest and most confusing subway/train stations we've ever been to. Avoid at all costs! Since it was still raining we walked up to Times Square and found a movie theater and stopped in to see "The Break Up". Watchable but not fabulous. Still rain, thunder, and lightning so we stopped to pick up some Famous Ray's Pizza and took it back to our room to dry out. We'll see what the weather does tomorrow but we're lucky we got practically all our new York site seeing done before this storm blew in.
We got off to see the World Trade Center site and the tiny church that was right next to the buildings but miraculously wasn't damaged. Of course it's all cleaned up and major construction is going on in the lower levels. All the memorials are gone but there are huge city signs erected to tell you the timeline of 9-11-01 and where everything was. I've never had a bigger lump in my throat I couldn't seem to swallow. Nathan and I didn't say a word the entire time and it took a few minutes after we walked away to even say anything to each other. It's so hard to imagine the massiveness of the buildings that were once there and the destruction that occurred but seeing the footprint of where the buildings once stood definitely put things into perspective and swallowed you back almost five years to all the news footage that made the area seem so familiar. The cross made from the structural beams is still there.
We strolled along Battery Park to the ferry and headed over to the Statue of Liberty.
It was very hazy and visibility very poor. They're letting people up into the base but still not the statue itself. We then made our way to Ellis Island where we spent about 2 hours taking the audio tour which I think is the best US tour I've taken. Go at your own pace and see/hear what you want much like the European museums and tourist sites.
We caught the ferry back and Nathan HAD to make some business calls while on the ferry. I swear sometimes I want to bite his head off the way that phone is ALWAYS ringing.
As we were standing on the back of the ferry, Nathan mentioned how my hair was blowing straight up and it looked like I had Statue of Liberty hair. I laughed and smoothed it down and glanced around and actually every single person's flyaway hair was standing on end. It was VERY weird. Due very much to the electrical storm that was blowing in from Jersey.
Back in the financial district we stopped for a late lunch at a pub and by the time we got back out on the street the storm had blown in and it was POURING! Lightning, thunder and LOTS of rain. It was an amazing downpour and the thunder reverberating up and down the streets was awesome. We put on our free rain ponchos and waited for our bus with tons of other people and quickly realized we were not going to get on a bus for awhile since the upper decks were soaking wet and everyone was shoved into the bottom floor like sardines. So we tramped down the financial district looking for the subway wearing our ponchos/garbage bags among all the men in suits with umbrellas. It was quite comical.
We took the subway to Penn Station and headed for daylight to Macy's. Penn Station has to be the ugliest and most confusing subway/train stations we've ever been to. Avoid at all costs! Since it was still raining we walked up to Times Square and found a movie theater and stopped in to see "The Break Up". Watchable but not fabulous. Still rain, thunder, and lightning so we stopped to pick up some Famous Ray's Pizza and took it back to our room to dry out. We'll see what the weather does tomorrow but we're lucky we got practically all our new York site seeing done before this storm blew in.
posted by treighsee | 9:14 PM
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