Friday, April 04, 2008

Sight Seeing



















Our first full day in New York:

-In the morning we spent a good bit of time trying to catch the New York Sightseeing Tour Bus. We had heard this was a great way to see the city and determine the places we'd like to re-visit. The website was very vague about their location and we were taken pity on by one of the tour guides who let us hitch a ride to the next stop where we could purchase tickets.

-In keeping with our good fortune the ticket stop was also the stop for ground zero and we were able to walk by foot to the gaping holes in the ground which were once the homes of two 110 story buildings known as the World Trade Center. In the above picture you can see the rendering for the memorial that will soon be erected in its place. We were also able to walk through the Memorial Visitor Center to see pictures of those who lost their lives, words from survivors who experienced the attacks first hand, and pieces of the steel beams from the building and a piece of the shell of one of the airplanes that were found in the wreckage. Getting to see this for ourselves and seeing how the buildings are clustered so close together and the streets are constantly filled with people I can hardly imagine what it was like on that day- the terror and chaos.

-Not far from there is Wall Street - Jeff really wanted to see the busy trading room floor...but we weren't allowed in.

- We then boarded our double decker bus and headed for Brooklyn via the Manhattan Bridge (the Brooklyn has weight limits and can only be passed by car or foot). Don't forget to duck! The traffic signals weigh 700 lbs each and come dangerously close to your head. Man, was it freezing!

- The Brooklyn tour ended in Time Square and the first thing Jeff wanted to see what the Apple store- go figure! This location stays open 24 hours, which I think is kind of ridiculous. We were also able to see Rockefeller Center (happy Mom?), Central Park, and all the other standard touristy spots. Can anyone tell my what all the Nitrogen is for? We saw these tanks all over the city and they seemed to be feeding down to the sewer...

-Our ride home? The MTA!

-We then had dinner with Martha, ok, not really, but we did eat at her favorite Italian restaurant in the Village- Luzzo's and it was pretty fabulous if I do say so myself- but I've learned you can take Martha's word alone ;)

1 comment:

Pat said...

I'm very happy - you are really experiencing everything! I see Jeff is filming too. Your Grandma Marie's father and Grandpa Bill's grandfather arrived in America by sailing into New York and tomorrow you'll be on your way to their homelands out of New York. Full circle?

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