Day 8

7-7-09 Happy 8 year anniversary!

Woke up early and decided to use the hotel restaurant. Bad choice as it was SUPER expensive for VERY little. Leaving hungry we still decided to tackle New York in good spirits. We contemplated seeing shows like Blue Man or the Lion King on Broadway, but decided to save on cash. We went to the Grey Lines (which we would recommend to anyone). We signed up for the Hop-on, Hop-off tour. Very worth it!


Our first guide was okay, but our second was great! Imagine a Mediteranean man who's favorite saying in patchy english is "dear guests". He was very knowledgable and friendly!


Our first stop was Lady Liberty. We found the end of the LONG line (an hour wait) to get onto the boat that would take us over. We listened to multiple musicians who probably made a higher salary than Jen (tax free) for playing the same song over and over. Went through a LOT of security. Got a Christmas ornament instead of going up into her crown. (You had to pay and wait in yet another line.) We viewed some neat sculptures near the base. Jen thought about taking a loose brick from the base, but decided against it. (:D)




We jumped back on the boat and went to Ellis Island. Wandered around and looked up famly names in their archives.





We returned back to NYC where we were properly greeting/accosted by hungry vendors eager to sell their merchandise.

We continued by foot to Trinity church where Alexander Hamilton was buried. The funky tree roots are right outside of the church. The artist had a different intention when he installed it there.. but I felt it was appropriate... the church.. or rather in Christ, is where our roots should be!




Took pictures at the Bull (charging means stocks are good) at Wall Street, went to ground 0. Somewhere in there went to Federal Hall where George Washington swore in as first president of America. The picture is of the actual Bible he swore in on. Jen's vertigo has been getting worse.
Wall street bull.
It was either stand in line for getting a picture, or just snap one and go... and we were on a mission.


federal hall




ground zero... a lot of construction. It was eerie to visualize those horrific pictures we all saw on the tv of people running down the streets between skyscrapers and dust blowing everywhere.



Walked, walked, and walked. Hopped on the bus and hopped off a few times to get to the Empire State building. Interesting fact. You can't get cell phone range at the top of the Empire State Building. Strange huh?






Things we saw:
Lady Liberty


Trinity Cemetary and church
Wall Street
Trump Plaza
Brooklyn Bridge
China Town
Chrysler Building
Central Park
Ellis Island
Ground Zero
Macy's (largest)
Federal Hall
Empire State Building (83 stories)
Times Square at night and day



A three story m&m store
and finally back to our weird hotel.

I have so many pictures that I just spent a half an hour looking through them for this posting... and finally gave up. It's exhausting.

During our adventure we met a blind man named Philip who we got to walk with to the metro system. He plans on getting a seeing eye dog from Oregon. It was good to meet and walk with him.

It was a good, and eventful day. Who would have thought we would be in New York on our 8 year anniversary?

I'll leave you with this... Leo was able to walk around the entire perimeter of the Empire State Building with the digital camera. I can't promise it not being a little bumpy because he had to shuffle through massive amounts of people... but you can get the view from your very own home so here goes....