NEW YORK CITY

Our day in New York City was fast-paced! Riding on a typical tour bus, the 83-year-old tour guide was a native New Yorker who not only filled us in with fascinating historical facts but who also entertained us.

We started off with a driving tour around parts of the city, with certain things pointed out to us.

Then we were dropped off for a 30-minute period where we could explore on our own. There certainly was not enough time to visit any stores, but we walked around Times Square and a few blocks beyond to take some photos.

College Girl near Radio City Music Hall.  

(We didn't have enough time to walk any closer since we had to make it back to the bus!)

The most exciting part of this for us was to see “the ball” that drops on New Year’s Eve and to be standing where millions of people stand every year. While I have no desire to be there on any New Year’s Eve, it was wonderful to see where it all happens. Watching the ball drop has been a family tradition since I was a child. (I miss Dick Clark!)

It was also Fleet Week in NYC … an aircraft carrier was docked and thousands of sailors were in town. Mechanic Man and I were having flashbacks to our prior life! ;)

Back on the bus, we were dropped off with the tour guide to walk to other areas of interest, starting at the Canyon of Heroes.    Along the route, there is a granite marker for each parade that was held there.

Next, we walked to the financial district of the city where we were able to walk down Wall Street.

There is also quite a bit of history to that area (the original start of New York City) related to George Washington.   This statue commemorates the location where George Washington took his oath of office as our first US President.

During another short break, we snatched up some delicious pizza or a Sabrett hot dog from the vendor. (We were informed that the WATER, derived 125 miles away from the city, is the foundation of the awesomely unique taste of all dough products created in NYC!)

Next, we were taken to the 9/11 Memorial.

 

 There is water flowing from all four sides of the walls, which are built over the foundation of one of the Twin Towers, which is the square in the center.

 

 The white rose represents that person's birthday.  A red rose would represent a wedding anniversary.

They have rebuilt all the damaged buildings around the Twin Towers' site except for two.

The FREEDOM TOWER was built as a memorial of the Twin Towers.
It is 1,776 feet tall.

 

                      The white "dove" will eventually be an entrance to a museum.

The first responders to the 9/11 disaster:

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Did you know that of all the buildings in the area that were destroyed or damaged by the terrorism, only the three churches had absolutely nothing happen? 



 #1  St. Paul's Chapel -- the church where George Washington attended services

 Look behind the sign ... what do you see?

 (This is the original Washington monument ... before the one that was built in Washington, DC)

#2  Trinity Church - part of St. Paul's Chapel ... rebuilt after being destroyed in a fire during Revolutionary War. 

The steeple is on display as the only remaining part of original church after the fire.


#3  St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church

The priest from this church had given the Last Rites to many victims of the 9/11 attacks and was sadly a victim as well.

May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.  

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Finally, the part of the trip the boys were mostly looking forward to … heading to the Statue of Liberty! Driving over to the NJ side to catch a ferry, we were first taken to Ellis Island.

What feelings tingled through me as I thought of my Italian ancestors who likely walked down these very stairs ….

… or stood in this large room to be checked in/approved …

 (Our tour guide is the one with the blue hat.  Follow the "blue hat" is what we were told.  :)  )

… and eventually moved to the Brooklyn borough. So much history happened in this one place!

There was so much more to see here, but we had to catch the ferry to Liberty Island!

Once again, we waited patiently in line to board the ferry to travel to Liberty Island. (We spent more time waiting in line than we did on either island!) This was the final stop of our tour. We made a quick dash around the base to arrive to the front of the statue for a quick visit before heading back to wait in line at the dock for the ferry because we didn’t want to miss the tour bus back to the campground! Consequently, we didn’t have an opportunity to do more than take some photos.

 Then it was time to head back to New Jersey ... and take more pictures of the scenery and enjoy another NY treat -- jumbo, soft pretzles -- aboard the ferry.

 As many times as I have been here over my lifetime, I always love to visit. It reminds me not only of how blessed we are to live in this great country; but it reminds me, too, (out on the island in New York Harbor) of how small we all are in the greater picture of life.

We made it back to our tour guide, who took our family picture in NJ with the Manhattan skyline behind us.

 In the parking lot the bus was waiting near a monument that was erected in honor of 9/11. Standing in this one spot, we saw where the Twin Towers once stood.  It's called the Empty Sky Memorial .

Relieved to be sitting on the bus again and heading back to the campground, we all either enjoyed the complimentary showing of The Dean Martin Show or fell asleep. (I did both.) It was a very memorable day!