New York City ~ April 25-29, 2012 (Part Two)

Friday April 27, 2012

Friday morning we all ate together at the restaurant in our hotel...and it was delicious!  YUM!  I got french toast with caramelized bananas and nutella...enough said.

This is our entire group: Dr. Layton, Krista, Me, Kanoi, Wendy, Ginger, Dr. Wimmer
Ashley, Breanne, Loree, Theresa, Amanda (Jeff isn't pictured)

Friday we went on the bus tour again, but on the other side of the city!  It was a great day!  We got to see some pretty historic sites.  Let the pictures begin again:
United States Post Office, it's huge!  And made me think of Mom and Dad...

Empire State Building:

We had the opportunity to visit the 911 Memorial Site.  It was incredible.  Very awe-inspiring. It was a great reminder of what our country went through and how we have come together.  The Memorial was beautiful and very special and had a great feeling of peace there.  I'm so grateful for the time we had to spend in that sacred place.

Pictures do NOT do these fountains justice.  It was amazing how when you were around them they just shut all the other sounds of construction and life out.  It was wonderful.

This tree is called the "Survivor Tree."  This was one of my favorite parts of the site.  I'm just going to quote the pamphlet, because that is why they are made... "All but one of the trees on the Memorial are swamp white oaks. The exception is a Callery pear tree known as the 'Survivor Tree.' This tree was planted on the original World Trade Center plaza in the 1970s, and stood at the eastern edge of the site near Church Street.  After 9/11, workers found the damaged tree, reduced to an eight-foot-tall stump, in the wreckage at Ground Zero.  The tree was nursed back to health in a New York City park and grew to be 30 feet tall, sprouting new branches and flowering in the springtime. In March 2010, the tree was uprooted by severe storms, but true to its name, it survived.  In December 2010, the tree returned to the WTC site. Standing just west of the south pool, it embodies the story of survival and resilience that is so important to the history of 9/11. Today, the tree is supported by temporary guide wires as it takes root."  I love how in the second picture you can see the old bark and the regrowth of the new bark, it's amazing!

The WTC Visitor's Center was amazing.  They played this little video about people who survived 9/11 and I had to work really hard not to bawl my eyes out in the middle of the place.

Here are some more pictures for Landen:

I liked how they had items from that day:

After our visit there we walked for awhile down to go see the Statue of Liberty!

But we had to stop to get pretzels first...mine was stuffed with pizza toppings :)  It was funny because we kept forgetting to eat!  We just kept ourselves so busy...

We had a little detour on the way to the Statue...which brings in embarrassing Wendy part two!  There were these street dancers (who were insanely incredible by the way) who were just starting a little show and we got sucked in.  We were some of the first people to start watching and all of a sudden this guy comes right up to Wendy and takes off his jacket and started "hitting" on her and then made her dance with him...one of the funniest things I have EVER seen!  I couldn't stop laughing...and we all loved replaying it the rest of the trip...so funny!!!  FYI: in the last picture that guy is for real doing a front flip over 5 people!

Statue of Liberty here I come!!!  I was sooooo excited!  Of course it was the coldest and windiest day of them all!  It made that ferry ride super cold, but totally worth it.  Sorry about all the pictures of the Statue of Liberty, I just liked so many, just know that I cut tons of them out!  This place made me entirely happy :)  A dream come true.

Another bike for Landen...

This was my favorite picture of the trip!  It just happened.  No special effects, no photoshopping.  LOVE.

Everyone got such a kick out of this picture!  I realized that at work those girls don't see me and my picture making faces, so it totally threw them off!  It was awesome.  That is just me being me pulling a face...and the tied hood helped the situation :)  It was so cold and windy on that bus it was necessary.

We went to Little Italy for dinner.  We walked through a lot of shops too, which was really fun, until I hit "the wall" and needed food...NOW.  So I was happy to get to Lombardi's.  Someone in NYC (maybe our tour guide) recommended it to Theresa and Jeff.  It is apparently "America's First Pizzeria"...and it was DELICIOUS.  I had the BEST calzone EVER.  Just see the picture...

On our way home from Little Italy we got a little lost...but as Landen and I prefer to say, "we took an adventure..."  We walked for a really long time and couldn't find a bus stop anywhere.  Finally we found a bus stop, just to realize the bus was not running anymore...yeah.  So, it was time to get a taxi...it was my very first taxi cab ride...and I thought I was going to die.  Those drivers are crazy!  But I was so happy I didn't have to walk back to the hotel :)  Once we all got back it was time to go back out to Times Square!  The stairs at Times Square:

World's Largest Reese's Cup!!!

At the M&M factory all the employees started line dancing.  I was on the phone with Landen and just following the girls around, I ended up going up and down the escalator a few times and then next thing I know I am off the phone and we are dancing with them!  It was so fun!!!  Clubbing at the M&M factory :)  Doesn't get better than that.

Another amazing day complete!