NY, NY Day 6

NY - Day 6

Monday... and the last day of our NY adventure! So of course we had to fill it up!

Our first stop was the Empire State Building. A site Jeremy and I have been to several times... but it's one of those places that is always fun to return to and take the kids up!

these pictures were obviously taken at a different time, but they fit in with the days theme!

this is in the entry of the building... I have always thought it was so cool!

the girls just enjoying the days ride!

Views from the top!

looking NE towards the Chrysler Building

looking up!

On this trip the Empire State building had opened up and additional pass to the top of the spire. So we decided to check it out! For an additional $15 per person (yikes, but the girls were free) we headed on up! This particular portion was indoors and very cramped. It was a neat experience to say we have done it but I would say save your $$$ it wasn't worth it. The view from the main viewing deck is far better!

looking South... in the center of the picture you can see the Flat Iron's Building and to the right is the Hudson River... Before September 11, 2001 you would have seen the Twin Towers at the very top of the picture. Some day I will have to dig out my NY pictures from the 2001 summer when I lived there and post those pictures. They were such good memories and the World Trade Center attack was only a few months after I returned back to college. It was very sad to know that they were gone and I had literally stood on top of them only a few months before. but my parents sure were happy I was back in Texas!

it was very windy up there!

looking down (on the West side) at Macy's and Herald's Square

(this is where the Thanksgiving Day parade ends)

looking southeast (I think) at Madison Square Garden

(it's the big block building and the round building poking out from the side of it on the right)

I just wanted a picture with the girls at the top... can you tell who isn't cooperating?

After our trip to the top of The Empire State building we walked over to Herald Square and enjoyed street vendor hot dogs ... yummy!

Then we rode the subway south...

and the girls had much needed naps along the way...

We got off the subway in Lower Manhattan and visited some of those sites...

Trinity Church

the grave yard around Trinity Church... I know it's kinda creepy to take a picture of a grave yard... but I do have a reason for doing so... besides the fact that it is very old and kind of neat historically. but the other reason for the pictures is this... Trinity Church is only a few blocks from the World Trade Center site and on September 11, 2001 as the buildings fell and debris went everywhere Trinity Church and it's grave yard stool untouched. A very large oak tree that stood tall shading the graveyard fell and it's branches landed within the stones keeping a "cage" over the yard and protecting the headstones. Not a single headstone was crushed and the Church stood tall through it all giving a place for the people to take shelter. Thanks be to God! he certainly works in mysterious ways!

The NY Stock Exchange

In all of my trips to NY this is one place I have never visited. I have walked past and look down the "wall" street towards it but have never actually seen the place it's self. Until now...

This building and statue of George Washington is caddy corner to the stock exchange building. The plaque below the statue reads " On this site in Federal Hall, April 30, 1762 (I think) George Washington took the oath as the first president of the United States of America" Huh, who knew that happened in NY? Not me!

looking down Wall Street towards the Trinity Church

New York Stock Exchange Building... I sure wish we could have gone inside!

but this is as close as you can get!

After visiting the stock exchange we headed over to Ground Zero. We visit every time we are in NY to see the progress. It is a very special place to me because I spent the summer of 2001 in NY . My girlfriends and I stood atop the twin towers one evening and just happened to get on the elevator with the NYPD swat team who had been repelling off of the trade centers all day practicing for terrorism... a word that seemed so foreign at the time. Just a few months later after I returned to Tech I sat in my living room and watched the very buildings I had stood on just a few months earlier fall down... it was terribly sad. But anyway that's a post for another time... so anyway I always visit... this time there was something to see!

these pictures are from the 911 Memorial Preview museum... very neat! I can't wait to see it finished!

love this shirt!

Progress! that is the start of one of the new buildings being placed on the site...

8 whole years later!

This is the firestation that sits directly next to the world trade center sight

there was a museum that I would love to have visited but it was already closed

Love this lady!

We didn't go to see Lady Liberty on her island this time... Jeremy and I both have been several times so we thought we would save it to take the girls when they are a little older.

Adie on the Hudson

looking across the Hudson River towards Hoboken NY where Paige & Eric live

Time to head back to Hoboken via the Path train out of the (newly rebuilt) World Trade Center station

here are some things that hung in the station... very cool!

all of the heros names are written on the stripes of this flag

such a true statement!

view from the back of the train that runs through the world train center site

here we are... back in Hoboken

the train goes under the Hudson River... I think that's pretty neat!

Any how that's the end of our NY vacation! We had an awesome time and are always looking for a good reason to go back! Thanks Paige, Eric and Addison for sharing your home with us! And for all of you... I hope you get to visit NY soon! It's a fantastic place!