NYC Day 2: Statue of Liberty, Trinity Church, 9/11 Memorial, Anastasia

Becky, Marianne, Mandi, Jenn on Times Square

Becky, Marianne, Me, Jenn on Times Square

Traffic is in.sane.

Harry Potter on Broadway, The Hard Rock Cafe.

Mostly the subway is packed.

This is what happens when you have a whole subway car to yourselves.

Today was a full, and amazing day. I'll never come up with the right words to describe New York, or how I felt walking around the streets, or riding the Subway, or taking in the sights. Being here is lifechanging; or at least, there's a knowledge that my horizons have been stretched, that the way I view the world has been expanded, and because of those experiences I will never quite see the world or my place in it the same as I did before. And I'm so grateful. My love of all things Humanities-related is resurfacing, and blossoming and I'm on cloud nine. 

We spent the morning exploring Times Square while we waited to meet up with Becky's sister-in-law. Becky hasn't seen her SIL for a few years, and she happened to be bringing her son to a braodway play for a school field-trip. So we waited for them to meet us in Bubba Gump's so that Becky could say hello. 

After that we got on the Subway and headed to the Staten Island Ferry so that we could see the Statue of Liberty. The ferry was pretty cool. We sat outside on the deck so that we could have a good view. It was raining and misty out, so wouldn't see the skyline super. But we could see Lady Liberty just fine. She was actually a lot smaller than I was expecting her to be. But still awesome. Some day I'd like to pay to take the boat and go onto the island and get the official tour. But today seeing her for free was excellent enough. 

Jenn and I

Lower Manhatten skyline

Becky and me and Lady Liberty!

Becky, Mandi, Jenn, and Marianne taking pics from the deck.

Statue of Liberty selfie

This is one for the blooper reel, haha!

View of Staten Island from the ferry.

Staten Island Ferry

After the ferry, we walked up to Trinity Church. I'm sad to say all I know of Trinity Church comes from the movie National Treasure. But the building is a-mazing. The Gothic architecture alone is worth stopping to look at. But the feeling there. Wow. This is probably the oldest building, by far, that I've ever seen. The original church was erected in 1697, although the one that stands there now is the third building as was built in 1846. And you can feel how old it is. It's not the same as a spiritual feeling, but there is definitely a sense of awe, and hush, and solemness there. It just made me think about how old New York really is, compared to the West where I live. This city has been a city for a LONG time. And I'm tripping over words to describe this sensation, but maybe someday you'll stand here too, and it will make sense. I can't even imagine what Europe must feel like. Anyways, I couldn't get over Trinity Church and it's cemetery. Both strangely beautiful things out of a time long gone, with skyscrapers built up all around it. It almost doesn't seem real.

Trinity Church peeking out between two buildings. 

Jenn, Marianne, Becky, and I with the Wall Street Bull.

About the Wall Street Bull: The bull was cast by the Bedi-Makky Art Foundry in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Di Modica spent some $360,000 to create, cast, and install the sculpture following the 1987 stock market crash as a symbol of the "strength and power of the American people". The sculpture was Di Modica's idea, and in an act of guerrilla art, Bedi Makky Art Foundry and Di Modica trucked it to Lower Manhattan. On December 15, 1989, they installed it beneath a 60-foot (18 m) Christmas tree in the middle of Broad Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange as a Christmas gift to New Yorkers. That day, hundreds of onlookers stopped to admire and analyze it as Di Modica handed out copies of a flier about his artwork.[4]

NYSE officials called police later that day, and the NYPD seized the sculpture and placed it into an impound lot. The ensuing public outcry led the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to reinstall it two blocks south of the Exchange, in Bowling Green, with a ceremony on December 21, 1989. It faces up Broadway at Whitehall Street

Other historically cool buildings we saw: Federal Hall, The New York Stalk Exchange, and The Trump Building.

Federal Hall

New York Stalk Exchange

The Trump Building

Then we stopped in at Lenwich for lunch and had the most delicious chicken sandwich I've ever eaten in my whole life. Who am I kidding, I'm pretty sure ALL the food in NY is fabulous because it's vacation food, and I don't have to prepare or clean up after any of it. And because I don't have to make sure any kids eat it all, haha! But it was a very yummy sandwich. Better than Kneaders or Zupas.

Chickavo - Avocado, Roasted Red Peppers, Mesclun & Ranch Dressing

Magnolia trees were in bloom everywhere, and I couldn't help but snap a picture of this one with the city in the background. 

After lunch we felt ready to attempt the 9/11 Monument and Museum. We actually debated about whether or not to pay to get into the museum, but it was one of the things in the city Mandi hadn't ever seen and wanted to, so we did it. And I'm SO GLAD we did. You could spend hours and hours there. The museum is really well-done. It recreates the feeling of confusion and surrealism that surrounded that day. The museum is set up in a time-line starting with early morning and proceeding minute by minute throughout that day. You see airport survalience footage of the high-jackers walking though airport security and boarding planes. You hear phone calls made to the fire-department, You watch television programs being interrupted by special news bulletins announcing that airplanes have crashed into the Twin Towers, but  no one yet knows why, and everyone is waiting for more information. You wander through debris and read about where it was found. You hear recordings or phone calls made from passengers on flights to their spouses. You can step into little alcoves and listen to clips of people telling their experiences being in or near the buildings, or emergency personnel responding to calls. As you walk through all your senses are stimulated, but in an organized way so that it's not more overpowering than it's meant to be. You go from one things to the next seamlessly, things aren't jumbled together or all on top of each other. And even though it commemorates a horrific historical event, and you can feel the heavyness and sadness, there is also the empowering sense that those lost will be remembered and that we will continue to move forward and be better. Hope, maybe. Maybe it's hope you can feel, or peace. I can't say for sure.

The emotions. Holy smokes. I was not prepared for the rush of emotions that overcame me as I walked through remembering, and learning. I sobbed in parts. And I'm not typically one to display my emotions openly. I lived through this. I remember exactly where I was when I first saw it on the news, and exactly what I did all that day. I remember being confused and afraid, and so, so sad. And while I was walking though this museum, thinking about my own emotions and how they must be magnified by a zillion for the people who were actually in New York at the time, it hit me too, that this must be how Pearl Harbor was for my grandparents. It meant something to them, the way 9/11 means something to me. How soon we forget. Pearl Harbor is about as real to me, as 9/11 will be to my own kids and grandkids. Not the same as living it. "Dedicated to those who fell, and those who carry on. May we never forget." What beautiful words. This place touched me deeply, in a way no other experience ever has.

After the 9/11 Memorial, we came back to the hotel for a bit of a rest, then out again to Broadway to see Anastasia. Having never been to a Broadway play in my life, I didn't know what to expect, but I was blown away! I'd give up a trillion visits to the movie theater in exchange for one chance at a Broadway play! *swoon* All the feels. I was captivated and fully engaged and invested in the plot and the characters. It was SO well-done. The moral dilemma of Gleb the Soviet officer was so much to my taste, I loved it. Absolutely loved it. All of it! Ah, can I just live in NY and go to Broadway plays every day of my life? I want to see them ALL.