Sunday was packed full and my feet were crying mercy by the end of it all! I was thankful for my light and airy Crocs I bought before the trip. :) There was so much we wanted to do and though we made time for it all, we were completely worn out by day's end. It was so much fun though! Here's what we did in pictures:
Sunday: Double Decker Bus Tour Day 2, Chinatown, World Trade Center Tribute Museum & 9/11 National Memorial, Wall Street, Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty, Redeemer Presbyterian (Tim Keller's church)
View from the top of the bus
Wow, I sure am looking pregnant. I bought a cute fedora-style hat on the street corner the previous day. I wanted to try it out - it worked great, although I did get a little hot on Canal street.
Cute family pic on top of the bus.
Empire State Building - another gorgeous day, although a wee bit hotter than Saturday.
Flat Iron Building. I had to take the picture fast before my head got chopped off by one of those low hanging street lights!
When we arrived on Canal Street and got of the bus, an Asian lady immediately greeted us with a booklet of sorts and said "You want purse, watch, handbag, sunglass?" We said, "Uh, sure!" She promptly lead us down several streets, several blocks from our bus stop and we somehow ended up at this "store" you see below. We were guided to the back of the store where another merchant carefully pushed open a secret door and ushered us in to a small room filled with knock-off designer bags, totes, purses, clutches, wallets, belts and other accessories. Wow it sure was an experience! I ended up buying a "Michael Kors" navy tote bag which promptly broke as soon as I loaded it with my things at the Starbucks down the street. Of course, we immediately walked back and they replaced the strap for me. Now it works wonderfully and I'm so pleased with my so-called designer bag! :)
Thank goodness Dad and Jay were there to watch our backs. It felt like we were being lead into some trafficking system! Yikes!
After our awesome experience in Chinatown (I loved it so much I wanted to come back - which we ended up doing Tuesday morning before we left), we made our way back to the bus and headed toward lunch and the World Trade Center Tribute Museum & 9/11 National Memorial (it's sort of taboo to call it Ground Zero now). We walked through the Tribute Museum taking pictures and reading stories upon stories of how people reacted and felt that unforgettable day. It was very moving and sobering.
A recovered firefighter's uniform still mainly intact
A demolished steel beam recovered from the scene
Origami in the stairwell
They are in the process of rebuilding the World Trade Center which will be taller than the orginal towers. That's the pic in the upper left corner.
This is one of the pools symbolizing the the South Tower. Every person who lost their life has his/her name engraved on the wall.
After the memorial, we stopped for a Mister Softee ice cream cone. I got vanilla sprinkles and Jay got chocolate dipped. :)
Then we went to see the Bull on Wall Street that is in lots of movies, though I couldn't tell you one of them off the top of my head. We chose the head....
And Dad and Mom chose the butt! Ha ha.
We made our way over to Battery Park to catch the ferry over to Lady Liberty and Ellis Island. It was getting very warm and there were a ton of people waiting in line, but we knew it would be worth it once we saw her up close.
Here she is from our ferry.
New York skyline in the background. See the tallest building? That's the new WTC.
Snapped this awesome shot sitting down. America.
There's Jay and me small as ants near the bottom!
The ferry station
Our first subway ride over to the west side for church service
Getting tired yet?
Although we were exhausted, it was Sunday and we were looking forward to worshipping at a church we'd heard much about. It was a wonderful service and we all enjoyed it very much.
After church, we finally made it to dinner at Five Napkin Burger - a place our tour guide from the previous day had mentioned and highly recommended. We'd do the same. It. Was. DELICIOUS.
We were so pooped and stuffed after dinner we decided to take a taxi back to the hotel. Bed was calling our names as another fantastic day had come to a close.
When we got back I wasn't too tired to snap a quick Instagram shot of my "goodies" from the day.
Michael Kors navy blue handbag
Tory Burch black leather bracelet
Michael Kors tortoise shell watch
David Yurman pearl and torquoise bracelets
Street vendor fedora hat
***
Still more to come from NYC! Our last full day coming up tomorrow. Keep you posted...
