'I Luv New York'

Do we look like tourists?? (Maybe the T-shirts give us away.) We decided to be adventurous this weekend and head on a two-day get-away to NYC. The adventure started early Friday morning as we waited to load the Chinatown bus. The 4-hour bus ride wasn't too bad, with only a brief 20 min. stop to wait for one of the passengers to buy her breakfast at McDonalds. :) As we approached NYC we could see the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building from a distance. Once we were off the bus, we were walking non-stop to see the big city. We loved every minute of our brief trip to New York and we can't wait to hopefully go back again.









On Friday we were able to see a bit of Chinatown and Little Italy, giving us a small taste of each country. Chinatown smelled like fish and was swarming with women in search to buy the perfect purse. Bargaining with the Chinese was a blast and we even came out with some 'great deals.' Unfortunately for the Chinese, several of their businesses have been shut down by the government because of legal issues, but it appears they are finding other ways to still sell illegally. :)

After visiting Chinatown, we took the Subway to Ground Zero. Ground Zero was a humbling experience. We were able to see the remains of the World Trade Center and view the names of those who were killed. Flags were hung all around the area of the World Trade Center. There was a small church across the street from Ground Zero with pictures of those who had died with remains from September 11th.












Visiting at Ground Zero really made all of the events of September 11th seem very real. There was a Bell of Hope given to New York to honor those who had died.









We also saw the remains of a very old tree that was toppled over from the rubble of the Twin Towers.









A Memorial is being built in place of the World Trade Center to remember those who had died and the heroes from September 11th.

Friday night we wanted to truly experience NYC by going to a Broadway show. We were able to get a really good deal to see the musical, 'Legally Blond.'









The music and sets on Broadway were amazing! During the show we were surrounded by many teenage girls screaming and clapping, it was a lot of fun to be a part of everything.

Saturday morning we headed off early to see the Rockefeller Center, NBC Headquarters, Times Square, Central Park, Empire State Building, New York Stock Exchange, Trinity Church and the Statue of Liberty. New York is definitely the business headquarters of the nation. It was a rainy day in New York on Saturday, but seeing the sites of the sites of the city was definitely worth it. During the day we even got to experience entertainment in the Subway, from break-dancers to preachers.









Here is the ice skating rink at the Rockefeller Center and Brett with the NBC Turkey.
Here we are inside the Empire State Building. When we looked up at the Empire State, half of it was buried in the clouds because of the rainy day, it looked really cool.












Here we are near a small pond in the middle of Central Park. It was a pretty quiet day in Central Park and we enjoyed the beautiful walk. It was great to see trees again after walking through a sea of buildings. We even enjoyed a true New York hot dog after the morning walk.









We took a free ferry to Statton Island so that we could get a close-up look at the Statue of Liberty, she was a beautiful site. We are very glad the clouds cleared up so that we could see her.


Here is a brief video of the break-dancers in the Subway! A huge crowd gathered around to see .


And now the preaching chorus in the Subway...