Day 1 in NYC

Sorry if these posts turn into a novel, but since I don't write in a journal I want to be sure I remember everything that we did on our trip ;) So we eventually made it to a Costco and we bought a pretty nice camera for our trip (still can't believe we left our other camera in the car!). It had been a long day and I was looking forward to a quiet nights sleep. Boy, that sure didn't happen! There were these British girls who were on the other side of our room and there was a door that divided our room and you could hear EVERYTHING that they were saying. And all they talked about was shopping and the clothes they bought. And it wasn't like they were yelling or anything, just talking normally but it sounded like they were right in our room. Austin called the front desk and told them that our neighbors were being loud so they sent up security. That really didn't seem to faze them because they were still talking their heads off until 1:00 in the morning. Then they woke up at 6:00 and started right back at it! I tried stuffing toilet paper in my ears and sleeping with a pillow on my head....nothing worked. So anyway, I was kind of grouchy that morning. But I soon got over myself as we ventured out into that crazy city. We took a train to the city and we decided to do the lower half of Manhattan that day. Our first stop was the Statue of Liberty. We had to wait in line for about an hour and a half, but we were entertained during the wait. There was this man who played songs on a saw, another man singing to his CD player, a guy who had this huge snake wrapped around his neck, and of course the people dressed up as the statue of liberty. Boy oh boy, you see all kinds of people in NY! Anyway, we finally bought our tickets and then we took the ferry over and spent some time taking pictures of the Statue of Liberty and enjoying the wonderful view. As we were about to head back on the boat, we decided that we wanted to see the front of the statue again, but they had it blocked off because evidently someone had fallen off the base of it. So by that time word had gotten around that it was blocked off and everyone was trying to get back on the ferry. We waited for quite a while to get back on the boat (should have just gotten use to the fact that we would be waiting in a LOT of lines on this trip). Our next stop was Ellis Island. I guess I really need to brush up on my history because I don't think I would have known what Ellis Island was had it not been for the movie Hitch. Austin was telling me about some of his ancestors who came through there (and I'm sure I had some too...guess I need to ask my mom) and the place really took on a whole new perspective. It was nice to ponder a little bit about the sacrifices that our ancestors made to come to America.

After Ellis Island, we went walking uptown. We say Trinity Church (again, wouldn't have heard of it had it not been for National Treasure) which was AWESOME! It had incredible stain glass windows inside and a really cool ceiling. After that we went and saw Wall Street and then the Charging Bull. Then we headed to Ground Zero. It really took a lot to not burst out into tears looking at the sight that has affected this country so much. It is now a huge construction site, but it still holds a powerful feeling.

After Ground Zero we caught the subway back to Penn Station and then headed home. You know, riding the subways and trains really aren't that bad. It's not that confusing either (although it might have helped to have Austin there who seems to always know where we are and where we need to go. I probably couldn't last 5 minutes alone in that city!). That night we swam in the pool and just relaxed. We changed rooms that night and I finally good a good nights sleep. What a fun day!