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Monday, September 19, 2011

Empire State Building and a protest??!!

We decided to venture into New York City while my parents were visiting... A must for my parents was the empire state building!


Here is a little pre-city shot of Maggie and I trying on her UCONN hat!  Isn't it super cute!!
she is also sporting one of her new shirts (a birthday present from Nana & Grampa!)
 Waiting to get to the top.... we actually chose to pay for the "express" pass if you will and did the Skyride... Ummm it is not good... but we got to the top in less than an hour and that was with some dallying!!!  For those who don't know the line to get to the observation decks are usually an hour and a half to two hours long so skipping that wait was well worth the jump in price and sitting through skyride... I have waited the other way before and it is not a good time.
 One of the views of the city, I like this shot because you can see the famous Flatiron building!
 My Mom and I!
 My Mom, Me, Seana and Maggie!
Seana, Maggie, My Dad and Me!
 Seana and Maggie
After checking out the views of the Empire State Building we decided to make our way over to Ground Zero which is now the 9/11 Memorial.  On the way to the Memorial, my Mom spotted THE Macy's and insisted we go in.... Seana and I exchanged glances of.... ARE YOU SERIOUS??  You are in NY and you want to go into a department store??? ... My response... Fine.  It is your vacation... 

Please note, I will now confess, I ate my words not something I want to repeat any time soon.... We were awestruck by its size!  It has 8 effen floors!! 8.... it has 3 Starbucks that I saw.... It has to have everything imaginable for sale.   I am happy we stopped in I needed a potty break and while I was in the bathroom my Mom wandered off to the RED section... the woman's clothing department has sections by color?? Are you kidding me??!!  

My entire perception of department stores has changed, I now know that almost every Mall in America is lame in comparison... I think New Yorkers probably find them to be a joke.

We didn't stay long despite the urge to explore, we caught our subway then walked the couple of blocks to the World Trade Center... It is amazing how much it has changed since I saw it in 2002.  First off we couldn't get access to the memorial, it requires a reservation and when I checked before my parents came it was completely booked, so we walked the perimeter and got to see the new building 7 and the progress on the Freedom Tower and building 2...  We were able to catch a glimpse of the memorial from a distance through a window on a pedestrian bridge connecting a couple of the surrounding World Trade Buildings.  We didn't take photos we just took it in.  

After our stop there, I led us to Wallstreet, a spot I have wanted to see and it was only a few blocks away so I took the opportunity as the guide!  Seana had said she was told that you have to go through security checkpoints to go onto Wall St.  I found this hard to believe, why would they do that for a street??  So we got there.. and there were barricades up and police officers standing shoulder to shoulder blocking Wall St!  Not only did she appear to be correct but they were in full force which we all thought was overdoing it!  So no Merrill Lynch Bull photo op and we were off to the subway to head home...

Once home I decided to check into how you go through the security screening process to see Wall Street for a future visit... well it turns out.... There was a huge organized protest... See news report link below!!!


So you should be able to visit Wall St without being barricaded out just check to make sure no one will be protesting the nations wealthy!



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