NY day 1

Times Sqaure

We were lucky enough to be able to stay in the heart of Times Square. You can't really imagine all the billboards and the signs and the lights until you see it for yourself - it is truly amazing and these photos do not do it justice.

This is the view from our window.

Down on Broadway:


Where would NY be without all the taxis?


It is funny because I didn't even notice this billboard until I read it just now (it is against horse-drawn carriage rides - by PETA). That is exactly what we did on day 2 in NY!
Subway station:

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

We took the ferry to see the statue of liberty and to ellis island. It was really cool but they only let you up as far as the top of the pedastal (or basically to the bottom of the feet) these days.

Battery Park where we caught the ferry.

It was so cold - I almost started crying (no joke)!
Here you can see the hole in the Manhattan skyline left behind from 9/11.
Chad went outside on the ferry while I was huddled down below, I thought he was crazy!

Don't often see this angle!

It was hard for me to stop and take this picture below, it was so windy I just wanted to run for shelter.

Replica of the torch.
View of Ellis Island.
Out at statue viewpoint.
Looking up.

The stairs that we are no longer allowed to climb.
Ellis Island immigration hall.
Other buildings at Ellis Island (perhaps the hospital).

Going to the site of the World Trade Center

It was sobering to see such a massive hole in the ground in the middle of Manhattan. It's hard to imagine that 2 massive buildings rose high into the air. It is even harder to imagine them crumbling down and to have been anywhere near it would have been terrifying. We looked for a memorial but couldn't really find one except for one that was for the firemen. We did find where they had posted the plans for the memorial and new buildings that are currently under construction. It was hard to walk away without tears in your eyes.

Where the buildings once stood:

Fireman's memorial:

Construction site:
We were able to walk down a long corridor that paralleled one side of the site. There was a fence that we could look through.



At the end of th corridor was a sky bridge that led to the World Financial Center. From here you used to be able to look across the street to the World Trade Center.

Like I said, the hole is so massive, I couldn't even capture it with our wide-angle lens in one shot.


Memory wall:
"May we never forget"

Grand Central Station

There was just a lot of people in NY in general but this place was especially hopping. The last photo should give you a sense of movement.

Times Square at Night

When we arrived the prior evening it really was surreal. It was hard not to run into people when I was trying to look around at everything, and make it to our hotel with our luggage. Actually, we walked right by our hotel the first time because we were too busy reading about Legally Blonde the musical (which was right next door).

Empire State Building

We went to the Empire State building at about 9pm (they are open until 2am). Although it was fun, I can't believe they can charge $20 a piece to go up to the observation deck. They don't even give you any information or fliers about what you are looking at, you had to pay extra for that. It reminded me a disneyland ride (like splash mountain) where they weave you through rooms and different ropes and such. Luckily there was no line and all we had to do was walk through the maze. It was quite cold and the observation deck was outdoors so we didn't stay long, but the views were beautiful.

they really don't want you to fall off... (you have to wonder at what point they added all this to the original wall)

lower Manhatten...


hudson river...

Times Square area...