Lady Liberty

This was our last full day, Sunday. This was the day I had most been anticipating because we were going to see the famous lady of liberty. This turned out to be my favorite day of the entire trip. There was something emotionally gripping about standing on a boat and approaching Lady Liberty on a foggy morning. For me, it conjured up images of immigrants crammed onto massive boats, apprehensively awaiting that moment when the Statue of Liberty would appear and beckon them to the "Land of Prosperity". A famous poem that used to be posted on a placard in front of the statue goes like this: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free."
There has been so much symbolism throughout the years surrounding Lady Liberty, so it was a truly awesome experience to see her in full form, up close. I admit, she seemed significantly smaller than I had always imagined but still beautiful.

The island where she sits is quite small. After taking the boat over, we waited in line to go into the statue. All this means now is that you can go inside the pedestal, where the statue stands, and go through the exhibit they have placed there. As of September 11, 2001, no tourist has been allowed inside the statue itself. Looking up inside the statue (pictured below), you can see how narrow the passageway is and how surprising it is that thousands of tourists once climbed the single, spiral staircase, with only one exit and one entrance. It makes perfect sense why they no longer allow people to go up inside it anymore, considering the dangers in an emergency. Of course, it was still really disappointing to think that we could never see it from that view.

After waiting in line for an hour and a half, to get through security, we made it inside the pedestal. All of that for this lousy view? We didn't even go through this tough of security in the airport to get to New York? We had to go through a major security checkpoint to get onto the boat, then to get into the Statue of Liberty pedestal. Crazy! That's how we knew it was a national monument.

The exhibit inside the pedestal was really interesting. They had a few actual sized replicas of various parts of the statue. That's when it seemed pretty big. We saw the foot, the crown, and the face. The original torch was also inside. It was cool to read about the creation of the statue and all of the controversy and planning that went into building her. They said that it had to be built in Paris, in pieces, so it could be shipped over to the U.S. and the Parisians came to really love her. They missed her when she had to go. All of the color drawings and advertisements showed her in her original copper-colored glory. Very cool.

After walking through the exhibit and walking out onto the pedestal, we called it a morning and traveled onto Ellis Island (right next to Liberty island). That was amazing, too. They have completely restored most of the buildings there and they look beautiful. Ellis Island is where they would register the immigrants who came through, looking for jobs, family, opportunities, and escape in the United States. Walking through the Great Room, where millions of immigrants were "processed" for years was an emotional experience (partly because of what they had gone through and partly because Nicole and I were in the zombie-zone, going on 1/3 of the sleep we had been needing all weekend). They had done a wonderful job of presenting the immigration experience with photos, objects, and stories from people who had come through it to live in America.

It was a massive place and very exhausting. It was kind of humbling to think about all of the people who had come here, waiting for days, standing in line, hungry from not eating all day and poor from spending every last cent on the boat ride to America.

It was a beautiful place and after going through the inside of the building, we decided to walk out into the Memorial Garden, where the name of every immigrant who had come through Ellis Island was engraved on a wall. It was really neat. I even found a few Butterworths! Who knows, maybe they're part of the family.

So, all day we had been fighting sleep like crazy. We kept saying stupid stuff that didn't make any sense and we had a really hard time communicating with each other. You know that feeling you get when you're so tired you can't think straight? Well, it had been gradually growing all day. When we were heading out the door of the building, Nicole got attached to the door and took what felt like five minutes to figure out how to get out. Meanwhile, she caused some guy moving way too fast bumped into her form behind. This may not sound that funny to you but I was so tired I couldn't stop laughing. She was annoyed which made me laugh even harder. I couldn't even help because, honestly, it was funny.

We finally got out of that mess and walked over to the memorial. We walked around for awhile then a woman asked us for some help in finding a name. So, eager to help, I started walking towards her. Thinking I could easily step over the rope surrounding the wall, I swung one leg over. The second one wasn't so easy and I got attached and fell flat on my face. Now that really WAS funny. I was literally rolling on the ground with laughter. I laughed so hard I cried. Nicole said it was Karma. I agree.

After a long morning at the Statue of Liberty, we decided to go back to Times Square for one last hurrah. We fell asleep on the subway, which was a welcome relief. Once we got off, we were ready for some fun. We stopped at the wax museum for a few quick pictures with Morgan Freeman and some other celebrities- wait, I mean, I really met Morgan Freeman. Right...

After that, we went to the restaurant with the best cheesecake ever! It's true, they told me so. :) It really was amazing and so rich. If it's good enough for P. Diddy, it's good enough for me. Then we proceeded to go from theater to theater, asking for cheap, last minute broadway tickets. Our feet hurt so bad, I felt like they were screaming loud enough for everyone to hear. After stopping in about 5 theaters, we went to the one playing "Spamalot". I told Nicole, "I really don't think you're gonna like this." Her response? "Girl, I don't care what we see, as long as I get to sit down for two hours. My feet hurt!" So, there you have it. Her pain is what allowed me to see the musical I'd been dying to see. So, we got $30 tickets for "Spamalot", starring Clay Aiken (not a big selling point for me but he turned out to be good, nonetheless). So, we had about an hour until the show started so we stood around, talking for a bit when a woman came over and asked us if Clay had come out yet. We said no, did the actors come out after the show? Of course, she responded, to my sheer delight. That changed everything! We walked around the corner, eager to find out which shows had just ended. We didn't have to go far. We ended up at the theater next door to ours, which had just showed "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", starring Terrence Howard, James Earl Jones, Anika Noni Rose (from "Dreamgirls"), and none other than my favorite person ever, Phylicia Rashad (that's right, Mrs. Cosby!). So, we stood with the other fans who were waiting for someone to come out when Anika did.

She was so sweet and took pictures with people, happily giving autographs. A guy came out who we didn't recognize but he must have been in the show because everyone was cheering for him. Then, I saw a car pull up and guess who got out? Phylicia! I was so excited, I didn't know what to do. She got out of the cat and said hello to a few people, took some pictures, then got back in the car to go home. How sweet of her to just come out for a minute to say hello to her fans! I love this woman! I wish I could have met her but it was so cool to be that close in vicinity to her. Now, that was a brush with greatness, in my opinion. (She's pictured below in the peach colored jacket)).

Anika Noni Rose is pictured below with Nicole.

Once we finally got to see the show, it was so much fun! I thought it was hilarious and stayed true enough to the movie, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", the holy grail of comedies, in my opinion. I laughed my head off. Nicole was a good sport, bless her, but I know it was not her type of humor. She was surprised it was mine. We all have our guilty pleasures.

After the show, we waited outside for some of the actors to come out. A few did, but not Clay. You should have seen the number of (older) women who were waiting for him out there. Some had waited on multiple days, hoping for a glimpse.
Below is one of the guys, Brad Oscar, who came out after the show.

Knowing this was our last night in New York, we wanted to go out to eat somewhere cool so we picked Hard Rock Cafe, in Times Square. I had never been to a Hard Rock Cafe before so I was in for a surprise. It was the coolest restaurant I had EVER been to! The atmosphere, the guitars on the wall-amazing! I couldn't believe I was staring at Jim Morrison's music notes and the Beatles' famous gray suits. The coolest thing was getting to touch the original door from the Abbey Road recording studio, where countless artists have recorded their music throughout the years. This was so much more than a restaurant. It was an ode to the amazing artists of past generations. I loved it. (Can you tell?)

After a great meal there, we called it a night and went back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. One day left...

World Trade Center

Saturday morning we slept in late and took our time making it to the World Trade Center site. We missed out on the tours because they were sold out but we took our own walking tour, which was still pretty moving. Across froom the WTC site is the new tribute center and the fire station, which was there when Sept. 11 happened. They've rebuilt the station so it looks very nice now and they have a tribute wall along the side, with the names of every fireman who died on 9/11. Inside the station, they have a tribute to the firemen who were lost from this fire station.

It was crazy to think that it has been 7 years since 9/11. The site is all under construction so there's not much to see but it's still pretty uncanny to see such a huge gap in the middle of a city block, where two tall buildings used to be. We could also see the opening to a subway station that used to be underneath the World Trade Center, which was a little trippy.

Inside the fire station was the tribute that honored the 6 firemen from the station who had lost their lives on 9/11. There were a few artifacts there, too, like a door from a fire engine and the original street sign for Liberty Street, which the WTC was on.

After visiting to WTC site, we rolled on over to Wall Street, which was around the corner. Since it was Saturday, it was incredibly quiet but it was cool, nonetheless.

On Wall Street was a statue of George Washington, since this was the building where he was inaugurated.

Battery Park was around the corner from Wall Street so we walked over there. It was a really pretty park, with a great view of the statue of liberty across the way.

This sculpture was in Battery Park, with a flame burning in front of it and a plaque that said that it used to sit in the center of the World Trade Center. It was interesting to see how damaged it was from the blast that hit the center on that fateful day. The flame burning in front of it was an eternal flame, put there in 2002, in order that everyone who sees it remember that day.

After a short day of touristing, we decided to go back to the hotel and call it a day. We got back at about 8 pm and went to bed early. It was so worth it. We needed a break from all of that running around we'd been doing. We were only halfway through. Two days to go!

The most filmed city in the country...

Three hours after falling asleep, Nicole and I forced ourselves out of bed and walked to the subway at 3:30 am. We wanted to make sure we made it to the "Today Show" taping in time so we had to get there early.

We waited in line for probably an hour and a half. It was so fun for me to see a real TV show taping because it was my first. Mostly, you do a lot of waiting. It was cool, though. We never got on camera but it was fun anyway.

We even got to meet Al Roker. He came out just to meet all the fans and shake hands with us. So cool! We got to see Matt Lauer from a distance, too.

They were doing a promotional thing while we were there, called "Where in the World Is Matt Lauer?" so we got free shirts and leis. SWAG is the greatest!

After the taping, we went across the street to Rockefeller Center, where we had our NBC tour. We got to see the sets for "Conan O'Brien" and "Saturday Night Live". They were sooooo much smaller than I've ever imagined. It was such a dream to see the SNL set in real life. I love that show! Anyway, I do love the idea of television and film so it waa awesome to see behind the scenes.

After our tour, we walked around and shopped a little, visited Saks Fifth Avenue (just to say we'd been in there) and then ate lunch. By the time we did all of that, we were so tired so we went back to the hotel for a short nap. Weell, two hours later, we woke up to a hornet in our room. Watching Nicole try to kill that thing was the single most entertaining visual I've experienced in a long time. She was so scared of that thing but she wanted to get rid of it so she grabbed a pillow and ran to the window, where it was perched and slammed the pillow aganst the curtain. She screamed and punched the pillow, simultaneously yelling, "I! don't! want! no! bug! up! in! here!". I guess you had to be there, and you have to know Nicole. She still doesn't see the humor like I do. Good times...

After that experience, we got ready to go back out on the town. We decided to spend the afternoon in Central Park. We ended up spending three hours exploring it and we only saw 90% of it! It's huge and beautiful.

Across the street from Central Park was the FAO Schwartz we had visited earlier so Nicole found Man-in-Uniform #2. He was a character (pun intended).

Here's Nicole in Central Park. Everywhere we went in the park, I recognized a location from a movie scene. The fountain from "Hitch", "Enchanted", "13 Going on 30", the tavern on the green from "Ghostbusters", the boathouse from "When Harry Met Sally" and "27 Dresses", the bridge from "Enchanted" and the skkating rink from "Serendipity" were all there. Now, every movie I see that takes place in New York is so much greater to me because I can say I've been there and seen it up close!

Here we are in front of Wollman Rink from "Serendipity".

Carriage rides were given throughout the park. So cute.

Here we are at the Tavern on the Green. It was this huge grassy area where people picnicked and read books. I loved it there. It was so pretty with the tall city buildings in the background.

We took a boat onto the lake for an hoour, which was quite entertaining, let me tell you! Apparently, Nicole and I DON'T make a great team. While she was rowing with one oar, I was rowing with the other in the completely opposite direction. It took us a half hour to figure out how to row simultaneously. By then, it was time to row back to the boathouse. It was really fun, though!

By the time we got to the reservoir, we were pretty beat so we decided it was time to give up our goal of walking the entirety of Central Park. We got pretty far, though, so we were proud. Luckily, we were really close to a subway station so we got on, in order to go back to Times Square (our new favorite New York place to be).

When we got on the subway, we realized that Yankee Stadium was only a few stops away so we went in the opposite direction of Times Square so we could see the stadium. Getting off in the Bronx was quite a new experience for me. I felt completely out a of place! It was dark, too, so that made me even more uncomfortable there. Luckily, the stadium was right next to the subway station so didn't have to go far to see it. No one was there because it was night and there weren't any games going on. We walked around the whole thing and tried to take pictures but it was too dark to get any good ones. That was fine because I was ready to go. We left shortly after and headed back to Times Square.

We ate pizza at this little hole in the wall place (if there can be such a thing in Times Square). It was the most fabulous pizza I've ever had. I don't even know what was on mine but it was different than what I'm used to. The cheese is different and the tomatoo sauce so much better. Mmmm.... After that we headed a few blocks away to the Empire State Building. Across from that was the famous Macy's (the World's Largest Store, according to the sign on the outside of the building).

I guess I live vicariously through movies because, again, I kept thinking of the movies that were filmed here- "Sleepless in Seattle" in the Empire State Building and "Miracle on 34th Street" at Macy's. It was cool to see where they have the Thanksgiving parade every year, too, since that's a tradition for Mom and I to watch together.

We got to the top of the Empire State Building at midnight and just as we stepped out on the 86th floor observation deck, it started raining! I admit we had beautiful warm weather up until that point so we coulnd't complain. We just hoped that it wouldn't last, considering that we hadn't brought heavy jackets or umbrellas.

By the time we finished at the Empire State Building, we were ready for bed so we headed back to the subway station. We ended up taking 2 hoours to get back to our hotel, just like the night before, so that was an adventure. It was worth it to stay late in the city, though.