The World Trade Center site

It's a good thing I took so many pictures of our trip to NYC

since I've been so busy getting ready for our move that I haven't been taking any pictures at all.
So much for that 365 project...

But I have been wanting to share these pictures with you.

It's been nearly ten years since the city's skyline changed dramatically.

And I haven't been back to lower Manhattan since then.

Dan and I decided to walk down to the WTC site to see what was happening there.
As we were walking down one of the side streets toward the site,
Dan and Kevin were trying to remember just what the final plans were for the new buildings.
How many buildings did they decide on?
What will the memorial look like?

We had all seen a tv show with various plans, but couldn't remember which one had been decided on.

As we were discussing this,

We hear a man say, "There'll be five buildings."

We turned to look and see who was talking and saw this guy,

all dressed in his construction gear and looking like he might know what he's talking about.

Normally, I don't have conversations with random people on the street, 

but this was a moment in which I needed to let down my guard and listen.

He told us where he was on the day.

(Toronto... he was supposed to be flying home that day.)

He talked about how his company was involved in picking up the pieces of the buildings.

He pulled out his camera and showed us an aerial picture of the site.

He pointed out each crane and told us how big they were and which building they were working on.

"The red one is working on building 2 and the white one is for building 3..."

"That's an 860 ton crane there."

I have to admit that the construction jargon went over my head a bit, 

but it was interesting to get the "inside scoop."

Ten years is a long time, but not so long that we've forgotten.

It's still really vivid and real for me and Dan and this stranger that we met on the street.

We didn't necessarily discuss our emotions, but as we talked about cranes and pickers and being stuck in Toronto, the shadows of these emotions flitted across our faces.

For the kids, it was a history lesson.

They were little or not even born when this happened.

That kind of blows my mind.

A sherbet sunset...

I have oooooh so many photos from our recent day in New York City.

And while it would seem logical to start with the pictures that I took

at the beginning of the day and then proceed from there,

I'd much, much rather share these pictures right now.

Probably because they're my favorites...

;)

Our return trip from the city via the Staten Island Ferry

happened to coincide with the most amazing sunset.

Well, truthfully, we could have taken the 8:00 ferry, 

we arrived at 8pm on the dot and they were holding the doors open for last minute stragglers,

but I wanted to wait.

My husband who has become accustomed to commuting
and making a mad dashes for the next train or ferry 

may have developed a twitch at that point.

It went against every instinct he had to let other people go ahead of us 

and to sit and wait half an hour for another ferry.

 (twitch. twitch. shudder)

However, I was content to sit and wait.

It had been a long day and there had been lots of walking

so it felt good to rest a bit.

Besides... one of the kids needed a restroom NOW!

and I didn't think it would be nice to make them wait an entire ferry ride

while watching the waves splash back and forth and back and forth.

 I worried just a little bit that we might have missed the best part of the sunset

but no...

We stood on the deck of the ferry and watched as the sunset turned all the colors of rainbow sherbet.

It was perfect.

And when I turned to see what the little girls were doing,

Avery turned to me and said,

"We're pinching ourselves to see if it's real."

So, yeah... 

I think it was worth it.

A final glimpse at NYC

I suppose this post is both part two and part four of my city posts.

I got a bit sidetracked and never finished posting all of my pictures from our trip there.

That's probably for the best, because I think I was on picture overload 

and may have been oversharing.

But there are a few people out there that I thought might like to see the "rest of the story."

My husband and mother being the most likely parties.

Here's something that I learned during that trip.

Wandering around the city with a party of nine, including several teenagers, 

does not make for a great photo walk.  

The picture taking may have embarrassed and annoyed a few of them,

so I grabbed the shots as quickly as possible.

Check out the faces on these people.... 

You can practically read their thoughts.

I did, however, get a good picture or two.

This next shot is one of my favorites.

Kid, cab, Statue of Liberty, American flag....

Love it.

We ate at Ellen's Stardust Diner. 

Oh, maybe it's a tourist trap

and maybe it's over-priced, but we loved it.

I worried that the singing wait staff would be a little weird, but it was so much fun!

I was won over by their total commitment to sing and act as though their careers depended on it.

In fact, half way through our meal, our waiter rushed out carrying his portfolio full of head shots, 

announcing, "Got to go!  I've got an audition!"

It was fun to watch the New York/ Broadway dream in action.

You know... small-town Georgia boy heads to the big city to make his mark on the world,

and waits tables in between auditions, just hoping that someone will notice him.

So, yeah... it was lots of fun.

And they made a pretty mean milkshake too.

Last Stop Grand Central Station (or NYC part 1)

Whenever I hear that someone has gone to NYC, 

I always ask if they went to or through Grand Central Station.

For me, it's not truly a New York experience without it.

I am aware that this is based on the fact that nearly every trip I've ever made to the city as I was growing up involved a Metro North train down the Hudson River, 

last stop Grand Central Station.

Certainly there are other fairly cool ways to get to New York,

the Staten Island Ferry is pretty darn awesome,

but for me, Grand Central means that the fun has begun.

Those of you who know the city well, bear with me as I give a little tour to those who don't.

You know you are almost there when the train dips underground into the darkness.

The train slows and stops and everyone grabs their bags and newspapers

as they hurry out onto the platform.

If you're in a rush, you could certainly head out with the rest of the busy people

and scurry down a side corridor to the nearest exit, 

but I always make time to head into the main terminal.

Look carefully at the picture above.

To the left, through the doorway, you can see a train sitting on track 29.

Overhead, you can see elaborate chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and reflected in the windows.

To the right, a tourist stops to take a picture.

All those people wearing black? 

They're the real New Yorkers and they have places to go and people to see.

Can you see the tops of the kid's heads in the lower two corners?

They are doing what everyone should do when they stand in the center of the terminal 

beside the clock and the information desk,

looking up.

You just have to take some time to look up.

The windows...

the trim...

the ceiling...

Pretty cool, huh?

Why don't people paint murals on ceilings anymore?

Look back down and you might see a cute kid.

Well... it helps if you bring your own,

then you are almost guaranteed to see one.

Unless, of course, you lose the kid... that would be bad.

Not that I lost her... I was just making an observation!

(trust me. that kid is in charge. she has it all under control.)

After you leave the station you may find a taxi or two

and quite possibly and inexplicably an enormous inflatable rat
about to eat said taxi.

????

and... if you look to your left, you'll find one of my favorite buildings,

the Chrysler Building.

I love the Art Deco architecture.

And I just found out that those eagles are replicas of the 1929 Chrysler hood ornaments.

hmmmm.... I should take more time to look up this sort of stuff, 

you never know what you might learn.

There's so much more to Grand Central.
Shopping,
Bakery's filled with giant cookies and cupcakes,
Amazing musicians working for your donations,
and people watching.

Perhaps our only disappointment was that something like this didn't happen.

A Carriage Ride ...NYC part 3 (part 1 and 2 to come later)

In all of my many, many trips to NYC over the years

I have never taken a carriage ride through Central Park.

Maybe it was too touristy.

Growing up just an hour north of the city,

 I never wanted to be considered a tourist while I was there.

Of course, when I was a teenager, not being a tourist was a matter of survival.

Since then, NY has cleaned up pretty well!

Now that I'm a camera toting, sensible-shoe wearing mom, 

I've just given up any hope of looking like anything other than a tourist.

I happily point up at the buildings to show the kids the wonderful architecture.

And... apparently, I take carriage rides around Central Park.

The carriage ride wasn't in our "plan for the day",

but things changed and we ended up wingin' it.

I left the kids with my sister in front of FAO Schwartz

and sneaked off to see just how much these rides were.

I didn't want to promise something that I wasn't willing to pay for.

Keeping kids in the dark about plans is one of my favorite pastimes, 

but not one of their favorites,
so, as I marched them across 5th Ave,
there was a lot of whining going on.
I'm not exactly sure what they thought I was going to make them do,
but you'd think I was taking them on the Bataan Death march.
Seriously!

 Once my plans became clear to them there were a lot of "oh's!"
and "why didn't you tell us."
Mean mom turned into hero in no time flat!
Oh, yeah!
I'm awesome.

I just loved the looks on their faces.  

So excited, so amazed, so thrilled with the whole experience.

Mitchie was hoping that we could take the carriage all the way home.

Unfortunately, we thought that might be a bit slower than the train.

The ride through the park was lovely and peaceful,

but one of our favorite parts was the dancing man.

I wish I had thought to take a picture of him.  

He stood atop a large rock with headphones on 

and swirled and danced and generally boogied to the music in his head.

According to our driver, he's there and dancing everyday for hours and hours.

After watching the dancing man, Avery sighed a happy little sigh 

and said in an awed whisper, 

"I love the city."

Oh, Avery...

so do I,

and for just that reason.

Now, the teens got their very own carriage pulled by a horse named Charlie Brown.

We had passed them earlier and Julia called out that our horse was faster than their horse.

Julia, you had to throw down the gauntlet, didn't you?

Sure enough, Charlie Brown and his driver caught up and overtook us.

See that last shot?

That's the driver saying, "Who's horse is faster now!"

Charlie Brown, he's a clown,

and a fast one too.

Just look at that smug look on the driver's face.

Oh, yeah, Julia.. . he showed you!