September 20, 2011
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NYC trip: day 1
After a very uneventful day on Sunday as I flew to Newark, New Jersey, my friend and I awoke the next day too early, but with great anticipation as to what we will see today. We had a very nice, but rushed breakfast at the hotel and then walked to the bus stop that would take us to the port authority in NYC. The bus was very crowded and since I enjoy bus trips, I was looking forward to seeing the route they would take, but, after a few minutes I fell asleep and missed seeing all the traffic. We arrived at the bus station and immediately got separated--as D was calling me, I found her. I immediately felt at home! I really enjoy navigating large cities and just being around all the diversity... Anyway, after finding our way to the subway, we went to the 9/11 memorial, which was just opened on 11 September. I immediately thought of my experience the first trip to Germany back in 1990 how reflective I felt when I went to Dachau concentration camp--at both places lives were lost for no true reason--as I was reading the names, I kind of got choked up. There was one couple that had taken a large piece of paper and was transferring the name of their friend/family member with a pencil. You could tell how much it meant to them and there was tears... We also went to a small museum where we heard some stories of survivors and victim's families. Afterwards, we went over to Canal street as D wanted to find a purse she had bought before. I felt like I was back in Asia as there were so many peddlers and D almost bought a purse, but it got sort of fishy as they didn't have a store and were taking us back to where we could buy it. After we walked for about six blocks, we decided not to continue as it just didn't seem right. We left an continued shopping in souvenir shops in Times Square. We also stopped at a deli for lunch and to rest our feet as we were getting very tired! After souvenir shopping, we decided to go to the harbor to take a sightseeing cruise over to the statue of liberty. We were so tired of walking D sprung for a taxi. Once there we learned we missed the three hour cruise by 30 minutes and would have to wait three hours for an evening cruise. We started walking down the street looking for other cruises and also missed them as well. We ended up going to a ferry station and took a ferry Hoboken, NJ which was across the river. Once there, it was so nice and quiet and I started thinking I could live here and started wondering if I could afford the real estate here. (I always look at real estate ads when I travel somewhere I really like.) Anyway, we ended up going down the street and found a tavern, which was actually a nice restaurant. We ate an appetizer and rested our feet! Then, we took the ferry back to Manhattan and caught the cruise. It was two hours and we saw the city at night and ended up at the statue of liberty. After the cruise, we found a diner and ate some breakfast food-- it wasn't that good... After missing the first bus at 11pm to our hotel, we took the next one at midnight. I had a wonderful day and am enjoying the city very much. Tomorrow, we are going to sleep until we wake up and the play things by ear... I didn't realize until this trip however, how much of a city girl I am!
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