Friday, November 20- Pics from New York

I had every intention of catching up with the blog when I got home but it seems that I spent time catching up with other things and then my computer crashed and I had to take it in to get a new internal hard drive.  Any who, here is the rest of our trip in a photo essay.  Tuesday we were up bright and early, Sharon's favorite time of the day and we were on the first bus to downtown Manhattan and Battery Park.  Today we saw the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, learned that you can't get pepperoni on Kosher pizza, visited the 9/11 Museum and went to the top of the One World Tower.  12 hours and 7 miles later we crashed in our room!

Securing our seats on the Gray Line bus

The Empire State building in the distance

We passed it but never made it inside the store

The weather could not have been better.

Battery Park

The dock heading towards the ferry

Lady Liberty

The Great Hall where all the emigrants would wait to be checked into the country. It involved a cursory physical and an interview. John Bichler arrived here in 1930, he worked various jobs in NYC, one being an elevator operator, before moving to New Jersey where he used his trade as a machinist to work at Ingersoll Rand as well as farming.

The stairs the emigrants would descend, on the right to New York/New Jersey, the left to all other states and the center steps led to the hospital for quarantine or perhaps to be sent back to Europe.

The NYC skyline from the ferry, you can see the One World Tower in the distance.

The 9/11 Memorial

Inside the 9/11 Museum, it is massive and well worth the time it takes to visit

The flag that flew over the destroyed towers during the recovery. It has since visited every state where it was repaired with flags from that state. Very symbolic of how the country came together following 9/11.

A make-shift memorial from post 9/11 that had been covered with photos and mementos.

The entrance to the One World Tower

Our timing could not have been better.  When we got to the top the sun was just beginning to set.  We could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

Looking towards Upper Manhattan

Riding the bus back in NYC traffic. Something about the lights kept my adrenaline pumping the entire time I was in NYC

Monday, November 2 - Hunger Games Exhibition & Top of the Rock

First a big shout out to my sister on her birthday today!
Here in NYC Sharon and I had a pretty busy day. We were up early to go to the Hunger Games Exhibition only to learn that instead of 9 it opened at 10 so we explored a few more streets and gift shops until it opened. I really enjoyed seeing many of the costumes and props from the movie. The exhibit was very interactive and included headphones to give additional information about behind the scenes information and story line for those that might not be as familiar with the movies. I thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

The Hob

Gale and Katniss in their hunting jackets

Effie and the reaping bowls

Sitting in the back of the Tribute Train, from Catching Fire

Catching Fire chariot

Cinna's sketches

Hunger Games weapons

Hunting above ground in District 13, Mockingjay part 1

Wedding dress Katniss wore in Catching Fire

For lunch we walked to 51st and Broadway to eat at Ellen's Stardust Diner where you can eat and at the same time be musically entertained by the wait staff.

 The view from the top of the Rockefeller Center, The Rock.

When we came down from the Rock, we used our bus pass and rode through upper Manhattan and Harlem. We had pretty much run out of time so we didn't get off at any of the stops for fear of not being able to catch a later bus. We just enjoyed the ride and listened to the narrative provided by our guide. We got back in time to secure tickets to an Off Broadway show called Newsical which was very much like watching Saturday Night Live but with more music. The theater was really small and probably didn't even seat 100 people and we had seats in the front row, almost too close! It was super funny and we really enjoyed the performance. An added bonus was getting to see President Obama's motorcade as we were walking to our theater. Obama was in the city to see the play Hamilton.

Sunday, November 1 -New York, New York

This morning we left Providence, RI and drove 3 hours to New York City. The traffic was minimal and we found our hotel without any incident. New York is awesome and I have been on sensory overload all day. When we arrived at our hotel, Broadway at Times Square, we checked our luggage, parked our car and hit the streets running. After acquiring our Gray Line bus tickets we booked a tour on The Ride, a special bus that has the seats facing the sidewalk with guides that both informed and entertained the passengers. Many laughs!!

My favorite LED billboard

Broadway Ticket Office on 46th St

Our hotel, very nice and a great location

We were looking out large glass windows towards the sidewalk and buildings

Times Square

This building was the Empire Theater, home of vaudeville, now a movie theater

McDonald's marquee lights

After our bus trip we headed back to see if we could pick up some discounted Broadway tickets. We finally decided on King Charles III at the Music Box Theater because it was the Premier tonight and perhaps we would see someone famous in attendance. What a wonderful experience for my first Broadway play in NYC. We also saw George Takei, Sulu from Star Trek, on the Red Carpet. After the play we ate at Johnny's and had cheesecake to top off a perfect first day in New York.

George Takei taking a selfie on someone's phone, not mine obviously

Our seats in the balcony, second row B-21 &23

Theater was built in 1920 by Irving Berlin

Raspberry Swirl and Sharon had Apple Crumb Cheesecake