NYC Road Trip {Day 3}

Highlights - Statue of Liberty, Charging Bull, Trinity Church, St Paul's Chapel, City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge, 9/11 Memorial, Grand Central Station.


Check out Day 1 (here) and Day 2 (here) of our NYC road trip.

On the morning of Day 3 (our first full day in the city), we attempted to start the morning early. The game plan was out the door by 8. This was the first morning that we realized we take a lot longer getting ready in the morning than anticipated (four girls one bathroom!), or at least I do, ok honestly it was me. We were out the door about 8:20, caught a bus just outside the hotel and we on our way to our first stop, the Statue of Liberty. We got off the bus to transfer to the subway and stopped at a little coffee shop for coffee and such. That is the moment we realized we did not have our City Pass Tickets, which included our Statue of Liberty tickets. I am glad it was at this moment and not when we were trying to get onto the ferry. So after another bus back to the hotel, picking up our tickets, then another bus back to the subway we were yet again on our way.

Michelle was always taking pictures. Much more talented than the rest of us.

We quickly became professional at taking the subway.

We started the day with the Statue of Liberty, as the guide books said it was good to get there early to avoid long lines. We were probably lucky that the morning looked like rain and had a few small showers, because when we did make it to the ferry for the Statue of Liberty the lines were still short and we hardly had to wait to board the next ferry. Sadly, they were already out of pedestal passes so we were only able to walk around it (no where in my research did it say these were limited, I was unimpressed). It was kind of awesome taking the open top ferry across the water to the island. It allowed for some breath taking views of the city, as well as Ellis Island. Sadly as soon as we were off the ferry and actually at the Statue my camera stopped working, even worse however was that I did not realize my camera was not working until after we took a bunch of group and individual pictures with it. I then noticed it was not actually saving the pictures. So as the girls kept walking around the statue I sat down and attempted to figure out what was wrong with my camera. Thankfully it was just a memory card issue and I was able to pick a new one up at a RadioShack as soon as we got back onto land.

So we walked around the Statue of Liberty, reading the various information signs and then hoped back on the ferry. All of my research stated that after heading to the statue the ferries all went to Ellis Island before heading back to the main land. We quickly realized however that it was not the case. We then asked someone working on the ferry and they said that Ellis Island was closed due to Hurricane Sandy and could be closed for a year or two. This was extremely upsetting as there was no signs indicating that and a number of us were looking forward to walking through the museum there. 

Statue of Liberty. 

On the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

On the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. 

Manhattan from the ferry. 

Ellis Island. Sadly this is the closest we got to it. 

On the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

The last picture my camera took before malfunctioning on me. 

Once back on dry land, we walked towards Wall Street, strolling through Bowling Green Park which is one of the oldest parks in New York and is also home to the iconic Charging Bull. We then went to a TGI Fridays in the basement of a building for lunch.

Lunch at a TGI Fridays underground.

From lunch we proceeded to walk up Broadway, stopping in at Trinity Church and St Paul's Chapel before making our way to the 9/11 Memorial Preview site where we got our tickets to see the memorial. The down side of the 9/11 Memorial tickets was that the tickets are for every half hour and the next available was an hour and a half from when we picked them up. We then headed to a little coffee shop around the corner that had free wifi (this was like heaven for us as we were staying at a hotel that wanted to charge an arm and a leg for wifi, so we took advantage whenever it was available) and came up with a game plan. The game plan was to walk past the beautiful City Hall and to the half way point of the Brooklyn Bridge before heading back to the 9/11 Memorial.

The beautiful Trinity Church.

Stopped at a coffee shop for free wifi, air conditioning and a break.

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge. 

View from the Brooklyn Bridge. 

City Hall.

The 9/11 Memorial was a little hectic, confusing and misleading as you try to find the entrance and then walk another ten minutes following the signs before you actually are at the entrance. Also, they do not tell you, but they let people in without tickets, you just need to stand in a separate line, that was not any longer than the line we were in. This fact bothered me a bit because we already stood in line for tickets and then we still have to stand in another line beside people who did not stand in the original line. Anyways, after a lot of walking to get it, the memorial really is a breath taking area. It will be beautiful and in some ways creepily, obviously heart breakingly unnatural. When the trees grow up and all of the construction is done, it will really serve its purpose of a beautiful memorial, but it is hard not to notice that in an area that is so built up, such a large open space should not exist. The two fountains at the middle bases of the original towers that fell are enormous and absolutely beautiful. We spent some time sitting here taking it all in. There are benches and tons of trees on the other side and between the two fountains.

9/11 Memorial.

From the 9/11 Memorial we again walked and walked in an attempt to one, figure out where we were and two, find the subway. After an incredibly hot day with a ton of walking a part of us wanted to call it a day, but another part knew that if we did we would just have that much more to do in the next few days. So instead of calling it quits we added a stop at Grand Central Station on our way home. It was wonderful. Everything about it was sort of right from a movie. The thing that shocked me most was the size of it. It was huge, hugely huge, like big shopping mall huge with real restaurants, stores and even a food court. It was much more than I anticipated.

Ceiling of Grand Central Station. 

Grand Central Station. 

Grand Central Station. (Taken on an iPad at the apple store to email to Brent)

After visiting and looking around Grand Central Station a bit, we were too exhausted to walk any where to find food. So we ate at Two Boots, which was a restaurant located on the bottom level of Grand Central Station.