American Adventure 2018

Our first full day in New York and it's Memorial Day so we are not sure what to expect.
We have been hearing lots of jets overhead.

After about a 10 minute walk to the edge of the Hudson River....a much calmer day today...no wind...a bit cool but at least there is no rain. George is still holding out with the shorts....I jammed and went for something warmer...

And another 5 minute ferry ride....

First place we went into....not sure what it was...it was so impressive from the outside...

The inside is equally impressive....

It's a shopping center! Oh my, what extravagance....

Back up from the underground...

Then it was on to the 9-11 Memorial at the World Trade Center.  The lineups to go into the Museum  were so so long so for today we stopped and reflected at the fountains...it just doesn't seem real and when you stand there and think about what happened and what these people saw...heard...felt..

and the lives lost....

the lives devastated....the lives forever changed by that one day....

Set within the footprints of the original Twin Towers, each pool is approximately 1-acre in size. The names of every person who perished in the terror attacks of February 26, 1993 & September 11, 2001 are honored in bronze around the twin Memorial pools.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six.

This made me shed a tear...

Every person who died...their name is etched into the walls of the two fountains...

It's just so crazy how tall these buildings are...sometimes pictures just don't show it all...

And today....probably as well as most days here in New York....you know you are being watched over...everywhere...we see so many....and I am sure so many more are unseen...

Look at the gun on this boat!!! OMG!

We did a bit of walking and then decided today would be the day to get our tickets for the Hop-on-Hop-off Bus...really the best way of seeing lots of stuff in a short period of time.  Even doing the bus....it's amazing how much walking you do here. 

Rockefeller Center was the first stop we got off....so this is where the people are. 

We thought apart from the 9-11 Memorial...it seemed quiet here

A short walk away and we were in Times Square...

and OMG this was busy and getting busier by the minute.

And they were here too....protecting us from whatever may or may not happen....brings back the reality of it all....scary but reassuring...

And as there is next to nowhere to put garbage here .....it is piled on the streets...it must get picked up every night in these areas because it just seems like they are always throwing garbage on these piles..I never see anyone picking it up so can only assume it all happens as we sleep.

I have seen no evidence of recycling here anywhere in New York at all....

Then Grand Central Terminal....and Grand it is!!! It's rather unassuming from the outside...nothing really that catches your eye in the rest of this crazy city...until you walk down the stairs...

and then it hits you!

And then below this area is another world of shops and restaurants...

You don't have to worry too much about the guns here.....you can easily Kill Yourself by Food! 

There are entrances to tracks everywhere....

we thought it had 117 tracks but apparently 124 is the magic number....

There are food trucks everywhere here...

selling anything from Hotdogs to Pretzels to Icecream ...

....to Pot

Got on the Hop-on-Hop-off again....but the traffic is so busy that we probably could walk faster...so that we did...back to the ferry...and luckily caught the ferry back to Gracie....

Been a long day....