Navigation was an overall success :) Thankfully I have my mom's sense of direction-haha.
I got to sleep in and then drop by Shereena's work at Breadstuy to give her the keys (and have a quickie lunch) before heading up town.
I ended up catching the A to Broadway/Nassau then the 4,5 to Central and then switching over to the 6 to get to the financial district. My plan was to see Ground Zero and then wonder around Wall Street and Battery Park for a bit.
Ground Zero was an odd experience. There really is an entire gaping block in the middle of the financial district. You see the construction, and at first you don't even realize what it is you are looking at. The enormity of what happened there and how close all of the buildings are is incredibly striking. Everyone is hustling and bustling by carrying on with their day--it is just a really odd moment to experience.
After that I headed towards the harbor for a nice walk down by the waterside and ended up in Battery Park. I was watching families going on the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island tour boats when I saw a kid throwing a major temper tantrum (not my first brat encounter in NYC...just the first one where the parents didn't just give in to the demands...thus noteworthy). The dad, finally just yells at the kid, "Fine if you can't behave we are not going, this lady can have our tickets" and then thrusts out the ferry/tour tickets into my hands. So, I then quickly hopped on the Circle Line for my free Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tour.
Statue of Liberty was some nice photo opps, but Ellis Island was a really neat experience. I don't even know how many times dad has fallen asleep with the History Channel special about Ellis Island--thus commandeering the television viewing experience for all in the room. As a TESOL/Applied Linguist the immigration experience is one that I have always found fascinating as well, and the treatment of immigrants is something that I always pay close attention to. There is also the odd feeling of knowing that my ancestors were in that same room, looking out the same windows, and seeing the same ceiling and city skyline. Just a really eerie and surreal feeling.
I ended back at Battery park and then tramped around the financial district some more and got a few touristy shots and a slice of pizza before heading back home.
After my day of free touring I came home to my NY roomies and we just had quick bite and called it a day.
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