We're off to see the city

Saturday Dec 15 Dan and I ventured into NYC again. It is so cool to be so close to one of the most amazing cities in the world! We decided to drive in for the day, thinking we could find street parking and get to see more of the city by riding around in our own car. I wanted to go up to Bryant Park where they have an ice skating rink and little shops set up all around the park for Christmas time. We had planned on taking the Lincoln tunnel in, but after hearing there was a 30 minute back up, we decided to take the Holland Tunnel into the city. The Holland Tunnel would put us further south, but that gave us the opportunity to go to the World Trade Center site which I had never been to before. Actually, come to think of it, this was my first time driving into the city; the other times we had taken the NJ Transit into NYC.


We got into the city and headed towards WTC site. We got lucky and actually found a spot to park on the street -- well we think it was a spot and we didn't get a ticket so either it was an acutal spot, or we got lucky :-). We hopped out of the car and headed towards the WTC site. Like I said, I had never been there so I wasn't sure what to expect. There were a lot of people gathered trying to peek through the tall chain link fence that was lined with material so you couldn't see through to the site below -- although I'm sure it was more so to protect people from flying debris from construction. I hate to say it, but the site just wasn't what I expected. To be honest, and I don't want to sound insensitive at all, but it just seemed like a construction area. There isn't really a memorial set up, just some signs hanging on the fence to remember what happened there back on September 11, 2001. I certainly remember the day and I think everyone else can say the same. I was in college and was in my 8am senior political science thesis class. The receptionist for the building the classroom was in, popped her head into the classroom and said there had been a bombing or something in NYC but there weren't many details. Immediately we turned on the television. Once we saw what was happening, our professor dismissed our class. I walked back to my room thinking about what was going on, trying to figure it all out. As soon as I walked in the door, I turned my own tv on to see the news coverage. I remember sitting there watching and seeing the second plane hit the second tower live on tv. The fear that went through me as well as everyone else in the country was just overwhelming. My mom immediately called me and I told her I was coming home -- classes had been cancelled for the rest of the day. It was hard to get through on my cell phone b/c of the massive amounts of phone calls being placed at that exact time, but once I talked to her I hopped in my car and headed up the road - it just felt like a time I should be with my family (and luckily they were only and hour's drive away). Traffic was a mess but I remember that it was gorgeous weather with sunny skies. I finally arrived home and we all tried to make sense of what had happened. I couldn't imagine being anywhere close to NYC and even in DC at that time.

After the WTC we headed up to Bryant Park. They have lots of little Christmas booths set up selling all sorts of random things as well as an ice skating rink. We got lucky with parking again - after driving around for about 15 minutes and trying to figure out what the hell the parking signs meant. We parked not too far from Grand Central Station and walked through it on the way to Bryant Park. Grand Central is so pretty and has such a neat history. It really is a great building with an awesome feeling to it and the ceiling is just amazing. We walked around Bryant Park for awhile and then decided we had to eat something for dinner. So many options!! We ended up walking back to Grand Central Station and eating at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse. It was in a cool location, on a higher sort of platform area that overlooked the main part of Grand Central Station. During the Christmas season they have a light show that they play on the walls of the main terminal, so as we sat enjoying our dinner, we got to watch the light show. The dinner was good and of course so was the company :-)



After completely stuffing ourselves, we headed back to the car. Then we decided we needed to drive by the 40/40 club. This is rapper Jay-Z's club in NYC. After scooping the place out (from the car) we drove around the city some more and then headed back across the river to Jersey. I really can't wait to head to NYC more often!!!



Here's a link to some pictures from the day:

WTC Site



Bryant Park & Grand Central Station