New York City

Forget anything I ever said about L.A. being my favorite city. NYC has to be the best city ever. I mean, Hollywood is ok, but the rest of LA can't compare. Don't get me wrong, I still love LA. However, it simply can't compare to New York. Now, New York City isn't exactly the cleanest city in the world, but there are lot more things to do there. Besides that, it may not be as big as LA, but it is big enough for me.

First, we got on the tour bus to ride into the city (since we couldn't exactly take the trailer into NYC. We had to stay outside of the city and take a tour into it). The tour bus took us on a 75 minute drive into NYC. The first stop, Ellis Island. I thought it was very interesting to be able to see where so many immigrants came to start their new lives as American citizens. The museum had graphs of every kind about the immigration into America. What race, where they were from, height, gender, and just numbers in general. Unfortunately, we could not stay long, because we wanted to catch the next ferry to the Statue of Liberty. She really is a impressive monument. However, I have noticed that most statues are a lot uglier up close. For example, Lady Liberty's nose is slightly too big, and her arms look similar to the arms of a sturdy sailor (I guess holding that torch up for over a hundred years really works your arm muscles). We walked around the base and admired the architecture of the statue. The island also gave us a beautiful view of New York City from across the bay.After touring the island, we ate lunch (Great restaurant, by the way. Usually food is extremely overpriced at these kind of places, but this one was very reasonable.) After taking a look around at the statue we took ranger-led tour that explained the history of the island, the statue, and a little bit about other American history as well. Speaking of which, I'm going to do a poll of how many people know what the seven prongs on the Statue's Crown signify. Hopefully, some people will ANSWER IT *glares out at empty room*.

We then took the ferry back to where the tour bus was waiting to take us to Ground Zero, the site of 9/11. After touring the site of the towers, we went into the church where some of the rescue workers stayed while they worked. St. Paul's Church, where we stayed, also was one of only two buildings around the World Trade Center that had no damage from the blast. Not even a crack on one of the windows.

I will give you a little advice based on experiance. If you do what you're supposed to do in NYC, you will get run over. For example, waiting for the walk signal at the street corner. Apparently, New Yorkers don't wait for signals. They walk when they want to. That means anyone standing at the corner like a good boy is going to get run over. Don't look up at the sights, either, or at least wait until you are out of the way. Seemingly, New Yorkers also like to annoy tourists. "Oh, look. A tourist. Let's bump into him three times in a row."

After we left the church, we walked along the streets where the people ran away from the blast. We saw a memorial wall erected to the firefighters and policemen who died in the buildings. We also saw one of the T beams from the building in the shape of a cross that had been dedicated to remembering the victims of 9/11.

When 9/11 happened, I was in the living room of our house watching TV. Then, Mom ran in and turned on the news. I was too little to really comprehend what was going on, but the memory of that day has never gone away. The tour guide said that all New Yorkers are honored and delighted that for one day, no matter where you came from or where you were, everyone was in New York for one day. That everyone all over the world was with them, no matter the race, color, country of origin, or belief.


We met up with the bus again and it took us past Rockefeller Center and finally into Times Square. I did not want to leave. I loved Times Square. All of it. Broadway, and just the Square itself. The square feels very alive. We bought a hot dog and sat at a table in the middle of the square and just looked around. That was probably my favorite part. Just being able to look around without getting bumped. We then went into a restaurant and got some cheesecake (not New York style cheesecake, just New York cheesecake). The chocolate cheescake was delicious. The restuarant also provided a great veiw of the Square.

Then, unfortunately, we had to head home. Time was up on our grand adventure in New York. I was comforted by the notion that we might come back someday. I look forward to it. If you ever happen to be in the area, don't pass up the opportunity to go there. While you're there, be sure to get a hot dog. You can't say you went without doing so. Now I believe I can truly say "I <3>