Stephen and I got to go to New York with Loren and Debbie, Esther, and two of our nieces--Tirzah and Audrey. I have always wanted to experience New York. Stephen went last year on a work trip and sent me some cool pictures and I brought it up last Christmas at our family party. Loren overheard me talking about it and suggested he take us this year because New York is one of his favorite places to visit. He said he is always looking for an excuse to go so he'd take us and be our tour guide. This trip is up on my list of favorite vacations.
We were going nonstop from 8:00 in the morning to 10:00 to 11:00 at night averaging 10-12 miles of walking per day. We ate well and tasted all the desserts all day every day. New York is truly the city that never sleeps. In fact, it seemed to get more lively at night. It smelled of weed everywhere we went. We saw rats, squirrels, pigeons, and sea gulls. We rode the subway, and took in all the sights and stopped at all the souvenir shops until we found what we wanted to get the kids...and myself at Times Square.
We went to the 9/11 Memorial and museum our first day. It felt very somber. We took a guided tour which I'm glad we did because he talked a lot about individuals who risked their lives for others. Then we did the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The ferry ride was cold! It was a chilly morning, and we even ran into our bishop's family! I could have done without stopping at the Statue of Liberty. Ellis Island was really neat to see and hear about all the thousands of migrants wanting to come to America and the deplorable conditions they had to endure.
The next day we went up the Empire state building, went to the Harry Potter store, saw the bull in the financial district on Wall Street, St. Patrick's Cathedral, stopped at Grand Central Station, shopped some more, and then saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play which was amazing. The stage magic was done really well.
Saturday we went to Harlem and listened to a Harlem gospel choir sing. That was a lot of fun. They are loud and lively. We got caught in a "No Kings" protest on our way to lunch, then walked the Brooklyn Bridge. We ended the night with a last minute decision and saw MJ on Broadway. It was SO cool! I loved it so much. I love Michael Jackson and have always felt like he was such a misunderstood soul who was incredibly talented. Anyway, I didn't know what to expect with the play, but it ended up being about his life and the things he went through. He always said his life story was in his songs.
Our last day we spent in Central Park where I got to eat a hotdog from a street vendor. We rode a ricksha through the park which was another last minute decision and it turned out to be the best thing we did. We saw a lot of places from several movies like Ghost Busters and Home Alone 2. Our tour guide took so many pictures of us, haha. We stopped at the Belvedere Castle, and walked through the MET Museum. We had such a fun time! I wouldn't mind going back sometime; the kids want to go so we'll see what the future holds.
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