New Jersey - day 4 a/k/a Return to the City

Well, to make a long story short we didn't get to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We saw them from the shore and enjoyed a hot dog within eye shot, but the line was already way too long to wait to actually take a boat out to the islands. Oh well. We got to spend much of the day riding the subway which was pretty cool.

We did get to enjoy breakfast while waiting in Dunellen for our train.





Our first stop off the train was Ground Zero. Amazing, though I've used it about a hundred times to describe our trip thus far, just isn't the right word for Ground Zero. It's a heavy place to visit is what I would say. There is a huge hole still visible. The building replacing the Twin Towers is about half way to its full height. I could feel the weight, the emotion, the sadness, still at the site. Though New Yorkers are trying to rebuild and though vendors are peddling their goods right nearby, Ground Zero was still a place of great melancholy compared to the rest of the city.

This the the building being constructed at the site of the old Twin Towers. The sign said it is about half the height now that it will be when it's finished.


You can see that there is still a huge hole in the ground where the towers once stood. There is a lot of work to be done.







We walked to Wall Street where Colby posed with the bull, and we sneaked into a little church alcove to steal a kiss.





One of my favorite stops of our entire trip was the Top of the Rock - you might recognize the building from the Today Show or the show 30 Rock (one of our faves). The view from 30 Rock was, here it comes.....AMAZING! It was better than the view from the Empire State Building because from 30 Rock you could see everything, including the Empire State Building. Fucking awesome.


That's the view of Central Park:

Anyone who watches the Today Show will probably recognize these photos:




We also stopped at the Museum of Natural History. Dinosaur bones, taxidermy, a planetarium - the kids would've loved it.






This is the planetarium. It actually looks like a planet from the outside.



I found this sign very amusing.



We had lunch in the museum. Can you guess who ate the pretzels and beer and who ate the sandwich with pesto, tomato and fresh mozzarella with a carton of skim milk? We shared the candy bar.

Colby made some new friends at Toys R Us:




We packed a lot into two days in the city. Next time we'll plan to spend three or four days in NYC so we can do more shopping and take more time in the museums.