Saturday, March 28, 2015
Just returned from Abigail's 13th birthday weekend in New York. Happy to be able to share Caroline's flight benefits with Melanie and Abigail! We had to leave super early, because you can't take chances when your time is limited and you're flying stand-by. After being rudely awakened by my alarm at 4 am, picking up Melanie and Abigail at 5 am, parking at the airport, taking the shuttle to the terminal, and making the 7 am flight to Charlotte,
we didn't make our flight to JFK! It was just part of the adventure, though. and we spent our time people-watching in the airport. When we finally boarded a flight to New York that afternoon, all three of us were able to sit together!
Abigail's first time flying!
We arrived in NYC, collected our luggage (which had been whisked away because there was no more room in the overhead bins), and found our way to the Airtrain. Rode the Airtrain to Jamaica Station, then boarded the Long Island Rail Road to Penn Station. We were quite proud of ourselves!
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| "Thanks for riding the Long Island Rail Road" |
When we walked out of Penn Station, our hotel was in sight--just a short walk away. WHEW! We made it!
We stayed at the Radisson Martinique on Broadway, and loved it! So close to everything. We settled in, rested a minute, congratulated ourselves for reaching our destination, and then headed out to explore.
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| New York Public Library |
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| Bryant Park |
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| A view of The Empire State Building |
It was a long, tiring,
great day!
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Started our day with Pop-Tarts and coffee in the room (yum), then headed to the Empire State Building, which was just around the block. The temperature was 25 degrees (F) when we left our hotel, but had warmed up to a balmy 30 degrees by the time we reached the top! Even after waiting in line for security, and then for tickets, and then for the elevators, it still took us only 45 minutes to reach the 86th floor observatory. Not bad!
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| It was fun looking down over the places we had walked the night before. See Macy's? |
The weather was
almost too cold to bear, but we still loved every minute! After the Empire State Building, we popped into a little hole-in-the-wall pizza place. The pizza was everything we had hoped for!
Refueled and warmed, we consulted the Hop Stop phone app to determine which subway would take us closest to Ground Zero. We exited the subway at the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall station, and headed towards our destination, looking every bit the tourists along the way! (There was no question, with our heads thrown back and our eyes always looking up.)
Ground Zero - WOW!
After
the September 11th terrorist attacks at the the World Trade Center, when life as we knew it changed, the area came to be called "Ground Zero". ("Ground Zero" is the term
used to describe the point on the Earth's surface closest to a
detonation when there's a huge explosion.)
I don't know what I expected, but I was so impressed. Even with construction in progress, we were in awe.
People were somber as they viewed the reflecting pools where the towers originally stood.
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| You can tell the size of the reflecting pool by the size of the people gathered around it. |
One World Trade Center (also known as the Freedom Tower), is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex. It is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the fourth-tallest in the world, and it is impressive! It is also a visual testament to our country's resilience.
After leaving "Ground Zero" we walked on towards The Battery, and stumbled upon Trinity Church. Abigail loved it! I was excited, not only because it is SO beautiful and historical, but also because it is featured in "The National Treasure" movie!
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| We wandered into the graveyard, where evidently we weren't supposed to be. A guard came and asked us to leave. Oops. |
From Trinity Church, we walked to The Battery and along the waterfront.
We boarded the Staten Island Ferry so that we could ride past the Statue of Liberty. We had to disembark on Staten Island and then re-board. And yes, I did get one of those big, soft, salty pretzels while we waited for our return ferry!
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| The Lady |
When we left the ferry, we consulted Hop Stop again, and found that the subway station we needed was about 20 feet away! Thank goodness, because by this time our phones AND our feet were dead. When we reached our destination, we got off the subway and came up on the street about 20 feet from our hotel door. PERFECT, because we probably could not have walked another step.
We re-charged our phones and our bodies and headed back out towards Times Square.
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| See us in the yellow oval? We were on the BIG screen in Times Square. It was FUN! |
We checked out a few of the stores, including the Manhattan Mall, Macy's, and the M&M store. We experienced the lights and crowds, and then headed back to our room. Exhausted.
Monday, March 30, 2015
We popped (might be over-stating) out of bed Monday morning, packed our bags and headed to Penn Station, stopping at a McDonalds on the way. This was only our SECOND meal of the weekend! Except for the pizza, we ate only junk food. Those Altmans just don't eat!
This is what we lived on--water, Diet Coke, coffee, Pop-Tarts, and granola bars!
We bought our train tickets from a machine, boarded the Long Island Railroad, traveled to Jamaica Station, then rode the Airtrain back to JFK! We made it with no problems to Charlotte, but when we arrived there our flight to Raleigh had already boarded because our JFK flight had been delayed a little. Oh no! Thankfully, we were able to walk on at the last minute.
And we were happy to see Tim, Ashley, Gavin and Hallie at the airport in Raleigh!
I'm ready to go back!
