NYC: Day 5

Day 5 was, by far, the most memorial day of the trip.

We started the day with our FIRST trip on the subway!  Yep, we made our way around New York for 4 solid days by foot.  But on Thursday we wanted to go to the 9/11 Memorial, and since it was 6 miles away from our hotel, we decided to hop on the subway for the very first time!  

All I can say about the subway is that it is crowded!  And stinks!  But I am happy to say that Marc & I made our way to the memorial without incident & we survived our first ride on the subway!

The 9/11 Memorial was so emotional & surreal.  It is hard to believe that it has already been 11 1/2 years since that terrible day.  And to see all of the names & pictures of those that perished just brings back all of the awful memories from September 11, 2001.

There are two water exhibits, and around each of them are the names of each individual that passed away on that fateful day.  They are beautiful & what an amazing tribute to these individuals & their families.  And as you can see, Freedom Towers is very close to being finished.  We heard completion should occur at the end of 2013/beginning of 2014.  Isn't it beautiful?!

This is the Survivor Tree.  It was the only tree that survived the attacks, was replanted & has flourished.  It was also affected by Hurricane Sandy, but as you can see is still standing tall!  And amongst the other trees in the memorial, the Survivor Tree is the greenest of them all!  This tree truly IS a survivor!

The Essex Cafe is a cafe near Ground Zero and it was the Triage Area during the hours, days & weeks that followed the attack.  And today, there are many pictures up on their wall from that day & the days that followed. 

 The Trinity Church is also very close to Ground Zero & miraculously was not damaged, at all, by the attacks.  It is a beautiful church, both inside & out. 

After we walked around the memorial & surrounding areas, we went & visited a 9/11 gallery.  It had remains that were found at the site of the attack, pictures of those that perished, and personal stories from those affected by that day.  It was all very emotional & touching.

After our visit at the memorial & gallery, we walked to the Brooklyn Bridge.  Our plans were to walk all the way across it, but the crowds were insane, and we felt like we were with a herd of elephants, so we walked about 1/4 of the way across, took some pictures, and turned around.

From there, we went to China Town & Little Italy.  We did not spend much time there as it was dirty.  And scary.  And I had no desire to do any shopping/eating in that area.  But we did see one of these!!!

And since we were so close to SoHo, we went & took a look at this boutique...which I was not impressed with at all.  For those that do not know, this is one of the Kardashian's boutique.  And I tried to take pictures for my sisters, but the employees frowned upon that. Sorry S & R!

From there, we headed back toward our hotel where we checked out a cool candy shop, where a lot of famous people shop at (so we were told).  Unfortunately, no famous people were present while we were there.

{Yes...that is my husband.  I love him so!}

And then we just had to head on over to Serendipity for lunch & a frozen hot chocolate!  Holy deliciousness!!!

And if that weren't enough, we capped off the day with a Yankees game!  It was so much fun meeting/spending time with fellow Scentsy consultants & watching the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0!

It was such a great day, and we are so sad to see our stay in NYC come to an end.  But not before we do a few last things on our last day in the Big Apple!!!