Got coffee, called the car service for airport transport tomorrow, packed up our vouchers for the 9/11 Memorial, and had a little fruit for breakfast and we will be on our way to lower Manhattan! This is our last day here. I am not sad, we are all ready to get back to our own beds, and see the animals. I feel like I have left very few stones unturned....at least the rocks I
wanted to see under! This city apparently, just leaves everyone wanting more!
Today was such a great day! We almost killed Randy with all the walking, but he hung in there. We started on the E train all the way to World Trade Center. We had insider, flat surface, walking directions to get to the Shake Shack.
Burgers were awesome, even though we ordered the plain jane burgers and I forgot to add malt to our shakes. It is the 'shake shack' after all. I did not know. Krystl met us nearby and took us to her office building, Goldman Sachs. She shared her very up close and personal story of 9/11 and it made it more real for those of us who were simply watching from a great distance. The people displaced for months, Krystl, heading into the subway a few blocks away as the first plane hit the tower. Doug getting out of the apartment and being forced by police onto a boat to New Jersey, and not being rescued (by Hugh) until midnight that night. The pets stranded in Lower Manhattan, who got out with help of PETA organizers and armed escorts back into the area, the rubble, the air, the sadness and fear.
As we walked around to the entrance we looked up.....
The Freedom Tower loomed above us. The radio tower spire was just hoisted to the top last week. Doug discovered the whole spire is wired for light show capability!
We got a private tour of the 28th floor of the building and the views are amazing. Who needs the Top of the Rock or Empire State?!?
This is the view looking down on Ground Zero
This is where Krystl gets to eat lunch!
You can't get the true feel of the space in a photo, but it is cool, trust me.
Our last day in New York and we found the cleanest, shiniest biffies in all of Manhattan in the Goldman Sachs building! The art in the entrance is by Julie Mehretu, and you have to see it to get the essence of it. Layers of color and architectural schematics of financial buildings in history. It is 80 feet long and 23 feet high!
This is Gay Pride weekend in Manhattan so Krystl painted her nails in the spirit of the city! Love it!
Here are RQ and Stella, taking a meeting at Goldman Sachs.
Krystl planned a walking trip, with benches along the way for Randy to rest and walking through the skyways, out of the sun and shady and narrating the stories of 9/11 all along the way. We went first to the Irish Hunger Memorial.
Stones and foliage all brought from Ireland make up the structure.
This is harbor side and we walked through the doorway and there are reflections of Irish immigrants in words on the walls and reflections in Stella's glasses!
Once up on the top, it looks like a garden in Ireland, stones and lichen and native flowers.
This stone is from County Clare! Krystl explained that many of the buildings in this area are green and the rooftops are covered in the lichen and mosses for insulation and green output!
This is the view looking up at Goldman Sachs! We were on the 28th floor of the 44 story building.
We continued our walk down to the Marina. We can see Lady Liberty in the distance and the boats are just beautiful!
I want one.
I spend more time looking up, you see amazing sights!
We walked on and through the Winter Garden. The glass dome facing the World Trade Center was crushed in and the floors of the space heavily damaged. The original floor was the older white marble, which could not be replaced, so the brown marble was added to create a post 9/11 floor.
The glass you see behind the trees was destroyed on 9/11
This is looking out from the other side.
The trees are all new also.
We walked through the skyway system and One World Financial Center. We walked across the south bridge skyway and Krystl pointed out that there is no longer a north bridge, that led to the WTC.
Powerful stuff, understanding the lingering loss for many people.
We came out at the 9/11 Memorial visitor center and parted ways with Krystl. She and Doug went to see it when there was a private walk through for people that live in the neighborhood. They mostly avoid the area. It is a hard place to be. We would meet up with them when we were through the exhibit and had plans to catch a ferry to Brooklyn. This was the longest line we have ever been in. We had timed tickets (thanks to everyone who told us to get them ahead of time!) so our line was short~er!
Serpentine queues of people in the sun for a full city block. We were in line behind a couple from Blaine! One through the serpentine, down another city block to the security checkpoint which rivals any major airport screening system! At this point I was sure Randy might keel over on me. When he had to remove his belt and almost lost his shorts, he looked like he had had it! We then got to walk
another city block into the memorial space. We found a block for Randy to sit on, and Stella and I found water to fill up our bottles. (We had run out in the serpentine line!) when we returned to Randy, we did not know we placed him next to the Survivor Tree,
It is a Callery Pear tree, planted on the WTC plaza in the 1970's and after 9/11 workers found the tree, reduced to an eight foot stump and they nursed it back to health in a nearby city park and it grew to be 30 feet tall and flowered again. The tree survived being uprooted in the city park by severe storms in 2010 and finally was returned to the Memorial site and it is being held in place by guide wires as it takes root here. It is the only tree on the site that blooms in the spring! Pretty symbolic tree.
The reflecting pools are beautiful and serene. The names upon names upon names carved into the rails that surround the pools are sorrowful. Knowing many of them are still here.
We did not have much time to stay so we headed back out to meet Krystl & Doug at Pier 11 to catch the ferry, but due to our time consuming entrance into the memorial, we were delayed getting to the ferry, so we just missed the boat that we needed to get to Paulie Gee's in time to avoid hour plus wait times! We decided to go with Plan B...which, I think, for me was fortuitous!
We learned one more mass transit manhattan rule. In order to take a "special" bus, you need a "special" ticket! It is not difficult to acquire (there is a machine right there), but knowing you need the ticket was news to us all, as one bus raced past us, knowing we were holding metro cards and NOT the special white ticket! Thanks to a lady waiting for the same bus, we figured out what to do, and caught the next one! We were not alone in the group of unknowing passengers, and some got quite irate! Welcome to New York said Doug!
Randy got to see a bit of Chinatown via the bus, which he enjoyed, sitting, in A/C! Walking to dinner we looked down the street and in the distance we could see Trinity Church, where Krystl rings the tower bells. Our trip has taken me from family in one church tower on the upper west side, to another in Lower Manhattan. You can just make out the spire in front of the tall building in the center of the photo.
We went to the East Village and had pizza at our guides favorite place, Motorinos. One word....delish! We ordered the meatball pie, a marguerita, and the Brussels sprout and bacon white pie!
Real Coke from Mexico, in glass bottles made with real sugar and Porkslap Beer!
Great dinner! Randy was read to get completely horizontal in short order, so he got a cab back to the hotel and for the rest of us, Krystl suggested a dessert run to the West Village......BIG GAY ICE CREAM! Stella and I were game for anything on our last night in New York. We took the L Train over to 14th street and emerged in the heart of Pride! Our first stop, a little British shop call Tea & Sympathy and next door, A Salt and Battery! British treats and teas galore!
We walked past the Duplex and Stonewall, Doug described it is as the site of Lexington & Concord of the gay movement in New York.
Around the corner and down Christopher Street. There was a Diva show in a local church and purple ribbons hung on a gate reflecting the names of people affected by violence in the LGBT community. A colorful walk to say the least. We found a swedish sweet shoppe, Sockerbit
and Rebel Rebel records....David Bowie in the front window. My kind of place!
It was about to get more colorful! We round the corner and found ourselves at Big Gay Ice Cream!
It was all I could hope for! The menu included Krystl's choice of the Rue McLanahan, praline pecan cookies with bourbon ice cream sandwich, the Bea Arthur, a caramel lined cone with soft serve ice cream dipped in caramel and coated with crushed nilla wafers (my pick) and Stella & Doug had the Salty Pimp....a caramel lined cone with soft serve ice cream dipped in sea salt caramel and then dipped in chocolate! It came with a drip cup and was worth the trip!
We continued our walk over to NYU and Washington Square Park. We stopped in front of Hayden Hall where Krystl & Doug met, living across the hall from one another!
Stella and I could only get a photo op pretending to play chess, since apparently whoever had been playing there was coming back. This was explained to us by a man shouting from across the square, "hey! move! they's comin' back!" We did not sit long!
We continued our walk toward the fountain and the arch, only to find ourselves
in the middle of the NY Dyke March Parade! Rainbow flags, tattoos, and boobs galore!
Stella found her New York souvenir!
Quite an unforgettable experience. This is a history making time, with the recent DOMA decision. Being here, in New York, in the west village is quite something.
We continued our walking tour down through Bleeker Street and into SoHo. We found ourselves at the Chess Forum. The place across the street, where Bobby Fisher used to play is now closed, after being open 24/7 since 1972. The Forum has a chess room and amazing sets. Dr. Who, Lord of the Rings, Bauhaus, Art Deco, The Frank Lloyd Wright pieces were amazing!
We came upon Stella Dallas clothing shop near Bleeker street and then crossing into SoHo a little more upscale....is Stella McCartney's shop!
The architecture of the area is amazing and despite the influx of high end retail stores in what was once the artists quarter of New York, there are vestiges of the art left behind. This subway map on the sidewalk with steel and light. Krystl, indicating....You are Here!
Walking past Karl Lagerfeld and Stuart Weitzman stores,
we find SoHo Tiffany's! I may not have had breakfast in front of the 5th Avenue store, but here I am drinking iced coffee in front of Tiffany's. Close enough!
We began to walk towards our last Subway ride and on the way we saw the Empire State all lit up with rainbow colors. We were too far to get a good picture, but you can google it! The view we did have was the Freedom Tower, all lit up with Red, White and Blue for the 4th of July. Krystl says it really just looks like a bomb pop. But they don't use that phrase down near the building!
We said goodbye, and couldn't thank Doug and Krystl enough for such a fantastic night! We hope to visit again, some year, at Thanksgiving time and partake of Doug's family views of the Macy's parade balloons going right past his Mother's windows! And if we came back then....I could ice skate in Rockefeller Plaza! Win win!
Stella and I rode a
very crowded train back up to 42nd street and had one last look at Times Square at night. I scoured a few souvenir shops to find my Times Square Subway magnet, but the best I could do was one for Hell's Kitchen. Which truly represents where our home base was all week! I also could not resist the Big Gay Ice Cream coffee mug, since coffee is my favorite, and ice cream is my second favorite. They also had these super cute buttons. I might share them!
It is 1:35 am, I have not packed and I am exhausted. Better hit the hay, so we don't miss our flight tomorrow.
The List.... the few things I still wanted to do...all checked off thanks to our personal guides!
NYU...check
Big Gay Ice Cream...check
Breakfast (in front) at Tiffany's....check!
No regrets. Ready to go home.
our neighborhood. The deli, where milk is $6 per half gallon. And a horse drawn carriage making it's way uptown. I wonder if these guys have their rigs stabled somewhere and then head up to Central Park each day, or if the street is a regular route.
