PA and NYC

My grandparents live in Pennsylvania.  I haven't seen them in over a year so my folks and I thought it would be good to visit them this December (since I am between year long contracts).   It was a quiet pleasant visit with family.  We baked cookies, watched a Christmas parade, and played lots and lots of online scrabble against each other.  

My Pop and I in PA

After we left them, we set off for New York City.  I had only been once, and it was only for a few hours worth of seeing and eating in Time Square.  So as you can tell, I was really excited to get back and see more.

In front of Wollman Rink in Central Park

For this trip, we planned out quite a bit.  When we arrived, we checked into our hotel in NJ and took the bus over to NYC.  Once there, we walked through Central Park (WHICH IS HUGE!!!), popped by the Rockefeller Center to see the tree, then went to Time Square to eat the most delicious Chana Saag I have had, at a place called Bombay Marsala.  Afterwards, with renewed energy we headed down Broadway until we reached Macy's on 34th Street.  This building was the size of a city block and had 10 floors.  I couldn't believe it.   BUT, the true reason to visit Macy's during the Holiday's is to see the REAL Santa.  :-)  I am happy to say that we were not the only adults there.  We finished the night off at frozen yogurt buffet.  Yeah!

The next day we woke up and headed on the subway to Ground Zero.  We had a slight mishap in the Metro though.  The card that we bought wouldn't let my father through the gate.  My stepmom, Penny, was telling him just to jump it, seeings how we paid for the ticket anyway...but I warned them that there was a steep fine for that sort of thing.  And I am thankful that he didn't jump it because there were two metro police watching the whole thing from the corner.  So the running joke is that Penny almost got dad arrested in the subway.  We even made up epic stories about how they tackled him to the ground as he was wearing my pink thirty one back pack.  Te he he.

Daddy doesn't look too shaken by his run in with the Police ;-P

Anyway, I was a little wary about going to the World Trade Center because I am still really moved by what happened there.  I didn't know what to expect and it just felt odd that Ground Zero would be a tourist spot.  Once I got there though, my fears were relieved.  The place was a memorial.  Where the buildings once stood were two fountains, the size of the base of each building.  They were surrounded by a memorial garden and inside the garden was a tree called the survivor tree.  It was the only tree to survive the attack.  Overall, it was sobering, but worth seeing.



After that, we headed out on the Staten Island Ferry to get a good look at Lady Liberty and the skylines of a few Burroughs.  Then we walked along the historic port district, under the Brooklyn Bridge, and up into Chinatown for a good lunch and some bubble tea.  Then we caught the subway back to the bus terminal and headed home.

With the REAL Santa

It was a great trip.  We saw so much, yet still left so much unseen.  This is a place that we will surely have to return to.  I am very thankful to my folks for taking me up there and dealing with my whiny style of navigation.  (I usually stand on the corners with the map saying..."Guys!..I don't know where we are going!")

:-D  Happy Holidays all!