Day 2 of beautiful NYC involved the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Ground Zero, & the Empire State Building.

We hadn't purchased tickets for the Statue of Liberty in advance, so the only way we were going to get there was by going to New Jersey and taking the ferry from there.  Wow.  So we hopped the train and headed to the state next door.  Not too bad.  I must say, for the bad wrap that Jersey gets, I was pleasantly surprised with Newark.  I'm just saying.

We hopped the ferry there and the first stop was Ellis Island.  We didn't get off there but stayed on the boat to hit up the statue.  We could have gotten off the boat, but we didn't want to spend time there.  Instead we headed straight for the statue.  And I must say it was a-MAZ-ing.  There was a certain point during the ferry ride I was looking back at Manhattan and enjoying the view of the city from across the water.  I turned around and was absolutely stunned with the beauty of Lady Liberty.  Totally shocked, taken aback, amazed, baffled, yep.  All of it.  Now that I've been there, I feel like a true American.  

 

 

 

 We we able to catch the ferry back to NYC instead of going through New Jersey again.  Whew.  We walked a small bit through Battery Park and headed into the Financial District.  We found the bronze bull and stood in the group.  You have to wait for the perfect time to hop in before the next person, snap the picture really quick and hop back out for the next person.  It was crazy!

After the bull we headed toward wall street.  Stopped by the NYSE.  Kinda cool.  No personal ties to the stock exchange really, but lets face it, this is where the free world makes it's money.  And that's kinda cool.

  

 

For those who play Monopoly, there is Exchange Place and Broadway.  Pay up!

After The financial district was a totally melt in your mouth lamb gyro.  So fantastic.  Even the nanny with the 4 year old screaming twins wasn't enough to break my concentration on that gyro.  So good.

Then off to the Empire State Building.  At sunset!  Woop woop!  In a word, Amazing.

 

After that, a nap.  Then out to the club!  Of which there is no picture evidence.  🙂

Happy Travels!

M