New York New York by Kenny & Kristen
Posted on 2017-01-19
New York is a city of many things. People, Buildings, Super heroes, and villains. In our Quick trip, we ran in to all sorts of those things. Early on in the adventure we were lucky enough to make it to the Liberty House Restaurant which looks out over the water where you can see the Southern Manhattan skyline as well as Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The food was not terrible, but the views were on point. In order to make it here we had to catch a Ferry which was a neat experience! We looked in to doing the tour of the statue but the boating and tours didn’t line up with our quick unplanned trip so we took a stroll through the State park directly across from the status as we appreciated its beauty and enjoyed the view.
While in the state park we were also able to see one of the monuments dedicated to the 9/11 attack. THis was a pretty awesome memorial from the Jersey side that had two giant walls of names that focus's your view directly where the towers were, it gave me goosebumps.
The next day we set out to see what New York had to offer! Turns out, it has a lot of people dressed as super heroes and they just kind of harass you in a different language and pressure you to giving them your phone to take a picture with them. When it is all said and down they ask you for money because they work for tips and if you don’t tip them they say nasty things and chant things at you. It was fairly traumatizing considering we didn’t want a picture in the first place, so we tried to avoid these folk from then on.
We also had the opportunity to see 30 Rock! This was pretty awesome as we could see where the TODAY show was filmed along with some other big names (Late night with Jimmy Fallon, Magnolia's Bakery (Lazy Sunday - We didn’t mac on any cupcakes though), etc.). We also saw quite a lot of folk’s ice skating in the plaza and it was an overall awesome experience. It makes you think how different some people’s lives are from yours when these are everyday activities for them.
While we were out and about, it turns out that several people started showing up with signs about Women’s rights and all sorts of whatnots. As we made our way to Grand Central Terminal we discovered why. We were in the midst of the New York Women’s March the day after President Trumps Inauguration. This was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. We were among THOUSANDS of people, who in unison, were utilizing their rights to protest. There was no riot or sense of terror - it was a load of people with the same thoughts working together. Really an amazing sight to see, Its one I will remember forever.
Later that evening we headed over toward the 9/11 memorial in Manhattan. This was another beautiful memorial with two deep pools with the names of the victims surrounding them. When visiting this area, you can’t help but inherit a sense of sadness of all the lives lost in that area. The atmosphere seemed to give off a sense of understanding and unity in respect for those lives. It was an enlightening experience to say the least.
That night we headed down to the Lyric Theatre to watch Cirque Du Soles PARAMORE. The show was awesome and had a great variety of sweet stunts which I loved! By the time I left I was convinced I wanted to build a teeter totter to do flips from!
The next day we got up early to head down to Central Park to run the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half Marathon, which was the main goal of our trip to NYC. Now Kristen has done well in training for a half marathon (She has actually ran several prior to this one!). I on the other hand had some very minimal training and brought the worst clothes to run in 40 degree early morning New York weather. But we both finished round about the same time and had a great time! We were amongst about 5000 other folks running and it was definitely one of the largest races I have been a part of. I had a blast! This however was our last day to see New York as an hour after we finished the race we were off to the airport to head to our next destinations for work. This place is great and full of character. It is definitely worth spending some time here and participating in the events that surround the city!
