New York (day two)

Tuesday we wanted to be at the Today Show at 7:00am. Lets just say sore feet, four lady's, NOT HAPPENING!
So this is the day we are going to do our travels on the subway. While walking to the Subway we encountered some New York sidewalks.

This is puke for you slow people!!! And the birds are having breakfast.

This is our first ride on the great Subway!

We get our subway passes and head to the Today Show. Some how we ended coming out of the
Subway right at Rockefeller Center,

right where the staff of the Today show come out. It was really awesome. We had a great time there Joe's blog sums it up!!!

From there we went to the Statue of Liberty. This was also really neat. It is big and Green!

This is where we stopped to eat lunch and some man helped Dawn spill her lunch on the floor. We also ran into Amanda, Lauren and her mother.

Our next stop was Ground Zero.
This was an emotionally draining stop for me. I could not stop thinking that I was most likely at one point going to be standing on the very ground someone lost their life. As we entered St. Paul's our trip went from chatting and laughter to immediate silence. This is the church right next to the Towers that was not damaged from the their collapse. It is also where all of the workers went for rest and food during the clean up and where the memorials were made for all of those that were lost.

This is St. Paul's behind the trees. These trees are what saved the church from damage. The construction in front of the church is the area known as Ground Zero. One of the Towers was located right in front of the church yard.
After leaving the Church we went to the tribute visitor center and tour. On this tour there was a former Firefighter that told his story of how his life has been changed forever from the events of September 11th. As his team arrived at the center he had to encounter some very horrifying things before the tower fell and through him over 600 feet.
I was just overwhelmed by the story this man told.

I was so glad we saved this for our last day, I think it would have been hard to enjoy myself after hearing of such a tragic time.

After we left the tour we still needed to shop for souvenirs and go to a Broadway show. So we needed to keep moving.
We shopped in Chinatown at a van, a closet and over a garbage can. (NO it is not a typo.) After I lost 10 pounds from sweating do to anxiety, I'm able to look back and say it was funny. There are so many people selling things illegally right next to the police, I can't even believe it! Shopping took a little longer then we had anticipated so we had to hustle back to our Hotel to change for the show.
Leaving our Hotel a little late we headed to the Subway. As we are waiting for the train to get there Dawn encounters a RAT! It was great. I wanted a picture so bad. I decided to cross the yellow line and try to take a picture, when a Police Officer came and tried to tell me my life should be more important then a rat. I told him I got a picture of the puke so I really need a picture of the rat. His reply was "I have lived my whole life in New York, taking puke and rats for granted. Now please stay on the other side of the line and close your bag, your in New York!" I didn't get the rat picture my batteries died right as I took the picture.

We arrived with 5 minutes before show time. I must say, I think everyone needs to go to a Broadway Show it was AMAZING!!! We stayed after to see the stars leave and got the signatures of all the stars but one.

After the show we did some last minute shopping and got a bite to eat. We were all so tired and started to get a little silly. Amy almost kicked a Waiter and we still don't know why they call Steak cut onion rings "steak cut"! Were they cut with a steak knife???

That is my wonderful trip to New York!!!