Our Lady, the Trade, an Arch...oh my! NYC roundup day 3.

I wish I had a picture but it didn't occur to me at the time to take one. Each morning in NY we'd mosey on downstairs to eat our breakfast, and every morning Isaak would wear his very (and I do mean very) hideous bright green pajama bottoms with little foamy beer mugs all over them. He would wear them out the door, in the elevator, through the lobby, and into the restaurant.

Ahhhh. Yes. I remember them well. The pants and the looks.

There was no getting by that I was with him either. So ya know, after 10 years of marriage I just had to shake my head, smile at the people staring...and tell Isaak when we got back to our room if he wore those hideous things downstairs again I would throw them out our 19th story window. :~)

Some things just shouldn't be worn out in public. That's all I'm sayin'.

Anyways. Thursday morning, after breakfast we hop on the subway and head all the way down to the tip of the island to hop on the Staten Island Ferry. It was a beautiful day. Windy. But fairly warm and very sunny. Perfect day for a free 30 minute boat ride to Staten Island.

 pulling out of the dock.

I couldn't believe how many people board this ferry. Hundreds. Of people. And when you're all squished together like sardines in the terminal you think "this ferry is gonna be packed, I better hurry if I'm gonna find a place to sit!" So I start ever so politely jamming my way through the crowd, determined to get a good seat to see our Lady, and then you get on board, and it's 4 levels and so big you don't feel like hardly anyone is on there. It was great. Highly recommend it. And it was free. Which, I'm all about.

 chillin' on deck

there she is! Our lady liberty! Oh my gosh I was so excited, couldn't believe I was getting to see her from a relative close distance.

What up?! You carry that torch mama, hold it high and proud!

I'm a nerd. I did the pose. I couldn't help myself.

 

After the ferry ride we walked a very very very never endingly long way through every little nook and cranny of the Financial district, ChinaTown, the Lower East Side,  Greenwich Village, then back through Times Square and Bryant Park. It was exhausting but we saw so much!

The Financial District. This was one of my favorite areas in Manhattan. I loved it. I loved the buildings, the atmosphere, everything.  Lively but not obnoxious. Old and new weaved throughout every block. Incredible history. Incredible sense of progress. And the sense of, oneness too, I guess. Every kind of face and every kind of tongue are all intermingled, people, from all over the world, here, working together. I loved it.

except for this building...that's just obnoxious. I mean, really? Really??! Honey in our world that's called Walmart, okay? You want a bargain on some clothes...ya go there. Or Goodwill.

The Charging Bull.

The bull??? I have to admit I don't get it. Thousands of people flock here every day to see this. (we were not one of them. We just happened to stumble upon it while we walked, we didn't actually go out of our way to see it.) This statue is actually considered on of the most iconic images in NYC. And this is what people like to do when they come here and see it...

yeahhhh, there was literally a line to have your picture taken touching the bulls, uhhh, man parts. Good luck apparently.

Ha ha! Moving right along....

We saw the Trinity Church on Wall St. and Broadway. Absolutely breathtaking. So old. Beautifully crafted. A cemetery on the land with bodies buried hundreds of years ago. I love stuff like this. I love history. I love that I'm knowingly walking where others stood so long ago before me. I don't know what I'd do if I actually traveled somewhere like Greece, or Jerusalem, and walked where others were thousands of years before me. Blows my mind. But that's because I'm a nerd and I can't get enough of this stuff. It fascinates me to no end.

(that would be the tomb of Alexander Hamilton)

that's just cool.

The closer we got to the site, the tighter my throat became, the harder it got to swallow. I put on my sunglasses in case a stray tear made its way out. I was not prepared for what I saw...

9 years later...the World Trade Center site.

there was so visible gaping wound in the ground anymore. It has been covered over. Built on top of. There is a new One World Tower in the progress of being built. And it was glorious. It's far from being finished, but it will get there.

It's impossible not to reflect on what happened here 9 years ago. Impossible because this is a city that has not forgotten.

                               

  They don't want to. None of us should.

It was hard standing there replaying what happened. Knowing that it was where I stood, where we walked, the alleys we strayed down...that's where people were running for their lives. As the towers collapsed, and the smoke forced its way down the streets. People fighting to live.

But even with the painful reminders of what happened here, there is life. And there is freedom. Both of which motivates this city to keep moving forward, despite tragedy. It's what motivates these men and women to put on their hard hats every day, step out here, and rebuild. It's what motivates our servicemen to go out there and fight. It's what motivates men and women to rescue children forced to be sex slaves. To send a Christmas shoebox. To write a letter to imprisoned Christians. They do it to fight for justice. Freedom. God's gift. And if you stop, the enemy wins. The real enemy. The one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil: cling to what is good." Rom. 12:9.  We're clinging. Clinging to goodness. And praying in thankfulness that not a single life that was loss was overlooked by our Lord. He saw every tear. Heard every cry for help. Listened to every prayer.

"I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen. I will pray as long as I have breath!" Psalm 116:1-2

So glad for the opportunity to see this in person. But it was heavy, so we didn't stay super long.

We started making our way out of the Financial District

and eventually after a very long walk, past the Brooklyn Bridge, through Chinatown and some of the lower east side...

 we made it to Katz's Deli

Yeah, I'm not sure why this place is so famous. I didn't think there food was that great. Isaak totally disagrees of course. Probably because he eats meat and I don't and they're known for their meat, not their veggie entrees. Just a guess.

 the walls were littered with pictures of famous people, everyone from presidents to actors to musicians have eaten here. And now the Brooks'. Check.  :~)

Next stop Washington Park in Greenwich Village. All I have to say is... adorable. The park is lined with sidewalks like this. Trees like this. And Brownstones across the street like this.

and we saw an actual pigeon man! Every few minutes he'd reach into the baggie next to him and scatter seed all over himself and the bench and the pigeons would land all over him. Cute. Weird, definitely weird, but cute.

We stopped in the circle to listen to some music, people watch (Isaak watch :) ), and admire the Washington Arch

 some how after that we ended up in the Flat Iron district and saw the Flat Iron building.

that night we went to Bryant Park (by accident! We ended up at a lot of little places by accident.  Didn't even mean to end up there, just happen to walk past it and we're sucked in by all the cute little shops! Eek!)

 I did buy me we some good.ies! Hey! 

 

we went to the Grand Central Terminal, which was of course, like all the other buildings there, gorgeous. My piddly picture doesn't do it justice.

we ate dinner at a very not authentic ( I don't care what the website says) Cuban restaurant. We were really stoked about this place and then as we turn to go in, I think I hear Isaak's heart sink into his stomach. It's a hotel restaurant. Ugh. Not that hotel restaurants are bad, they're just not where you go to eat in a place like NYC. So far our restaurant experiences have been 50/50. Thankfully the good '50' was so good it outweighed the other blah '50'.

and I'll end this with these guys. A band we stopped and listened to in the Times Square subway station. They were incredible! I had to give them some money. People who can sing, and play instruments like that deserve your money! Give it to 'em! They were singing a Credence song and if Isaak wouldn't have been so embarrassed I would have danced with the little group jamming out with them. They were that good. In the sub station. Gosh I love this city.