Bright Lights, Big City

     Mom, Jon and I took a quick trip to New York City at the end of July.  We left early Monday morning and made it just in time for check in.  We dropped our things off and then headed into the city, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then boarded the CitySights bus for the night tour.  

Times Square

M&M World (YUM)

Statue of Liberty in the distance

     On Tuesday we took our time getting up and into the city.  We started off in Central Park and walked around for a bit.  We did not have very much luck with CitySights (the buses did not come as frequently as they should have).  We ended up changing or plans and walking A TON to get to the Harbor Cruise.  It was nice to hear some of the information and history both on the cruise and from the bus tours.  After lunch we took the Uptown bus tour: Central Park, Apollo Theatre, Museums & Harlem.  We ended the day at Rockefeller Center and just before sunset we took a ride to the "Top of the Rock" to get some amazing photos of the city.

A few of the sights before the cruise.

The Plaza

On the Harbor Cruise

Freedom Tower being built

Top of the Rock

Central Park

Finally found a comfortable seat to wait for the sun to set, but then I was told to get down.

     After sleeping in on Wednesday we headed back to the city and started the day with the Downtown Tour: Times Square, Broadway, Financial District, and Battery Park.  We enjoyed some of the tour and stopped at Battery Park to catch the ferry over to Liberty Island.  It took a lot longer than we thought to go through the line and get over to the Statue of Liberty.  It had to be a quick trip and we did not get to see Ellis Island, because we had to get back for our NBC Studios tour in the afternoon.  We couldn't take any photos, but we got to see the studios of Dr.   Oz, Sunday Night Football, and SNL.  Afterwards we grabbed some dinner before taking the subway over to the Financial District and Ground Zero.  Finally, we headed back to Times Square for the 8:00 showing of the Lion King on Broadway!  It was AMAZING!

A few sights on the Downtown Tour

Structure originally in front of the World Trade Center

Tiles created by students to remember September 11th

Liberty Island

NBC

Freedom Tower being built & Ground Zero

Winter Gardens

     It was a quick and BUSY trip, and we fit in as much as we could.  Thursday morning we slept in, packed up and headed home!