Friday-August 18th

This morning we were going to see the Today show and when the alarm went off we decided to sleep instead because we were so tired. We were so lucky/blessed this morning when we got off the shuttle because Jared had left his wallet on the seat not knowing it and we were about to walk away. A lady that was sitting behind us came up and asked if it was ours. That would have been bad news. We really would have been out of luck and in a bad stop because you need money for everything. What a huge blessing! We ended up buying tickets to see “Phantom of the Opera” for Monday evening. We were considering seeing “Wicked” because everyone talks about how good it is but we really wanted to see Phantom. Today we took the tour bus all around New York city, all around the Brooklyn, Little Italy, Chinatown, and saw so many interesting historical sites. It really is amazing how much there is to see in New York. This tour bus is the best thing we could have gotten because we never would have known or seen the things we have been able to. As you’re driving around they tell you what the buildings are and give you insider information. There are three areas of the city that you can go on and even if you have been on the same loop more than once you still learn so much from it. Every tour guide has something different and interesting to say. Another nice thing about the bus is it is a double-decker so you can sit on top and see the sights. You are not constricted to the inside of a bus. We got off on one of the stops, which was Ground Zero. It was sad but so interesting at the same time. It was so neat to see the events that took place on 9/11. In front of where they stood there is a memorial for those heroes and people that passed away. There are signs that have all of their names and then a timeline that has the events of the day starting from the morning to the evening. Everything is gated off but you can see where they stood and it is now under construction. They have posters of what it will look like in year 2010. They are building a tower that will be called Freedom Tower in its honor. There are American flags that are signed with messages from people in front. It really is a neat site to see. You can tell New York will never quite be the same without them and that it really changed people. Throughout New York we have seen a few other memorial items honoring those who dead that day. After that we went across the street to a park and ate lunch and watched people play chess. It was fun to see that because you only see that in the movies. For dinner we had some pizza because everyone talks about New York pizza. It was good but we didn’t think it was that amazing, at least where we went, so we are going to try a few more places. It is hard to know where the best place to go is since they all look like they sell the same pizza. We need to ask one of the tour guides to tell us where we should go. We also went on the night tour, which was neat because we went in other areas that we have not seen yet and we got to see some of the night life.