New York City (Part 2)

After the whale mall, we walked past the second tower memorial. It was identical to the first and we saw a few more sad white roses on names. Then, we walked to Trinity Church. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovations, so we wandered around the cemetery outside, paying tribute to Alexander Hamilton and several other veterans of the Revolutionary War. After Trinity Church, we were ready to resume our bus tour. There were just a couple of people waiting when we got there but by the time the bus arrived, about 15 minutes later, it had grown to at least 40. Everyone immediately rushed the door when the bus stopped. It was very disorderly. I was recently looking at a series of pictures showing how courteous Japanese people are. I couldn't help but think that they would have respected the order that people had arrived in and stood in a nice line. But, alas, that is not the American way.

Thomas and I had played it strategic and stood in two different places. People were pretty pushy and tempers began to flare, but I actually kept my cool (this is exactly the kind of situation where I would normally lose it), mainly because so many people were getting off, I figured we would all make it on anyway. Which, we did. And, thanks to our strategizing (although, we still got on later than fairness would dictate) we were able to sit on the upper deck and enjoy a peaceful ride. Sort of. The jacks on our side of the bus did not work, so we couldn't hear the audio tour. But, after a few stops, people on the other side got off and we jumped into their seats. Well, most of us did.  There were only 4 seats, so Kara volunteered to stay behind (Luke sat on our laps). Hers worked sporadically, and we passed on interesting information, and she still seemed to enjoy herself. We saw where Hugh Jackman lives and Chelesea Market and the Jenga building up close. I took zero pictures, but to liven up the blog I grabbed some photos online.

Inside the whale mall

Jenga!

We planned to ride all the way to Times Square, but about 1 mile away they told us our bus was broken and we would have to switch. I actually think the driver was just getting off duty or something, but who knows. We decided that rather than waiting for another bus, we would walk. We chose a path that allowed us to walk by the Hamilton theater. That brought back some happy memories. Then it was on to Times Square.  The kids were not as impressed as we thought they would be, but they still liked it (probably would have been better at night). We got some ice cream and then made our way to the American Girl Store. Thomas took the girls around while Jack, Luke and I hung out on a sofa and watched videos of giant squids on my phone. The girls loved the store and the boys were happy for a break.

From there, we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was one of my highlights when I went with Thomas. It was just as amazing as I remembered. I am so impressed with the amazing symmetry and the beauty of the construction, particularly when I think about how it was all designed and built without the assistance of computers. It was getting pretty late at this point, so we decided it was time to make our way back to Penn Station. We stopped at Panera on our way there, once again chosen for convenience and the ability to seat 6. Then, it was off to Macy's. We had told the kids about the wooden escalators and they really wanted to see them.

That was our final stop, we made it to Penn Station just in time to get on the 8:10 train. We had walked 11 miles!!!! Just like our last visit, I found the New Yorkers to be friendly and helpful. We got turned around a couple of times during our day, and people were always willing to stop and help us. There were a lot of homeless people and a Hare Krishna who put a bracelet on Thomas' wrist and then tried to get him to pay, which I thought was actually pretty good. When we traveled to Mexico and Jamaica, the people always targeted me or the kids.

We got back to the hotel around 930 and once again, everyone fell asleep mere minutes after their heads hit their pillows.