Ground Zero Memorial December 2011

Anyone making a trip to New York should definitely visit the Ground Zero Memorial.  Today's sunshine with temps in the upper 50's made for the perfect day for us to visit the 9/11 memorial.  There are two pools known as the North and South pools with a wall of names surrounding each pool.  Although there were a lot of people visiting at the memorial today the atmosphere was one of peace and serenity. You have to go through a security check at the memorial entrance where you had to take off coats and belts and place them in the basket along with your cell phones, cameras, and handbags which were also checked via camera just like at the airports.  There were several checkpoints you went through walking to the memorial which required you to show them your access pass before finally getting to the memorial itself.  Here are some of the pictures I took while there.

 
After the twin towers fell and all the debris, smoke and dust cleared away the one thing left standing unharmed was a Bradford Pear Tree.  A symbol that all is not lost and that there is still hope. This is that tree at the Ground Zero Memorial.

New York City Christmas 2011

They say there is nothing like Christmas in New York City.  I have experienced a lot of the holiday in the two days that I have been in New York.  The Christmas lights, decorations, store window displays and holiday spirit is everywhere in the city.  We spent a lot of time in Central Park although the park itself was not all that decked out for Christmas.  It was a cool but sunny day there with lots of people taking advantage of the walking and running trails.  There were also lots of people just taking a nice leisurely stroll through the park.  I'm not sure how many acres are in the park but I do know that is has a lot of trees, trails, lakes, as well as a carousel, ball field, tennis court and lots of other areas that New Yorkers can escape to when they need their outdoor space.  One of the highlights of our visit to Central Park was the Carriage Ride.  It is not a long ride, only 20 minutes, but it is among one of my favorite things that we have done so far and I recommend that if you come to the city make sure you put this on your list of things to do.

We also went to the Rockettes Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall.  All I can say is that it was fantastic!  The music, the different set ups and so colorful.  Part of the show was a sleigh ride through New York City with Santa in 3-D.  Here are some of the pictures I took at the show. 

After the Rockettes show ended, we headed for Rockefeller Plaza to see the gigantic Christmas tree that is on display in the plaza.  I understand that they decorate this tree with Christmas lights that when laid out would be 5 miles long.  The tree was beautiful all lit up at night with ice skaters skating in the rink below.  While we was taking pictures of the tree someone through a large milkshake that landed on the ground right at our feet.  The adolescents that through the milkshake was standing only a few feet from us and we heard one girl tell the other girl "I'm not picking it up, you said you wanted it so I bought it for you".  If that cup had hit Julie or me we would have had given those girls more than just an angry glare.  As Julie stated, we would have had to gone redneck on them.  That milkshake had to be in a 32 oz cup and missed us by a hair.  Shortly after that, as we was leaving the plaza, the police had blocked off one of the streets from traffic and was telling pedestrians that were walking in the street to get on the sidewalk.  Because there were so many people in that area there was no place to walk on the sidewalk (and that is no exaggeration). One of the cops sort of zeroed in on Julie as she was walking in the street, as were lots of other people, and he specifically told her to go back to the curb and get on sidewalk.  She ignored him because she didn't realize that he was talking to her. To make a long story short she finally was able to make it through the barricade and onto the sidewalk thus alluding the long arm of the law ( LOL).     


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