Day 3, Part 1

This was the longest day, by far, but the most fruitful. Here is the list of things we did:
-Statue of Liberty
-Battery Park
-Wall Street
-South Street Seaport (museum and shopping)
-World Trade Center site
-Chinatown
-Dinner in Little Italy
-Manhattan Mall
-H&M
-Empire State Building
-Dessert

The Statue of Liberty was cool. We ate on Liberty island. It was quite hot and both my sisters got sunburned. It would be great if I could say that I didn't get sunburned because I was smart and put on sunscreen. However, that is not the case. I don't own sunscreen...I didn't get sunburned because I'm already tan from being in the sun so much (bring on the skin cancer...I know!). We took mucho pics on the island of lady Liberty and of Manhattan from the boat. I felt more comfortable because we were just amongst a bunch of tourists so we didn't stand out like sore thumbs! We took the boat on to Ellis Island, but we didn't get off...we didn't even look at Ellis Island. I know, I know, it's some historical place with all this stuff, but we were hot and tired! After we got back to Manhattan, we ate popsicles in Battery Park while sitting on a bench. This are the things that I love on vacations...just chillin' wherever you are and enjoying beautiful weather and scenery. Battery Park is OK. I've been there before. It's just a park with a bunch of tourists in it. There is this cool sculpture (I forget the name) that was at the World Trade Center before 9/11 and was put in the park after it "survived" the attacks. It's really beat up, but supposed to be a globe, I think.

From there, we walked up to Wall Street and by the NYSE, then onto the South Street Seaport. My sister, Missy, just graduated from nursing school and really wanted to see the Bodies exhibit (a gross exhibit that was in Houston for a while showing what dead bodies look like with disease) at the museum. We thought our New York Pass would get us in for free, but it didn't. Since the exhibit was $26, we dedided that she would enjoy the exhibit while Laury and I shopped. Which is what we did. I ended up buying a skirt and 3 shirts at Benetton and Ann Taylor. Missy & Laury had quite a bit of fun making fun of me for buying clothes at stores that we have in Houston, but there was a sale!!! I really liked this area...it made me feel like we were in San Francisco.

From there we went to the World Trade Center. I think there might be a tour, but we just looked at the stuff they have up at the subway spot. Very moving, still, 5-1/2 years later. I was at the site a couple of years ago and was able to look down into it, but we couldn't get that close this time. We did go into St Paul's Chapel, which is an Episcopalian church that was completely undamaged during 9/11. It ended up being a soup kitchen and place for workers to rest during the recovery efforts after the attacks. It is a beautiful church and has some awesome memorials. Oh, and it was where George Washington went to church. I took pictures of the church pew he prayed in.

By this time, the sun was going down. Laury was kind of looking for a new purse, so we took the subway up to Chinatown. One of the things we had already noticed was how different the different parts of the city are, and Chinatown is definitely different than where we had just come from. We did not particularly care for the ladies that chase you down the street saying "You like a bag? Coach? Chanel? Miss? Miss?" It was a little disconcerting (almost as annoying as the guys in Times Square that keep trying to get you to go to a comedy club...more on that later). But, we survived. Laury ended up not buying a purse.

OK, this is getting too long. I'll finish up with Part 2 of Day 3 later.