12-1-16: We will never forget

While I walked through ground zero, I was imagining where the thousands of people witnessed the towers burn, people jumping off the buildings, the towers falling, clouds of smoke traveling at 40mph, and where people died.  I tried to think about what I would do or how I would react to what was right in front of me.  If it were to happen today, I would like to think I would be a surivor, but I in my heart, I think I would be one of those that would die. 

I cried several times throughout the day as I listened to the transmissions, saw pictures and video and read about each artifact and personal item.  We were able to listen to a surivor talk about her experience at our last stop. 

I can't say much more about the tributes and the memorials, you just need to see if for yourself. 

Blessing #11: What hit me the most was knowing that God's justice was finally served to every one of the people that died that day and to those that died from health issues, due to 9/11, the years after.  What affected me was that many went to hell and the rest heaven.  Even some of those that put their lives at risk or died while helping others went to hell.  So many people who decided not to be reconciled with God had their fate sealed that day.  The survivor that spoke to us was obviously bitter and very angry even though she was one of the many people who were blessed.  How precious is it to be given another chance to know who God is, to admit her guilt to sin and finally be right with God - it's a blessing.  I often think it makes sense when God spares the life of those that eventually come to Him because of the tragedy, but what about those that don't?  When God knows they will never come to Him, what plans does He have to fullfill through them?  If the lady who we saw spoke happens to be one of those that don't come to God, I believe her testimony still brings people to God and God spared her life to bring others toward Him.  This was first hand experience of the work God does through the righteous and unrighteous.  

I won't post any pictures since it's too hard for me to see them again, but I will post the 9/11 memorial pond, where the two towers once were, and the new World One tower. 

Estimated miles walked ~5 miles

11-30-16: Miss Liberty and Christmas Trees

More rain the entire day!

Today's goal was to see the majestic Statue of Liberty and the Rockefeller Tree lighting.

We decided to arrive early to see if we can go before our scheduled tour. 

Blessing #9: We were able to go earlier than our scheduled tour.  We have been starting late each day (about 9 to 11am).  Today we woke up early in hopes to do other things.  

It was quite exciting to be on a boat heading towards the Statue.  Although coming for a much different reason, I'm sure the imagrants and myself had the same thought, "we have arrived".

We never thought we would ever see the Statue of Liberty.  It always seemed so far from my reach, something we would never see.  But we were now there, and now we're looking around. 

The Statue is extraordinary and the story behind it wasn't something I thought it would be.  I learned we mocked it tremendously and mocked it even more when the Statue was ready for delivery but we weren't ready to receive it.  Because we just ended the Civil War, people feared the Statue since they believed it symbolized anarchy and violence.  Now today, over a hundred years later, it's #3 on the top 100 things to see around the world. 

After the Statue, we saw Ellis Island and made our way back to Manhattan.

By this time, it has been pouring all day non stop.  Thankfully our ponchos have been keeping us from being drenched. 

We were soon on our way to the tree lighting event.  I thought we were smart by arriving two hour early, but everyone else had the same idea.  We were soon greeted by barricades which we eventually found out went on for many blocks.  We finally found our way near the front.  We couldn't see the entertainment but we did see a large screen that projected the show and we saw the tree.  Later on, we found out that we were on the back side of the stage.  Still even though we couldn't see the stage we had a great view of the beautiful tree.

As it got closer to 1900 people around us said that the tree won't be lit up until 2100.  It was a big blow to us.  It meant we needed to stand in the pouring rain for 3 more hours.  I wasn't sure if it was worth it, but we stood there hoping the time flew by...and guess what, I did. 

While we waited Larry started to talk to the people around us.  We met Sue Pensacola, an Italian, from Massachusetts, Natalie and Luke, her husband, from New York (from the country side of New York), Hector, from Riverside (the I.E.!!), and his partner, who wasn't near him - we're not sure if he meant his lover or his friend, and Samantha from Brooklyn, but originally from Nebraska. We talked to Samantha the most.  Sue had the accent and Larry was talking to her just to hear her speak.  Larry asked her, "Where are you from?"  Sue replied, "I'm from Boooooooossssssstttooon".  He asked again, "Where are you from from?"  She replied, "Boooooooossssssstttooon." (Hahahaha)  He later told her he liked her accent, and was trying to make her talk.   I think she was a little embarrassed since she just smiled and said, "I don't have an accent." 

And yes, finally the tree was about to be lit...with my phone in one hand, I went live on FB, in the other hand I video tapped, and my eyes looked between both hands, I saw the tree light up.  Larry and I were both happy and relieved to know we can finally go home.

Blessing #10: Surprise, I lost our metro card.  Not so much yay, more like boo.  I was upset knowing I cost us about $18.  I remember getting a little frustrated with Larry when he would only put $20 at a time when we re-filled the card.  We found ourselves re-filling the card often.  The time before I lost the card I tried to convince him to put at least $50 on the card.  I wasn't convincing enough so he put only $20. Now, just how much more upset would I be if we lost $50?

NOTE: I've posted pictures my photo bomber, a full size casting of the foot, the Shake Shack (which even had a dog menu!) and the ultimate chia pet!

Estimated miles walked ~6 miles

11-29-16: NY cleaning

And today it poured, all day, nonstop.

We knew it was going to rain today.  I brought rain boots for myslef, hiking rain covers for our luggage and umbrellas for the both of us.  When we were on the tour bus, I nabbed 6 ponchos, 3 each.  You can say we were prepared.

Because it was raining we decided to do laundry!  YAY!  The laundromat was just around the corner from us.  When we got our hotel, we made sure the metro and a laundromat was near by.

After exciting times at the laundromat, we decided to do something today that didn't require us to be outside.  The Vargas' went to a museum!

The best path to the museum was through Central Park!

Blessing #7: It was a bonus that we were able to find a place near central park, but to have a direct path that cuts through central park was a blessing.  We didn't have to walk several blocks to find our way to a meandering path that eventually gets you across th park.  Since it was raining, the direct path was much welcomed.

As we were on the way to the park we saw the aftermath of an accident. Now, the New Yorkers have a an accent that sounds like they are mad, but when they are screaming at eachother it's just time to hide!  Thankfully the park was just ahead!

As we went through the park, we saw a beautiful Lake, trees with leaves changing color, lamp posts with park benches like the movies or read in a story and a baseball park.  While we were crossing, a gust of wind blew the leaves from the trees.  We then saw hundreds of the leaves flutter down. 

Blessing #8: My hubby saw the leaves being blown and he quickly told me to look.  It was so wonderful to know he would take pleasure in such a beautiful sight and thought to show me while he watched.

We finally arrived at the History Museum of New York.  We learned about how the imagrants came across, why they came across, what they went through to become citizens, how and why the buildings were erected and much more.

After our stay, we were hungry.   I love Jewish food and since we were in the area, we went to Russ and Daughters.  We  chow downed on salmon sandwiches.  Oh my gosh,  my mouth is watering just thinking about how delicious it was.  If you don't like fish, this sandwich will make you into a fish lover...or at least into a salmon lover.  It was the best $42 spent...yes, it was that much, but I'd do it agian, maybe this time splitting the sandwich with Larry.

One last stop before we turn in...a Jewish bakery.  I had a rainbow cookie which is more like a cake.  Larry had coffee cake.

Miles walked...about 6miles.

By the way, we eventually tossed our umbrellas.  Both of them of damaged when the wind blew.  

11-28-16: Last day of Bus Touring

Today was last day of Bus Touring the city.  Our last two tours were around Harlem and The Bronx.  There were several highlights of this tour:

(1) We got to see Harlem, probably one of the most recognized cities in the world.  

(2) We got to see the area where MLK preached God's word to the people and offered God fearing instructions on how to protest.  No that wasn't part of the tour, I knew that going in.

(3) During his presidency, Bill Clinton visited every his office space every 6 weeks or so, to think.

(4) We saw Yankee's Staduim.

(5) We saw the Bronx.

All this time I thought Harlem and the Bronx were horrendous slums.  From what we were told, they were vibrant thriving cities until the the depression.  Not until the 70s, the city started to turn around. 

Soon enough we were done with our bus tour and our passes officially expired. 

I felt sad since I knew that was the end of the first chapter of our vacation.

But wait, we got a bonus round!  With our bus tour pass we received an all day hop on hop off cruise day pass!   On this tour we saw the skyline of NY and NJ.  We also saw all three bridges connecting the 5 parts of NY and had our first up close sights with the Statue of Liberty.

Later on we saw the Rockettes!  We took in every twirl, eye-high kick and song note they gave us.  It was a truly awesome show.

Estimated miles walked ~ 6miles

11-27-16: A little rest please

Our third day here you would think we would be wanting more, more, more...but we wanted rest, rest, rest. 

Today we were hitting most of the tour routes.  We needed to because we were so tired from the previous two days.  

Ah, but before we started our tour, I decided to get some food for us.  I hopped off the bus, ran across the street ordered food and cold coffee and ran back to the bus.  The bus took off as soon as I returned.  We were happily watching and hearing all the cool things about the buildings and locations when I remembered I ordered a sandwich, asked for it to be toasted and took off before if was done!  

Blessing #6:  Since I was collecting little momentos for our scrap book, I picked up a business card.  I remembered doing so and called the bakery.  The one who helped me answered but was still reluctant to help me out.  He finally agreed to let me come back in to get another sandwich   Yay!! ...but in about 2 hours, since we were on a tour bus.  

We had a great time on the tours.  We got to see all of Downtown, Uptown and Midtown.  We even took a night tour that featured Time Square and Brooklyn.

At the end of it all we decided to take in a family friendly comedy show at LOL Times Square Comedy Club.

Estimated walked miles ~ 6 miles.

NOTE: the Engine 54 picture of the FD that lost all of their men on 9/11.

11-26-16: Two Vargas' on the East Coast

We woke up pretty late, but after walking 8 miles the prvious day we were quite tired.  

The first thing on our agenda was to take the Subway, this time by ourselves, and redeem our sightseeing bus tour vouchers.  I like the bus tours.  It's great hearing about pop history. 

Blessing #3: It's great how things just happen to work out.  We didn't really know where to get our vouchers.  We had an address but unfortunately, it was still confusing for us.  We have been heavily relying on our phones.  As we soon found out, even the almighty phone gets confused.  Now, although it's their job to lure you in, the people pushing the sale of a tour bus ticket were so kind and helpful in helping us locate where we can redeem our vouchers.

We decided to buy VIP tickets and the VIP pass  quickly became a good investment.  There was a large line for the next Downtown tour bus.  We flashed our badge, and we moved in front of the line.  Yes, feels good.  I looked back and saw that everyone who was in line to get on the bus didn't make it.  

We started our tour and got off about midway, in China Town.  Before getting off, we saw Times Square and Little Italy.  While in China Town, we backed tracked a bit to Ferraras for sweets (and to eat meats just like my Father-in-law did) and headed toward China Town for dinner....but dinner didn't happen until about 4 hours later.

We just kept walking and talking and walking talking and, oh there's a Popeye's, I wonder how the doggies are doing....soon we found ourselves far from the bus route and near Confucius Plaza.  Just beyond that was the Manhattan Bridge. 

We decided to take a walk across the Manhattan bridge.  The views of the city, the water and the towering bridge we were on and of the Brooklyn Bridge were amazing.  The city was lighting up as the sun was setting and there was nothing more beautiful to see.  

Blessing #4: As I have gotten older, I've become a little scardy cat.  In NY there are colorful people and some of those colorful people can follow you on a bridge and may be more inclined to do so when the sun sets.  We didn't meet anyone on the bridge, but I can imagine how horrible it would have been.  At this time it was quite apparent I was in pain (knee pain) and was easy pickings.

When we arrived on the other side, we walked a bit and decided to turn back.  It was quite nice on the other side and we wished we were able to visit a little longer. 

Blessing #5:  We must look lost and confused.  When we were in the Subway trying to head home, a man stopped us to ask where we wanted to go.  We told him and he directed us to take the next train, get off at the next stop, go up the stairs and wait for the next train in the opposite direction.  Doing as he instructed would prevent us from paying additional fares. 

We were both very hungry by the time we were in our own area.  We got pizza to top us off.  I love pizza, especially when in New York! 

Miles walked: ~7miles