NYC Day 3

Saturday was our third day in NYC. It was a littler warmer but overall the weather was still great! We got up early and headed straight to Times Square.

GMA weekend crew

There was a race this morning so a lot of the streets were blocked off.

The first thing we did was to buy our bus tour tickets. We had planned to just take the subway to all of our attractions but when you only have a short time and you have nice weather the bus tour is a great way to see the city. Don't be misled though we walked a TON before we really utilized the bus perks. After we purchased our tickets it was time for a quick breakfast New York style.

One thing I wanted to eat while in NYC was a bagel.

It was VERY good! I like how they spread the cream cheese for you and make it a bagel sandwich. The bagel shop didn't have places to sit so we opted to head to our bus stop and eat on the bus.

We were so early hopping on the bus that there weren't a lot of other tourists. Plus the first one we got on was the Battery Park Express so not everyone was interested it. We wanted to get to the Statue of Liberty first thing so that's why we chose it. I remembered the long lines the last time I went so I was glad to have gotten there first thing in the morning. I should let you know that while we were waiting in line there was man singing songs and serenading the tourists. I took a picture of him with my phone but forgot to take a picture with my camera. The crazy thing about this guy is that he is the SAME guy who sang a song to me when I was in NYC last time (like 5 or so years ago). One day I'll get out both pictures and show you. He's aged a bit. :)

After visiting Liberty Island we took the ferry back to Battery Park and headed up Broadway to browse.

There was a Romanian festival which was really neat. They had all kinds of booths to look at. We managed to make our way to SoHo and stopped for lunch.

My friend Holly suggested the Macbar to us. It was really good! The only bad thing is they don't have a restroom and there is hardly any seating.

The food was really good. They only served different varieties of macaroni and cheese.

I had the Cheeseburger Mac. Mmmmm....

After lunch we walked a little while longer then decided it was now time to see the rest of the area by bus. It was so crowded and none of us had anything specific to look at so we were thrilled to be able to get on the bus and go.

The bus was so full that we had to split up for a little while.

The church where the firemen took breaks from Ground Zero.

Ground Zero

The first time I was at Ground Zero construction hadn't really began yet so we were able to walk down to it and stand where the buildings were. Now you have to look from afar so the view from the bus was actually better than when we walked to it.

Here's our tour bus guy. He was GREAT!!!!

When the bus tour was finished we got off and started heading towards Macy's. We stopped for a snack along the way.

On our walk we entered into the Fashion District. Although I don't have a love for all things fashion I do have a love for all things sewing.

I still haven't learned out to sew on a button with my machine. I will be learning this technique in my class on Tuesday.

Ahhhh....kindred spirits.

We eventually made it back to Times Square and took pictures of things we hadn't visited yet.

We eventually went back to the hotel to rest. We were sooooo tired. We didn't have any plans for dinner except we knew we wanted Mexican. The place we wanted to eat was already over booked so we opted for a place close to our hotel and off the tourist radar. It ended up being a good decision. We walked a block to the restaurant and had no clue that we'd later find out we had walked RIGHT by an SUV with a bomb in it. After dinner we headed back towards "the heart of Times Square". We stopped so that Shannon could buy a purse.

We hadn't made it to all the "action" yet but directly behind this picture and to the right is where they had Times Square blocked off. We were unable to make it back to our hotel going that way and more importantly we were unable to make it across the street to get some cheesecake. Remember, at this time we had no idea what was going all. We saw the SUV, the fire trucks, the police cars, and policemen and women everywhere. We had a feeling it was something bigger than a traffic accident but we didn't know what. I did notice a smell in the air as if something had been burning. Looks like my nose was right. Since we couldn't get anywhere in Times Square we headed back towards 6th Avenue and Rockefeller Center. If I couldn't have cheesecake I was going to get another dessert instead.


After getting our dessert we headed back to our hotel because it was obvious we weren't going out any where. People lined the streets and cars were jammed in trying to move. We asked a guy on the street what happened and he said "there was an explosion." We had nothing to dispute that so we took what he said and went back to our room. As we were winding down we heard two other loud explosions (one louder than the other) and I think we knew at that point something serious was going on. We wouldn't know how serious until we saw the news the next morning...