NEW YORK!!!!!

Last, but certainly not least, Brian and I went to New York for two days. Originally we weren't going to stay the night in New York because it is SO expensive, but we decided it would be worth it. The cheapest hotel I found was just under $200 with taxes and it was really small and not the most pleasant, but we were only there to sleep so it was ok. We rode a "Chinese bus" there and back, and it was pretty much just a large bus driven by Chinese guys. It was cheap though and it got us there. We were dropped off in Chinatown in New York though and we had no idea where we were, so the first thing we did is hailed a cab to our Hotel to get a map. I would say probably 75% of the vehicles I saw were cabs, go figure! They are some crazy drivers too! Anyway, our hotel was only about 3 blocks from Central Park, so we grabbed a map and started walking.

This is a picture of a skating rink in Central Park.

It wasn't really that exciting, there was a cool path called "Strawberry Fields" that is dedicated to John Lennon and it had some memorabilia. Other than that there wasn't much going on in Central Park. Next we went to see Rockefeller Center.

Here it is... Again not very exciting. It's just a big ice skating rink with flags all around the top.

We then went on toward 5th Avenue and Times Square. That was where it was really happenin'! There were tons of people all over the place, and the majority of them did not speak English! It is definitely the tourist spot.

Here's Times Square. There are tons of expensive clothing stores and lots of cool little shops.

This is the Empire State Building. We did go inside but decided not to stand in line for hours and go up to the top, there were more things to see!

That pretty much took up our day. It was dark by the time we saw all of Times Square so we went back to the hotel and Brian got a hold of his friend that lives there and we went out to a Mexican place to meet up with her for a few hours. The next day, we planned out what we wanted to see, and then we had to get a cab back to Chinatown. First we looked up the World Trade Center Site.

This is all that you can see of the World Trade Center Site.

They have this Path Station that shows what the World Trade Center looked like before 911, and what it will look like in the future. They didn't show much at all though, mainly because they are working on building the new towers. It is expected to be done in 2012. We did go across the street to the Trinity Church, which was where many of the firefighters slept and ate between working long shifts.

Here is the Trinity Church. It is the oldest church in Manhatten that is still in use today. This church was protected from the debris of 911 by a tree that had fallen against it.

There is only this stump of that tree left now, and it is what is said to have saved the church.

This is a picture of a picture that was taken just after 911. Many people came in and posted pictures of their missing loved ones. They also came here for prayer and support.

After touring the church, we found the ferry to Staten Island, which also passed by Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We couldn't find a ferry to Ellis Island, but we thought this would be nice also.

This is Ellis Island, where many people arrived to the US by ship.

And here is the Statue of Liberty. She wasn't nearly as big as I thought though!

It was a really great trip, and I loved New York way more than I expected actually. I didn't think I'd like the atmosphere all that much, but it turns out that really the only incredibly busy areas were around Times Square. There were always people walking around everywhere else also, but it gave me a very safe feeling. There is also always different things to do at all times of the day and night and the city is so easy to navigate. The subway system made transportation very easy and the whole experience was really great. I would love to go back again when I have more time to really spend there.