We have been in New York City for 3 days and haven't had a moment to catch our breath! We arrived on Tuesday, May 21 via a packed United flight from LAX. By the time we took 2 trains and a bus to get to our Courtyard by Marriott Hotel on 92nd St. at 1st Ave. we were exhausted and ready to give up for the day. We stayed here when we were in New York the last time (three years ago) and have our god daughter, Samantha to thank for getting us the friends and family rate. She works for Marriott!
We spent our first two days with our friend, Hildie, who lives in Scarsdale. She has lived in New York most of her life, and knows all the ins and outs of the city. On Wednesday we met her, and her friend, Marie, at the TKTS Booth in Times Square. That is where you can buy same day, discount tickets to plays and musicals throughout New York City. After buying our tickets we headed to an Indian restaurant (Benares) for a buffet lunch.
At 2 p.m. we saw the musical, Once. It is a fairy tale of a romance between an Irish songwriter and a young Czech woman and takes place in Dublin. There was a whole cast of quirky characters who remained on stage throughout playing the roles of orchestra, vocalists, and actors. It was very entertaining and touching.
The next day, Thursday, we met Hildie and Marie again at the 9/11 Memorial. We spent an hour looking at what has been built on the "Ground Zero" site. They have two large waterfall pools filling the foot print of the two buildings. In the middle of each is another pool which is seemingly bottomless. Around the pools they have a wall with all the names of those who died during that awful day. They are still working on the museum and the new World Trade Center tower. My favorite thing was the Survivor Tree. It was a stump that was found in the rubble of the original wreckage. They dug it up and sent it to a nursery to be brought back to health. It survived and grew to almost 30 feet when it was uprooted in a storm. At that point they were able to replant it in the new Memorial Park, and it is seemingly quite healthy and happy there!
From the park we went to the East Side to visit the Tenement Museum. We saw several apartments in the former tenement at 97 Orchard Street. It was built in the 1860s. There were 3 room apartments for 22 families with a saloon on the ground floor. The apartments were closed up in the 1930s because the owner could not afford to comply with the city safety regulations. Fifty some years later it was purchased to be used as a museum and has been a treasure trove for historical information and research ever since. Several apartments have been reconstructed to reflect one of the tenants who lived there. Others have been left to show the state of deterioration when the building was first reopened. We saw the apartment of a German family from the 1860's - the husband abandoned the family and the wife took in sewing to support her 4 children. Another was an Italian family who lived there in the 1920's and were evicted when the landlord closed the building. A third was an Irish family whose baby daughter died in the apartment and it was set up to show the wake.
After spending the afternoon at the museum we headed off to the Joyce Theater for an evening performance. We saw the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago troupe doing 4 interesting and very different dance programs. Afterwards we said good bye to Hildie and Marie and we are on our own for the rest of our visit.
We spent our first two days with our friend, Hildie, who lives in Scarsdale. She has lived in New York most of her life, and knows all the ins and outs of the city. On Wednesday we met her, and her friend, Marie, at the TKTS Booth in Times Square. That is where you can buy same day, discount tickets to plays and musicals throughout New York City. After buying our tickets we headed to an Indian restaurant (Benares) for a buffet lunch.
At 2 p.m. we saw the musical, Once. It is a fairy tale of a romance between an Irish songwriter and a young Czech woman and takes place in Dublin. There was a whole cast of quirky characters who remained on stage throughout playing the roles of orchestra, vocalists, and actors. It was very entertaining and touching.
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| Suzanne, Hildie, and Marie, May 23, 2013, New York City |
The next day, Thursday, we met Hildie and Marie again at the 9/11 Memorial. We spent an hour looking at what has been built on the "Ground Zero" site. They have two large waterfall pools filling the foot print of the two buildings. In the middle of each is another pool which is seemingly bottomless. Around the pools they have a wall with all the names of those who died during that awful day. They are still working on the museum and the new World Trade Center tower. My favorite thing was the Survivor Tree. It was a stump that was found in the rubble of the original wreckage. They dug it up and sent it to a nursery to be brought back to health. It survived and grew to almost 30 feet when it was uprooted in a storm. At that point they were able to replant it in the new Memorial Park, and it is seemingly quite healthy and happy there!
From the park we went to the East Side to visit the Tenement Museum. We saw several apartments in the former tenement at 97 Orchard Street. It was built in the 1860s. There were 3 room apartments for 22 families with a saloon on the ground floor. The apartments were closed up in the 1930s because the owner could not afford to comply with the city safety regulations. Fifty some years later it was purchased to be used as a museum and has been a treasure trove for historical information and research ever since. Several apartments have been reconstructed to reflect one of the tenants who lived there. Others have been left to show the state of deterioration when the building was first reopened. We saw the apartment of a German family from the 1860's - the husband abandoned the family and the wife took in sewing to support her 4 children. Another was an Italian family who lived there in the 1920's and were evicted when the landlord closed the building. A third was an Irish family whose baby daughter died in the apartment and it was set up to show the wake.
After spending the afternoon at the museum we headed off to the Joyce Theater for an evening performance. We saw the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago troupe doing 4 interesting and very different dance programs. Afterwards we said good bye to Hildie and Marie and we are on our own for the rest of our visit.
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