NYC Trip: Part 3

Friday morning began with a scant continental breakfast at the hotel so we headed to Applejack's diner for further sustenance. We walked and walked to an appropriate subway station to head down to Battery Park. There we stood in line for a LONG time and finally boarded a ferry to Liberty Island and then on to Ellis Island. The wait in line wasn't too horrible because we had lots of entertainment (steel drum players, singers, and men peddling "designer" purses, sunglasses and watches).

Liberty Island was terrific! A park ranger gave us a very informative tour and I took a plethora of Lady Liberty from every angle. Next stop was Ellis Island. We only spent an hour at Ellis and took another (not so informative but entertaining) park ranger tour.

Back in NYC I persuaded my mom and grandma to walk 6 blocks out of our way to see the World Trade Center site - ground zero. The entire area was fenced off but we were able to see the big hole inside. The area is under construction as a memorial and reflecting pool are built in honor of the 9/11 victims. I was especially moved when I saw a crudely constructed cross on site made of i-beams.

On to the subway and back to our hotel for a quick change into our play-going duds. Then we hit the pavement again and walked up to Times Square in search of a dinner spot. And boy did we find a unique one! We ate at the Starlight Diner where all the waitstaff sang and danced for our entertainment. Very cute joint with DELICIOUS hamburgers. After supper we headed to 42nd street for our musical - The Pajama Game starring Harry Connick Jr. The theater was fairly small so we had a great view of Mr. Connick during the show. He was just delightful! I felt like I was beaming during the entire show. He is by far one of the greatest singers ever (in my book). The rest of the cast was excellent as well.

Here I must break to describe our two "celebrity sightings" in NYC. We didn't actually see Antonio Banderas but we did see his car drive away from the David Letterman show and we heard the photographers clicking and shouting his name. The was our first sighting - sort of. During the intermission of The Pajama Game we headed down to the lobby and as we did I passed by Sarah Jessica Parker. At least I thought I did. I didn't get a chance to really see and I surely didn't want to gawk at her. After the play we headed down the same way to the lobby and practically tripped over her. Same voice, same hair, same mole - it was her all right.

After the play was another long walking adventure. I'll save that for part 4. :) Here are some photos of our Thursday journeys:















Very tame pigeons at Battery Park.
















My self-taken photo actually turned out well with just one try! This was on the ferry to Liberty Island.
















The view of Manhattan from Liberty Island.






















The immigrant processing room at Ellis Island.






















World Trade Center site.