NYC, part 1

We started our vacation in Nashville on Good Friday so we could be at the airport early the following day.  It was a really crappy weather day; was cold and rainy all day long and the traffic into downtown was backed up all the way to the interstate.  It took us an extra hour to get there but we made it early afternoon and shopped at Opry Mills for a couple hours.  MADNESS!  I think it was even busier than the years when we've shopped there the day after Thanksgiving. 

We had dinner that night at The Melting Pot, per Robbie's request.  It was very good!  It's always so much fun and relaxing eating there. We didn't get dessert fondue but did have a cheese course before our main meal. Robbie and I got shrimp and Bob had some trio of meat thing. 

After an uneventful flight, we arrived in New York City in mid afternoon and checked into The Sheraton Towers in midtown.  We were on the 36th floor so didn't hear any of the traffic below except the occasional sirens.  We were on the opposite side of the building from Times Square, which was a few blocks away, so did not have neon lights shining in our windows either.  The buildings you see below did not have any lights on the outside and the one closest to us looked residential and the others looked like offices. Wish we would've remembered our binoculars!  Central Park was about 4 blocks up from our window.  If the trees had leaves on them we would've been able to see a little slice of the park but in the second photo below the tree limbs blend in with the buildings.

After looking around our smallish hotel room we ventured out to get a hot dog from a street vendor.  We walked up to Times Square and watched the chaos of all the people milling around there.  That is one of the busiest places I've ever been and it is like that everyday.  Well, the entire city is busy like this everyday.

 Nighttime view from our room

 Our favorite little bakery where we had breakfast or a snack from all but one day...Fluffy's.

I mean, how can you walk past this storefront and not go in to get a pastry??

 Bob loves cannolies now. They had regular and chocolate.

 Some kids at the informal Easter Parade on 5th Avenue on Easter morning.

 This dude was frozen until you dropped some money in his bucket and then he would move around and change positions.  It was fun to watch.

 Outside the entrance to the 9/11 Memorial looking up at the new construction of new World Trade Center building.

 Another highlight was the boat trip around the Statue of Liberty.

 The southern pool of the 9/11 Memorial. This was totally worth the trip to go to this area.  It was eerie, sad and stunning all at the same time.  Despite the large crowd it was very quiet except for the sound of water in the pools. 

Both pools are the same but have different names carved in the stone all the way around each pool.  Every soul who died as a result of that day has their name engraved at one of the pools.  It was free to get into the memorial but you had to get a pass first.  I got ours before we left for our trip so we didn't have to wait in line very long but there is a security area just like in an airport that everyone has to pass through before getting into the memorial area.