El Fin of the Best Fall Break Ever

The rest of day 4 & day 5 of NYC!

At the end of day 4, Veronica & I headed over to the 9/11 memorial site. Like I said in my previous post, I lost my ticket but was able to get in because I took a picture of my ticket. haha thank goodness I was able to zoom in on that dang bar code.

Entrance to the site - it's considered a construction site so only so many people are allowed to enter

Map of the pools, located where each tower stood

The pools dedicated to the towers. They are breathtaking. Here's a video I took from the site:

Cool picture courtesy of Veronica

Here's the 9/11 museum - it's made up of pieces that survived the terrorist attack. Almost finished!

While walking to find food Veronica & I ran into a protest on Wall Street, it was getting crazy! Here's a video:

Dinner ended up being at Ruby Tuesdays. We really wanted to find some sushi or random cool place in NY, but after walking around all day our feet led us here. At least it was yummy! We were so tired that, if it were possible, we would have slept & ate at the same time...yeah

Day 5: Veronica & I woke up at 5:30 a.m., checked out of our place, & headed over to the city so we could be on the Today Show! Little did we know we would have a series of unfortunate events that made us get to the show a few hours later than planned...but things ended up being okay in the end :)

The Today Show is filmed in Rockefeller Center - not very many people were there that Tuesday. 

Don't worry, we brought our Go Frogs sign to represent TCU! I apologize for looking so rough, it had been a long morning with not much sleep, haha

We were lucky enough to catch Matt Lauer before he ran back into the building! It was exciting, to say the least.

And now for the best part of the day...ANN CURRY!!!! She is my new idol, basically. Ann shook hands with every single person outside & made sure to talk to them for a few minutes as well. She took tons of pictures with everyone too! Veronica & I were the last people to get a picture. She held our hands & told us we were beautiful...my life is complete now.

We then left for the Empire State Building! We got the $22 tickets for the observatory deck, which was level 86. I've never been on a speedier elevator!

View from the observatory deck!

The view was beautiful! Veronica & I did fall asleep while at the Empire State Building - yeah, we were that tired - but I can't think of a cooler place to take a nap!

Lunch consisted of unlimited sushi at some rando place. I would imagine heaven to be very similar to this restaurant...

We subwayed our way around the city...

Off to FAO Schwarz & played on the big piano! We were probably the oldest people on the piano. I think I almost took out a few kids, they were just so tiny!

Then went to the iconic Tiffany & Co store on 5th, where Breakfast at Tiffany's was filmed!

While walking back to the subway we found the Apple store, where notes & apples dedicated to Steve Jobs covered the area. Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs. You were truly legendary.

Veronica & I were lucky enough to catch the last 2 seats on the bus that went from NYC to the Newark airport, where we sadly boarded our 5 p.m. flight. I don't actually remember much of the flight, seeing that I passed out into a coma because I was so tired!

So that's where our trip ended :( but what a great trip it was! Thanks for being such a great travel buddy, Veronica! & thanks to everyone who helped make the break so great.

Until my next travels, xoxo, b

Loving NYC

Update on days 3 & some of 4 of my New York fall break!

I think we started all of our days with Dunkin Donuts...which was awesome! They have pumpkin flavored donuts & coffee - what more can a girl ask for? 

Our first main site of day 1 in New York was Times Square, & it did not disappoint. I could probably sit in that area for hours! Such a great people watching location. When we walked by, some group was filming a bollywood movie. Later on there was a parade with people from Colombia. There's always something happening in Times Square, that's for sure!

After Times Square Veronica & I headed over to mass at St. Peter's Cathedral at 10 a.m. It was gorgeous. There were so many people there for mass! The architecture of the building definitely brought me back to Europe & study abroad. <3

After mass we stumbled upon Rockefeller Center. The flowers were so pretty! The ice skating rink isn't quite frozen yet, but I can imagine how pretty it all looks during winter time. Just means I have to come back :)

After Rockefeller Center we found a memorial dedicated to the firefighters & police men who gave their lives for 9/11

One of the goals for our NYC trip was to see a Broadway show...& what better show to see than the one Daniel Radcliffe (Harry from Harry Potter) appears in? So Veronica & I anxiously awaited in line for rush tickets (last minute tickets that were only $30) for about 30 minutes. As soon as we got to the ticket office we found out that the family of 5 purchased the last round of tickets, que triste!!! So no Daniel Radcliffe for us :( but we kept our search for another Broadway show.

Lunch ended up being gyros on the street! It was basically chicken, lettuce, onion & tomato wrapped in pita bread. The sauce is yogurt & humus? I don't know, but it reminded me of kebabs!

I fell in love with the beautiful NYC skies.

Veronica & I ended up seeing Chicago the musical on Broadway, & it was fabulous. Kara DioGuardi, a judge from American Idol, was the star performer as Roxy & was phenomenal. Never knew she could perform! Such a great show. 

We ended up meeting one of Veronica's study abroad friends, Dylan, in the city. They met in Florence, Italy & now he lives in Jersey! He look us to little Italy & we ate at La Nonna, so yummy.

We then met up with one of Dylan's friends, who goes to NYU. She gave us a tour of her dorm room - the view from her room was ridiculous! I love seeing how other universities run. They have really high security at NYU & had to keep our IDs while we were in the building.

We then went to a Karaoke bar for the night, which was so much fun! CLARO I sang waka waka by Shakira. I'm probably the worst singer ever, but when in the city...

Day 2 of NYC began with a big cup of coffee & a subway ride to the 9/11 memorial site. The site is open to all, but you have to get a ticket early in the morning. The tickets are free, but they only hand out so many a day...hence why you gotta get there early! 

This was my ticket to the site! Veronica & I were reallllly lucky because we got the last 2 tickets available for the day. Our view time was 6:30 p.m., so we made sure to be back in the area at that time. So funny story - I lose EVERYTHING. So of course I lose this important ticket to the memorial site! Lucky for me & my obsession with documenting everything, I had a picture of my ticket & was able to zoom in on the bar code. I was able to get into the memorial site ticketless because of THIS picture. I love technology.

Above are pictures of the preview to the memorial site. Everything pictured really made me understand the emotions attached to that day. I can't believe it's been over 10 years since 9/11 - I can remember exactly what I was doing at the time I found out about the terrorist attack - I'm sure most people my age can. The items in the preview site really brought me back to that time.

After the 9/11 preview site we went to St. Paul's Chapel! Here's a video of what was happening inside :)

Stumbled upon a cute park...& then headed to Staten Island!

We caught this ferry to Staten Island, which was free! On the ferry we got a great view of the city & lady liberty. The view was BEAUTIFUL! Love at first sight.

View of the city, the Brooklyn Bridge & the Statue of Liberty

Handstand picture, claro!

Staten Island has this structure dedicated to the Twin Towers. If you stand inside you get a great view of the city & where the towers stood. On the walls of the structure are stone faces with names of people from Staten Island who lost their lives on 9/11

GOT A HOT DOG! YUMMM

In love with that view <3

After the ferry ride we went to Central Park, which is ginormous!!! We decided not to do the carriage ride around the park - we walked the whole thing! Needless to say our feet were screaming at the end of the park. If I were to ever live in NYC I would want to live right by this park - it has everything! Not to mention it is just so beautiful & different from the hustle & bustle of the city life.

Okay, final wrap up of the trip coming soon! xoxo, b