A moment of silence, please…

Later I went to the WTC ground zero site and went through the memorial museum. It brings back chills when I see images of the planes, the smoke or the destruction caused by 9/11. I remember being at home that day after school and my mom calling me from work telling me to turn on the news and watch. I turned on the news and watched an image of the second plane hitting into the second Trade Center Tower, as 14^th year old I had no idea what was happening or what the repercussions would be. It felt like I was watching a movie on tv, like it wasn’t real…so to go through the museum to see the images and artifacts, to read the stories of fallen heroes and to once again see the complete devastation caused by terrorism was numbing.  I think the excerpt that hit me the hardest was these one…

Pictures in the 9/11 Memorial Museum, NYC

“Hey Jules, this is Brian. Ah, listen…I’m on an airplane that has been hijacked…if things don’t go well, and they’re not looking good, I want you to know that I absolutely love you. I want you to do good, have good times, same with my parents. I’ll see you when I get here. I want you to know that I totally love you. Bye, babe. I hope I will call you.”

9/11 Destruction, NYC

New York from Water…

Boat tour of New York’s beautiful and famous skyline as well as bridges…heck yes! (By the way the tours I did were all through City Sighting Seeing NY http://www.citysightsny.com/) The weather wasn’t as perfect as I had hoped but it was still pleasant enough to be able to enjoy the tour. Armed with my new Australian friends I had met on the tour as well as my camera of course I was ready to see it all. We got to see the Statue of Liberty again (I mean it’s kind of a big statue so it’s pretty easy to spot) but closer than before so that was great!

New York by water, NYC

Next I did a tour of Harlem and Uptown New York, this is where the Met, (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) the Guggenheim and Central park are all located. Each of these has a special quality that draws many tourists in each day, and I can see why! It’s not only the fact that they are famous landmarks used in many films, shows and shoots but each has a majestic quality about it that you can’t help but admire.

Outside the MET, NYC

Outside the Guggenheim, NYC

Brooklyn Bounce…

Today I walked to Grand Central Station and caught the purple 7 subway heading to Times Square, I it sounds like I know what I’m talking about and where I’m going, truth is I have been helped out by many friendly New Yorkers! From Times Square I caught the sightseeing bus and headed for the Brooklyn tour. This tour wasn't a hop on hop off tour so I got to sit and take in the sight a little instead of remembering where my next stop and pre-planning my “plan of action.”

Grand Central Station, NYC

While on the tour I heard a lady behind me mention something about the “bar-th-room” (yes, I am trying to type it the way I assume it sounds to other people, to me it just sounded like I was about to meet a lovely South African family on vacation! They were really sweet and friendly and it was great chatting to them for a little while.

Part of the Brooklyn Tour, NYC

I’m not going to list everything I saw on the tour although I am going to make mention of the polar opposite reactions we experienced while driving through Brooklyn. We had some people that shouted at the bus questioning why we would ever want to take a tour a Brooklyn, we had people shouting at the bus because they weren’t so happy to have tourist “take over their town” and then we had a few group of people shouting things like “welcome to Brooklyn” “hope you have a great tour” and things of the positive nature…

On my way to Staten Island, NY

Today is also the day I headed out to see Lady Liberty clad in all her glory, via the Staten Island ferry (which by the way is totally free.) You don’t go to Ellis Island or to the actual Statue of Liberty but you get really close, so it’s a great picture taking opportunity. Once you get to Staten Island you have to get off the ferry and re-board even if you are doing a quick round trip, which most people do, which seems like a waste of time but I can see the logic behind it. A quick trip back to Times Square, then Grand Central and I was ready for my night adventure!

Lady Liberty, NYC

I decided to venture up the Empire State building, as when I arrived in the USA (2 years ago) went did a tour of New York which included a trip up the Rockefeller Center. So when faced with the possibility of nostalgia or new memories I opted to make like King Kong and do the Empire State. (This comment better not lead to any monkey, hair or weight jokes!) The Empire state is a beautiful building with an amazing view! But I’ll let the pictures do the talking on that one…

The view from the Empire State Building, NYC

The Empire State, NYC

New York City…oh yeah!

I arrived in NYC, really close to Times Square, so that was my first stop. I boarded the sightseeing bus I had pre-booked...I know this sounds easy but getting from 7th and something  to 45th and Broadway takes a subway, patience and a lot of walking!

New York City

The tour was fun I got to see a whole bunch of pretty things downtown such as Rockefeller Center, the Wall Street Bull, The Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge. Then I headed towards Murray Hill where I am staying with Heidi, one of Amanda’s friends.

Wall Street Bull, Wall Street, NYC

Tonight was spent taking pictures of the Chrysler Building (probably my favourite) and walking to a little convenience store close by to stock up with snacks for tomorrow. 

The Chrysler, NYC

Dc sightseeing…

I did a lot of walking today and saw a great deal of things...I started at Union station and made my way to the White House, yeah I totally got to hang out with Obama, just kidding. I also walked to Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument and the Pentagon along with the Pentagon Memorial. This was a really pretty memorial right next to the pentagon building. There are the names of all those affected by the attack. One in particular stood out to me, it was a husbands name, and below was the names of his children and wife that he left behind...and next to it was another other one with the mother's name and below it, the children her and her  husband left behind.

Pentagon Memorial, VA (it's in Virginia)

I also went to the Arlington Cemetery (where J.F Kennedy and Jackie O are buried.) It's kind of scary to see the rows and rows of head stones, that you know represent death, tragedy and sadness. Knowing that you will one day be reduced to that...kind of sucks.

JFK and Jackie O's burial sight

I visited the Holocaust museum which takes you around Germany through the eyes of a young Jewish boy called Daniel with the help of my diary he penned while in the ghetto and in a concentration camp. It was a familiar story told in such a unique way as the museum is molded around what Daniel survived through.

Holocaust Museum, DC

After a lovely day and dinner I headed back to the hostel ready to get some sleep, but my roommates had other ideas so 2am was my bedtime, luckily I was catching a 5 hour bus ride the next day, so I was planning on catching up my sleep then, unfortunately my bus mates had other ideas...ugh! Is anyone seeing a pattern?! I have now decided that if you ringtone or your voice is seriously annoying you are ban from sitting in a 10 chair radius of me. The guy in front of me spoke for a solid 5 hours! Surely your battery should die at some stage?

Outside Arlington Cemetery, VA 

Getting lost…is not uncommon…

Finally in Dc I do what I always do in a new city...find tourist maps. Then I manage to negotiate the Metro system (which can be tricky for first time users.) Only to arrive at Union Station, great :) So I ask information looking guy for directions to H street and 5th Street as I thought this may be faster than welding my way around the map, I'm in luck as he knows what I am talking about! Until I realize he doesn't but only after walking 1 mile in the wrong direction (with my TSA friendly luggage) which means 1 mile back to where I started when I realized H street has a NE and NW part of it and each has its own 5th Street :/ DC, I consider that an epic fail by the way!

Union Station, DC

Heading the right direction I find myself signing the A,B,C's to try work out how many blacks from D to H...and yes, I had to start and A every time! I managed to find the hostel 2 hours after leaving the airport. I made a pretty quick turn around and headed out armed with a new and improved map (Russ the manager of the hostel pink Hi-lighted everything I needed to know in order to make it back alive. Which I did, thankfully.

Even though like an idiot I had left my cell phone in Milwaukee and was armed with an itouch (or as I fondly refer to it as *the itouchy thing*) with no internet which makes it essentially an ipod, video player or an expensive paper weight, but thank goodness for Mc Donalds and their free wi-fi I got to let everyone know I was safe, as well as arrange a dinner date at Nando's with Amy (a former Milwaukee au pair who re-matched to Maryland)

Amy and I outside Nando's, DC

*Hi-lighted words are explained in the glossary page

Getting to know the TSA officers…well…

Waking up early is not my strong point...I think we have firmly established that by now, so we are not going to beat a dead horse on that one. However my lack of directions may need to be revisited...once I finally get to DC.

The White House

So early flight, bags are packed, security should be easy until...I get pulled over cos

A. not all my liquids are in one clear plastic bag but rather in two

B. my sweater was on top of 'my' (actually my friend Nina's) laptop, which makes the image fuzzy and

C. cos my bag caused the machine to go off

These three things mean that I …

A. get to watch a TSA officer go through my luggage *underwear included*

B. get to try re-pack said luggage while listening to safety rules

C. discover that my make-up bag set off the machine *so now it needs to be swabbed* and

D. get a friendly pat down (up, down, sideways, down) from a friendly TSA officer...

Jefferson Memorial