East Coast Trip- NYC- Day 8

Wednesday we tackled lower Manhattan. We took the earliest ferry from New Jersey to the Statue of Liberty. We had a pretty good view of the city skyline while we waited.

The ferry stopped at Ellis Island first, but we opted to go straight to Lady Liberty. 

When we got there, they were unloading a pretty awesome motorcycle to put on display.

Inside the pedestal we got to see a former torch that she used to hold. Apparently she's had a few different ones. Who knew?!

There was also a replica of her feet so you could see the size.

The boys loved seeing the statue up close and in person.

We took the ferry over to Battery Park and got the kids their own souvenir hat to commemorate our day. 

 We walked through Wall street and took our picture with the famous bull,

and then made our way to the 9/11 memorial.

It was so surreal to be there. The thing that hit me hardest was when Rob pointed out a name that included, "and her unborn child". Just heartbreaking.

Next we went over to the One World Observatory in the new world trade center.

It had only been open since the Thursday before so we had to wait for a while in line. The whole experience was fantastic. As our line moved inside and made our way to the elevator, there were videos about the construction of the building and how NYC came back from such tragedy. The elevator ride itself was pretty awesome too. The walls are digital and as you rise to the top they show the landscape of Manhattan change from the beginning until current day. We went up 102 floors in about 45 seconds. We were then ushered out of the elevator to a dark room. The wall in front of us showed a short film of scenes of the city and then at the end the wall lifted up to reveal our view of the city.

It was the first clear day since it had opened, and we were so grateful for that.

The observatory has a 360 degree view, so you can see everything.

Looking down on the footprint of the twin towers was hard. It reminded me that what I was seeing was the same view so many people had as they were trapped.

We spent a lot of time up there soaking it in. They boys couldn't believe how small everything looked.

After we were done there we went to St. Paul's Chapel. It is the oldest surviving church in Manhattan. This chapel miraculously survived the terrorist attack without even a broken window. It served as a place of rest and refuge for recovery workers at the WTC site. There were several exhibits set up inside including a table set up with some of the memorials that people placed on the outside fence after the attack,

and a policeman's uniform covered with police and firefighter patches sent from all over the world. It was pretty neat to see the support.

Two days of walking started catching up with us, so we called it a day, and hopped on the ferry to head back to New Jersey.  I loved that the ferry had an American flag off the back.

Back in New Jersey we found the Empty Sky Memorial with the names of the residents of New Jersey that died in the attacks on 9/11. 

We got back to our hotel early enough to let the boys get in the pool and have some fun. It was a nice way to unwind from our day.