NYC Day 2

Day two of being in New York City started with a bang. That bang was me falling on the floor because my feet were hurting so much from all the walking the previous day. Once, I adjusted, though, everything was okay and I was good to go. I put on my walking shoes and headed for our first destination of the day: The Chelsea Market.

There is nothing close to what The Chelsea Market has in Richmond, so I was surprised that my mother-in-law booked us on a tour of the whole market. I had no idea that shops such as these existed but The Chelsea Market is basically a small market where specialty stores (bakeries, sea food distributors, pastry shops, a place to buy vegetables, and various other stores that were all unique in thought and items that they sold) set up shop and do business. You’ll never find a national chain like a game store or McDonalds there, which is why it’s such a unique place to shop. My favorite store there was a place called the T Salon, where you could buy all sorts of foreign teas. They also had these seed like things that if you drop them into a clear pitcher of water, in two to three days they will blossom into flowers and the water will turn to tea. I bought a couple of those because that’s the type of cool flower I like (drop it in water and forget about it).

Once we left the Chelsea Market, our group visited Morimoto’s which was fun to see. The guide then took us on a tour of the meat packing district and perhaps the most seedy part of NYC (in broad daylight with a heavy police presence, though) on a tour of the shops around the area. It ended on the 15th floor of a building that had a great birds-eye view of that part of NYC and a swimming pool with models (not on the job, but relaxing) in bikini’s and waitresses just as hot with all the...(must stop typing because the wife will see this...)

After the tour of that area was over, the family (all ten of us: me, the wife, my in-laws [Grandma, Grandpa, Sister, Brother, Mother and Father-in-law] and my mother and sister) split up. My mother and sister went to see Stomp, while the remaining eight went east on a tour of America’s version of Mecca: Ground Zero. Everything about that trip was exciting, even the trip over there.

On our trip to Ground Zero, the eight of us took the subway that had A/C and everything was fine. The car wasn’t that crowded and everyone found a seat. Well, the stop prior to the World Trade Center stop, a pedestrian got off the subway, but left their bag. The bag was a plastic one that looked like it contained a piece of round cheese or something like that, but my sister-in-law (she’s only 15) started freaking out!!! “Is it a bomb? Am I going to die? I don’t want to die!!” Okay, I’ll tell you the truth, the same though crossed my mind, but I just didn’t let it be known until now. My grandpa-in-law started laughing and then egging her on by saying, “Do you hear that?” My sis-in-law looked at him and said, “What?” He responded by saying “I think I hear it ticking.” She nearly started crying. It was funny in hind-sight, but I wasn’t laughing then.

Anyway, after we got there, my heart was pounding. I don’t know why exactly, but my thought at the time was that, “I am actually here. I am actually at a place where nearly 3000 people died. I am actually standing at the heart of the worst national tragedy we have ever faced.” I then looked around and was very disappointed. The entire area was fenced up and a continuous tarp covered the view of the other side. I couldn’t see anything. But what I could see amazed me. Giant canes were EVERYWERE! There must have been ten or eleven of them. I got as many pictures of what I could, but there wasn’t much to see, except: a huge building near the site that had two cranes and scaffolding all around it (must have been hit by a LOT of debris that day) and the church that was right next to the Twin Towers.

The tour of the church was fascinating. As was the walk down Broadway catching the other landmarks there: Trinity Church, Wall Street, the NY Stock Exchange, and the Bull in the middle of Broadway. After that, it was a long walk back to the subway, but we got there and once there, it was time to rest. Once the car reached the hotel exit, me, the wife and grandpa-in-law got off to go to the hotel. The others stayed on because they were headed to Central Park. Once my wife found out she was running to catch up to the train, but it had already left. My wife wasn’t happy about that, but when she heard what happened to them, she was glad she didn’t go with them. When I got back to the hotel, I removed my walking/satanic shoes and lay on the bed.

I must have fallen asleep because a couple hours later I awake to a knock on the door. It was my mother-in-law (the one that went to Central Park). She wanted to know where my wife was and I told her I didn’t know. I then asked, “How was Central Park.” This was her answer, “Well, we actually missed our stop and ended up in Queens.” I looked at her with amusement on my face and then she said, “We got there eventually, but by then it was too dark to enjoy, so we came back.” So getting off the train isn’t always a bad thing.

After that talk, and 13,500 steps/feet, I decided to call it a night and went to bed.

Tomorrow, Day 3 in NYC and Day 1 on the Cruise Ship.