Let's just begin with Independence Day because I can't think of any other city that is more patriotic than New York. Everywhere I go I see an American Flag. July fourth was amazing. We took a train into Manhattan and hopped a subway to 81st to the American Museum of Natural History. Sweet museum that really deserves more than the abuse of using it as a refuge from the heat. We spent a couple of hours in the museum. Scott and Heath got kicked out of the Planetarium. Scott channeled his inner New Yorker and threatened to sue. While Jenna and I blissfully watched the theory of how the stars are created. Needless to say, our time was up at the museum. But not before we experienced this really cool outdoor area...
From the museum we headed downtown to Chelsea Piers. Very cool place and very crowded. We knew we had to get into the grassy area before it was closed off to the public. Fortunately, we arrived right before the NYPD closed off the area. However, we were in such a rush to get a spot we didn't realize that dinner was going to be from the hot dog and ice cream vendors. The three and a half hour wait went by surprisingly fast because oh the people watching! Thousands of people. Here are a few...
Can I just say that I love Macy's? I haven't shopped at Macy's in awhile but I think it's worth a visit. The Macy's fireworks show is the largest in the country. Six barges sit on the Hudson River and for 26 glorious minutes fireworks are launched simultaneously into the air. It's truly breathtaking. The pictures in no way do it justice. So, I hope some of you caught it on television.
After the awesomeness, we went with other millions of people (I don't know, I'm just guessing. The thousands turned into millions. I should do some fact checking.) home. Our home at the moment is in Chatham, New Jersey. We walked down several blocks to Penn Station.
The picture is blurry and it doesn't really capture the chaos. But, trust me, there was chaos. Penn Station at 11 o'clock at night is not a place that I ever want to be again. There were people sitting everywhere and anywhere in the station. As soon as a boarding track would post people started screaming the number out and running to the track. Like nothing I had ever seen or heard before. We waited for 50 minutes with these crazy people... sitting in the middle of the floor in front of door number 9. I prayed that it would be our boarding area. It wasn't. We boarded on track 14.
As we sat on the air conditioned train, feeling very relieved to be safe in a seat I looked up to see these signs...
I laughed out loud. I laughed almost every time I looked up and read the words. After all, I was on a train with really loud people from New Jersey. I thought it was funny how the transit system needed to remind people to have some manners.
4 comments:
Why didn't you tell me you were starting a blog? How fun! I can't wait to see what's next.
Wish we could have been there with you on the 4th! It looks like it was spectacular!
Hooray! Now we can almost feel like we're in NYC with you. I loved Macy's when we went to Chicago last year. We went there several times and I'm not even a shopper. There's nothing like it around here!
Loved the fireworks pictures since we didn't get to see any in London! The subway reminds me of the London tube except there was no air conditioning and no seats during rush hour.
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