Wednesday as you saw was a full and very good day. Thursday turned out to be more of the same. By chance we discovered that there was a "chance" that we'd be able to visit the 9/11 Memorial. Normally, you have to reserve a ticket months in advance, but because of Hurricane Sandy, advance tickets were not required and entry to the 9/11 Memorial was on a first-come basis.
So we decided to hop the subway and make our way to the other end of the city. We decided to start out a bit later in order to miss the rush hour crowds on the subway. This worked out well. I do have to say that the subway system in NYC is not as easy to understand as that in London or even Tokyo! But with some assistance from a friendly person sitting in the booth under the famous Grand Central Station clock, we managed to buy some tickets and get on the right subway train.
It is hard to describe the 9/11 Memorial. Lets just say that if you are in New York City - go visit - you won't regret it.
This tree is the only tree to survive the attacks. It has been named the "Survivor Tree".
After this experience we started walking and explored the area around the 9/11 Memorial. We visited the Lolë store and after some browsing we walked back to a very nice restaurant we discovered. It turns out Sarabeth's is a very nice restaurant indeed. We had a very pleasant and relaxing lunch - best omlette I've ever had!
From here we did some more walking and soon found ourselves in the middle of Soho. Our mission was the famous Purl Soho knitting and quilting store. Well this small store did not disappoint. I was so very tempted to buy some yarn, but I resisted... I have enough unfinished projects here at my house. But my mom had a good browse around and came away with some excellent finds.
We wandered around Soho and soon found ourselves at our next destination - the famous McNally Jackson bookstore. What a great little bookstore. We poked around and were soon walking again. This time to our final spot - NYC Velo. Yes, a bike store. This one came highly recommended. This walk took us to a new area of the city which was full of eclectic restaurants, coffee shops and shops. I picked up a few snazzy items and then we decided to rest our weary bodies. Time for some tasty coffee-like drinks and a very delicious looking dessert for my mom.
We zoomed through the city in our speedy yellow taxi, getting out at Grand Central Station. We discovered on Wednesday that the subway station was home to a Christmas fair. So of course we had to check this out. I bought a super cool bag and we wandered around considering many purchases. Suffice it to say, we were now both wiped out... We chose a chilled out evening with a meal at a tasty Turkish restaurant right next to our hotel.
A walk over to Times Square reinforced how tired we both were - with no patience for the crowds, soon enough we were back in our hotel zoned out watching the Food Network. Another very good day in the big city!
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