The Big Apple...

On June 20th to the 24th we took a trip to New York City with our friends.  It's about a 7 1/2 hour drive, which wasn't too bad.  We had a great time.  It was a real eye opener walking through the city.  Crowds of people, yellow taxis everywhere, cars honking, flashing billboards, a steady forward pace of movement and me the country girl in the midst of it all.  There was only one time when I panicked a little because I lost site of my husband and friends as I was taking some pictures...but he never lost site of me...thank goodness.  

We arrived right in the middle of a sweltering hot week, it was hot, it was humid, I was sweating.  I'm not a fan of hot and humid...I get grumpy...I belong in the far north when the temperatures rise that much :-)  but I survived...

These are our friends Steven and Debra, they're from the city but not a city like this.  Belleville only has  a population of 48, 000 with the surrounding area.  Whereas New York City's population is a little over 

8, 000, 000...that's a lotta lotta people.  It's said that in 2011 50, 000, 000 people visited New York City...wow...if you average that out over the year that increases the population by 136, 986 a day  which is pretty much three times the population of Belleville.  Can you tell I like facts :-) 

Thursday morning on a scorcher of a day, you know the kind of day when I belong in the arctic we took a ninety minute tour of the harbour...it was beautiful...it was breezy...I wasn't hot and sweaty...I was thankful.  And I loved listening to the tour guide as we motored through the harbour enjoying the sites.  

This is the site of the new World Trade Center.  One World Trade Center is off to the left and 2 World Trade Center is off to the right, in all there will be seven new towers.  Tower one will be 1765 feet high, the same number as the year of the nation's declaration of independence.

There were all kinds of helicopters buzzing around the harbour giving people tours.

The bridges were beautiful.

As was the skyline.  

The furthest bridge in this image is the Brooklyn bridge and the one in the forefront the Manhattan bridge.  We took a tour over the Manhattan bridge into Brooklyn one night.  We enjoyed that.  It was nice riding the double decker buses listening to the tour guides give us facts here and there about the different buildings and neighbourhoods as we drove through the city.  

I think we all know who this is...Lady Liberty.

After our tour of the harbour we headed to the Intrepid Museum (Sea, Air & Space Museum Complex).  My husband loves these sorts of museums...I loved the air conditioning :-)  It's an amazing ship, this aircraft carrier, it's 912' in length...massive.  It was amazing watching the videos that showed the pilots taking off and landing.

I took this shot for Jocelyne our daughter who loves to bake cupcakes.  They had to feed over 3,000 people on this ship so the little mixer would not do.

Look at my big smile I must be really happy about the airconditioning.

Though the Intrepid was decommissioned on March 15, 1974 it served as the temporary headquarters for the FBI during the September 11 attack investigations.  This rusty piece of metal is from one of the towers.

Did I mention there were swarms of people, I mean swarms and I'm sure the swarms are bigger heading into July and August.  And they all walk pretty fast, so you gotta keep up, especially around 4:00 or after when I think the business people were heading home. 

There are about 13, 000 yellow taxis in New York City and they're the only ones that are permitted to pick up passengers in response to a street hail.  

The city at night aglow with lights.

Debra with Micky and Minni...for a fee of course.

The Empire State building.

Guess who these ladies are!  An exciting part of our trip.  Jocelyne our cupcake baker who has their book and has watched their show found out there was a Georgetown Cupcakes store in New York City, they just opened it a number of months ago.  She gave us the address hoping we'd have time to stop in.  We found the shop, I was so excited and couldn't wait to tell Jocelyne.  What was more exciting was that Sophie, Catherine and Mommy (as they call her on the show) were there filming a show for the fall, how exciting is that, maybe I'll be on TV :-)  

Sophie and Catherine working a huge mermaid for some fundraiser.

I know I don't look real excited but I was, we both were.  Our friends and I shared four different cupcakes - coconut, red velvet, chocolate hazelnut and lemon, then we rated them.  Our favourite was the coconut then the red velvet then the lemon and lastly the chocolate hazelnut.  

Here's my husband at the 9/11 Memorial.  "It consists of two of these pools set in the footprints of the original Twin Towers.  These are where the towers used to stand.  Thirty-foot waterfalls cascade into the pools, each then descending into a center void.  The names of the victims are inscribed in the bronze parapets around the pools."  It was quite moving to see.  

Look at that there's hardly any people in this picture...amazing.  It was beautiful by the water.

I couldn't get over all the huge buildings, they were everywhere.

We went up the Rockefeller Center where you can see a 360 degree view of New York City...it was amazing.  This green space is Central Park, that was cool to see from up above. 

A kind gentleman took our picture.

There was a storm brewing but we were able to get some shots before the rain came pouring down.

Gorgeous doors on an old church.

By the reservoir in Central Park.

Steven and Debra strolling through the park.  It was quite beautiful in this area with all the trees lining the walkway.

A neat little area in the park.  There was a group of people singing and playing instruments.

Steven and Debra at the edge of the park.

Artists in the park.

On Thursday and Friday it was too hot for the horse and buggies to run but Saturday they were up and at it again.  

We stayed at a hotel in New Jersey and took a bus into the city each day.  On Saturday night we went to the harbour to catch the view of New York City all lit up...it was beautiful and peaceful from the outside looking in.

One World Trade Center - the tall tower.

The city of lights. 

It was a great trip away, definitely stepping outside of what I'm used to with so many people walking the streets and so much noise and bustle.  Some of my favourite parts of the trip...well a big highlight was finding the Georgetown cupcake shop and then meeting Catherine, Sophie and their mom.  The waterfront tour was wonderful. And I loved riding the double decker buses and learning all the facts about New York City.  

So would I go back, yeah I think I would and I'd take the kids so they could see and experience it.