Tours and Towers

I pulled back the curtains of our hotel room at nine o’clock this morning to wake the boys up.  This did not produce the desired outcome.  So I called them by name and they grunted back a response…sigh…two words that are nearly opposites: mornings and teenagers.  Nevertheless, the boys rose from their sleepy slumber and we met the others around 9:30am. 

Our first adventure, a necessary one I might add, was breakfast at some corner café.  We bought coffee cakes, croissants and other bakery items with juice, milk or water. 

Our bus adventure began when breakfast ended.  On our way to the bus pick-up, some man selling something greeted me, “Good morning Mr. Hollywood.” 

I turned to my fellow chaperone and said, “It must be my hat.” 

The tour bus would transport us to downtown Manhattan.

The skyscrapers in the sun

"Duck!  It's a red light!"

 We stopped off  at Madison State Gardens and then dined for lunch at Chinatown.  While I am adventuresome in trying foods, I decided being a chaperon for kids in NYC was not the time to try 'intestines with bean curds' or 'fish head with bean curds.'  

"Yes!  No fast food!"

But after lunch we rode past the construction of the new World Trade Center(s). 

Rising up from the ashes

Reflection of the sky

Here we stopped to remember at the 9/11 Memorial.  Remember…remember so we will not forget that on a single day a horror and a terror swept over the city and the nation like never before.  Remember the unsung heroes and heroines who ran towards the danger to rescue the people.  Let us honor them by living like them.  Remember that in a single day some 3,000 people woke up as normal, went about their morning routine as normal but never returned home. Let us remember that life is short but love is long lasting and live in light of it.

A memorial to remember

The Remembered Response

Roses to remember

After the memorial, we took a break at Battery Park and then resumed to South Street Seaport.  We had hoped to take a water taxi to the Statue of Liberty but it was sold out for the day.  So we took the ‘Shark.’  This speedboat zipped us around by the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the Brooklyn Bridge.  This gave us a spectacular view of both Manhattan and Brooklyn.  However, the salty waves that dashed against the sides also spilled over unto us!  And if somehow you managed to avoid the chilly waves, one of the crewmembers had a squirt gun (as if we didn’t get wet already).  Now he successfully squirted all of the other students and staff except for me.  They, of course, wanted him to squirt me and pointed towards me.  This is usually not a good strategy because it usually backfires, which it did.  But then he shot at me…but I ducked as if I knew it was coming.  Besides, I was already soaked!

The 'Shark'

Racing a galleon

Manhattan's skyline

Brooklyn's skyline

The Brooklyn Bridge

A little bit wet!

We returned to Times Square where the boys went shopping for a little bit.  The boys went in the Levi jeans store for quite some time but I stood outside with Ryan and a couple other students.  Suddenly, some girl pushed by me with her camera and took a picture of some couple walking by.  I suspect they were celebrities of some sort because they had a trail of fans with cameras following them.  But you never know whom you will see at Times Square at night… 

Times Square at night

The Dark Knight

Until the next adventure...