New York....New York

Wait--What happened to New Jersey? Well- our hotel was actually in NJ, but I realized I never really took any pics there. We had a very nice hotel with a hot breakfast each morning. We decided to stay in NJ because it was cheaper that NY, the rooms were bigger, and we didn't have to pay to park our car. All the hotels in NY were going to charge us $40-$60 per day just to park our car! Brett picked us a hotel that was right next to the largest outlet mall in NJ! Yea for me! It was huge! Each day we had about a 20 min commute into NY but it wasn't too bad. There really isn't much else to say about NJ- all I saw was the hotel and the mall. They were great! Our first day going into the city we decided to ride what they call PATH. It is a metro that goes from NJ to different stops in NY. One of the stops just happens to be the WTC and that was on the plans so it worked great. The PATH station is right next to ground zero. It was humbling to see ground zero. We went to the World Trade Center Tribute Museum and I am so glad we did. Here are a few of the pictures.

BEFORE

AFTER

This Statue of Liberty was in the Museum. It is covered with badges of those who gave their lives. Sorry the pictures aren't the clearest. Everything was encased with glass and had spotlights glaring- so it was hard to get good pictures.

Left over piece of an airplane window.

The shoes in this pic belonged to a lady who followed the mayor around the city after the attacks. She donated them to the museum because the ash had melted parts.




These are posters of victims of the attacks. It was sad to read about so many that lost there lives. Many had young families at home.

This too was recovered from the site.

This was an actual beam from one of the towers.

This part made me cry. All the faces of those lost...So humbling..I could have looked at these innocent faces forever.

More faces... 3 entire walls covered with faces.

Ground Zero is entire surround by chain link fence. The fence is then covered so you can't acutally see the site itself very well. There was howerever a small area in one of the corners that wasn't covered so I snuck over to get a pic. They didn't really turn out but I was trying to show how far down it goes. Its a HUGE hole in the earth.

Near ground zero we also visited an old church. It has basically been turned into a monument now for all victims of 9/11. Right after the attacks it served as a resting place for all the service men and women who were helping in the aftermath. I never realized how many people 9/11 affected in one way or another. It made me proud to be an american to read stories of people who jumped in and were willing to do anything to help. I am so glad I had the oppurtunity to visit this area. They are currently working on the 9/11 Memorial and I think it will be a great tribute to those we lost. Ok.. Sorry.. I know that was depressing. Let's end on a more positive note. After the WTC- we were able to do some street shopping. (it got kinda scary, but thats a long story... so instead I'll just show you my good find..



Knock off purses! What more could a girl ask for! We also went to Century 21. It's Awesome. I am a shopper, and I even got overwhelmed in there. If you ever go to NYC you have to go. They have great prices all designer items. They have everything-shoes,purses,clothes,watches, makeup- everything. What a great way to end a depressing day!