I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today

We got up and spent a while trying to figure out how to get cheap Broadway tickets on the Internet, then headed off.  We caught the tube down towards Chinatown and wandered through there and Little Italy. Mum finally got a new bag to replace the crappy falling to bits leather one she had been dragging round, so me and Elle ceremonially dumped the old one.

I bought a cool travel journal for my next round of journeying, and some wicked old travel stamps from old ocean liners.  Oh, and this great calendar with old style illustrations of New York on it.

Like Sesame St for adults.

Had a burger for lunch, and watched people walk by during a quick rain shower.  First bit of rain we've had while over here!  Amazing the diversity of people in NY.  Everyone dresses like Santino, it's crazy the different personal styles they have.

Then we went down and across to where the World Trade Centre was.  We went through the old church across the road first, and that was an incredibly moving experience, seeing all the letters and teddy bears and gifts everyone had sent.  All these people donated their time, food, gave massages, played music, did everything for the workers looking through the rubble.  So incredibly sad, yet also uplifting how everyone rallied round.

Then went across to the site, and saw the designs for the replacement tower, which will look great I think.  So hard to imagine what it was like when the towers were there.  they must have dwarfed the other buildings around them, even though they are all major skyscrapers themselves.

Then I got all choked up again when we went past these big murals of letters and cards from kids who had lost parents on that day.  So sad.  Such a horrible waste of life.  Amazing that they managed to evacuate 25,000 people though before they came down.

So that was pretty sobering.

Then we went down Wall St, which was really exciting for me, being in the heart of the financial district.  Saw the NY Stock Exchange building and got some good photos.

Then we went across to the waterfront and down to the Staten Island ferry, and caught it out past the Statue of Liberty which was stunning.  Then coming back you get great views of the skyline with all the buildings.  And it's free!

Then we hopped on a tube up to Times Square to see if we could get cheap tickets to a musical.  We were going to go to Spamalot, but Elle couldn't make up her mind, so we went along a bit and ended up at Avenue Q instead.  Check out www.avenueq.com, it was hilarious.  Like Sesame St for adults.