The Big Y's Blog: Down in Jungleland

It seemed fitting to pay tribute to the craziness that is NYC, by naming the last post about NYC, after a song written by New Jersey's favorite son, Bruce Springsteen. Also our hotel the last 3 nights was on Newark, NJ.

There is so much to do and see in NYC, that two days there just doesn't seem like enough. That said there were also a few disappointments along the way. We woke up to discover a heavy fog around lower Manhattan. This took away from some amazing views of the skyline, Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island.

We took a ferry to Ellis island to begin our day, and discovered in the museum a picture from Wild Rose dated around 1915. After that we visited the Statue of Liberty, and arrived in Battery Park in the heart of the financial district. I will let the photos do the talking of these sights.

You can just barely make out the skyline.

Ellis Island

Inside Ellis Island this is the where the immigrants waited to be processed after getting off the boat.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-lost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door." - Emma Lazarus 1883

After meeting up with the bus, which was an adventure, we headed up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the next disappointment occurred. Having to go all the way from lower Manhattan up to 81st street took a lot longer than anticipated, after all it is New York. We were only able to spend 25 minutes at the Met. For the students that were excited for this, they had to quickly find what they wanted to see.

Our day concluded with dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner where the waitstaff sings while you eat, because they are hoping to make it to Broadway. It was a bit of a walk from 57th to 51st street, but the group made it and unloaded the bus in record time (32 seconds). One thing you learn quickly is that traffic does not wait for you. After dinner we headed over to 5th avenue to see Rockefeller Plaza and the Top of the Rock. The top of the rock is another place where the photos will do the talking. You can actually feel the building sway in the wind when you are up on the 67th floor.

We made it back to the hotel in time to catch the 2nd Half of the Badger game and are currently on the bus headed to Harrisburg and Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Overheard yesterday:

"This is amazing" -several people once we reached the 67th floor of Rockefeller Plaza

Interesting fact:

Many presidents have buildings, bridges, and highways named after them. Grover Cleveland has a rest stop in New Jersey, just south of Newark on the Jersey Turnpike, named after him...we didn't stop.