The Big Apple

(all pictures displayed on this blog post have been taken by me)

today I traveled to New York City and it was AMAZING. I have never been there before. it is incredibly huge compared to Philadelphia, it makes Philly look like an ant in comparison!

I woke up at about 4:30am to get ready, and left the house at around 5:30am to go down town (Philadelphia) to wait for the Bolt bus that would take us (myself, my mom, my brother, and my grandma) down to New York City. we arrived at the bus stop really early and were one of the first people to show up. the bus was actually late to pick us up, but only by a few minutes. we all got on the bus and were on our way. the bus drive to New York was 2hrs long!

after we were officially arrived in New York City we had to take the subway to get to where our tour bus was, we all wanted to go sight seeing. at first we actually got on the wrong subway train, it was going the opposite direction of where we had to go, so we had to get off and get on the right subway train. after fixing that dilemma we finally made it to where the tour bus was parked, and we made it early. the tour then started about a half an hour later and lasted about 4 hours in total.

we first stopped at The Dakota building, where John Lennon was shot.

we then went to Central Park where John Lennon's memorial is.

we then also saw various sights such as:
The Flat Iron Building:

The Empire State Building:

SOHO CAFE:

The Brooklyn Bridge:

we then took a ferry ride to see The Statue Of Liberty!

after all of this, we got off the ferry and met our bus at the New York Plaza, where we then saw other sights such as:
Trinity Church:

NYSE, New York Stock Exchange:

Ground Zero:

to me, Ground Zero was absolutely amazing. as our tour group was looking out at what once was the World Trade Center, there was nothing but silence. it was truly just a touching experience, I think partly because it looks as if it could have happened last week. they haven't built anything there yet, so it's still essentially left naked and seemingly untouched as it has been for the past (almost) 8 years now.

the tour then ended, leaving us where we had started, so my family and I wandered down near Times Square.

well look what I found in New York City... okay, so this was amazing to me, I don't have a Jamba Juice around where I live (at least I'm pretty sure), and I know they make awesome drinks, so I HAD to stop in.

I ordered a "Strawberry Surf Rider" drink. it was so tasty! mmmm.

happily trotting along with my juice, my family and I then where walking directly down Times Square.

we then took the subway back up to where our Bolt bus was going to pick us up, which was right in front of a diner called "Tick Tock Diner". we had time to spare so we went in and had dinner.

I ordered a roasted veggie wrap, yummy.