America Trip 2 - Day 13, 14, 15, 16

On Tuesday we woke up, and were amazed by the fact that there was snow everywhere on the ground.

We headed out to see the Raging Bull, the Wall Street stock exchange and the Federal Hall where George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of America.


We saw the Tiffany's store, so Mama and Nana went in for a look.

Next we went on the free Staten Island ferry, got to look at the Statue of Liberty from a distance and had lunch at Gavel's Grill on Staten Island. We ran round in the snow and got nice and happy.


We then went back to Manhatten, looked around Castle Clinton and getting a Junior ranger badge in the process, before going to the 9/11 memorial, which is something that I found quite horrible.

We grabbed some soup and heated it up at the apartment for dinner - a late night for all of us after a day filled with views and snow and noise and cars and statues and people.

On Wednesday, we headed to the Brooklyn Bridge, which was the first bridge to be built across the Hudson River.

After that, we made our way to Saint Paul's Church, near the Twin Towers and a haven for rescue workers that helped after 9/11. I found it surprising that it only suffered one broken window when it was less than a kilometre away from the Twin Towers.

We then went to the African Burial Ground, which is a massive burial ground that was around when the slaves were, and the Africans had themselves buried there. I felt that the entire thing was interesting and liked going there.

We then went out for a slice of pizza, and they came from 18 inch pizza's, which got me very full.

We then went to the Rockefeller centre, and to the top of the rock. We spent some time up there, before receiving the news that Opa was sick, and Oma had been advised to go home. We went down before going into the Lego Store in New York, and each getting a free mini-figure because we completed a quiz.

On Thursday, we took Oma to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, so that she can go back to Tante Thea, before flying back to New Zealand to see Opa. We then went off to Grand Central Station, with all its beauty, missing Oma very much. I liked the style and design of Grand Central Station. We then hopped on a train to the UN, but took a wrong train, and instead went to Queens. We got off, walked around to the other entrance, got back on and went to the UN actually this time.


We then went to Central Park via Times Square. Papa changed into his running clothes, and went for a run around Central Park, while the rest of us headed to the place to meet Papa. We played checkers at a place in Central Park and had a hot dog from a vendor in Central Park after we meet up with Papa.


Then we went back to Times Square to see it in the dark, then back to the apartment.


On Friday, we got out of bed early, and caught the bus (rather than walking) to the train station. We then got on the subway and went to a different station, waited in the freezing cold for our bus to arrive, and then got on our bus to Washington DC.

 When we got to Union Station in Washington, it was only a 5 minute walk to the apartment we were staying in. I was impressed by what was in the apartment, and the building even had a games area, with a pool table and a poker table. The building also had a gym, a kitchen for shared use, a gym and a pool (which was closed).

Mama and Papa went out grocery shopping, Karl and I went on our netbooks, we had dinner then we went to bed.