WHILE WE'RE HERE...In an effort to pass this time more easily, we've been doing a bit of sight-seeing. Last Thursday and Friday we took a 48-hour on/off bus tour, getting a chance to see several places of interest. Enjoy the pictures!
First, the classic Empire State Building (deliberately taken behind some branches for effect)...
Then, a building mural that looked pretty neat!
The Flatiron Building (so named because of its shape).
A sculpture to honor garment workers...
A typical picture of traffic during the day!
Next, the Wall Street Bull! (I'm surprised he could be found right now!)
The first public bathrooms in the downtown area...
I want some ornaments like this, but I'll need a bigger tree!!
A view of Central Park, or one small piece of it...
Some of Times Square, from the upper deck of our bus.
Inside the church near ground zero, the one that got a lot of attention right after the event because it remained standing, there are a lot of memorial tributes. It's quite touching, even over seven years later! This flag has the names of all who perished in the attacks.
This is self-explanatory, I think...
And here's the site itself. I had to go into a two-story Burger King and go upstairs to get this picture out of their window. There is a 15-foot-high covered fence all around the area, since they're doing construction to get ready for the Freedom Tower. What amazes me is the perspective of size - look at the backhoes in the pit for a true sense of how large a space this is!
We also did a night "holiday lights" tour, and it was tough to get good pictures because of my older camera. Here are a few, though. This one was a pretty lighted design that was in one section of town.
I took this picture to verify how stupid we were, riding on the top level of an open-air double decker bus with inadequate winter clothing!
This was the Macy's building, if I recall correctly. One side was just solid lights, but I liked the effect of the stripes.
There was a beautiful (and huge) crystal star that we drove right under, so I got a decent shot with detail!
Wrapping up a building with a lighted ribbon seemed like a neat idea! I wonder how much it costs??
And here it is, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree! It's gorgeous!!
Is this guy cute or what?
Mommy is getting a kick out of something, while Ethan (Menkes) looks on!
Now she has calmed down!
Okay, so I'm not crazy about the hat, mom!!
The happy family, with guests, taken from the side, and a little back...
All he really wanted to do with the cake was feed it to mommy!
Grandpa Peter is enjoying the celebration.
A special centerpiece...
By the end of the party, Brandon had gotten a bit tuckered out. That's probably the only reason Aunt Wendy got to hold him!
