WPSD New York Blog

Thursday, December 13, 2012

12/13/2012

On our final day of our NYC Adventure, we all ate breakfast and checked out of the hotel by 7:45 before heading back to Manhattan.

The first stop was Battery Park where we gazed at Liberty and Ellis Islands. Unfortunately this year, we could not visit due to the destructive powers of Superstorm Sandy. Everyone then went to the 9/11 Memorial and reflected upon the events of 9/11/2001 where almost 3,000 people died in terrorist attacks. The Memorial consisted of two pools surrounded by trees signifying the bases of the two towers with the reflecting pools/waterfalls marking the foot print of the World Trade Center. In the center of the memorial was a lone tree that survived the fall of the two buildings on that fateful day. Afterwards we all went to St. Paul's Cathedral to take in some of the artifacts of the days following 9/11.

The last stop on the itinerary before going home to WPSD was Wall Street. We visited the Federal Building where George Washington was inaugurated as well as the New York Stock Exchange. We were again struck by the power of Superstorm Sandy when our tour guide pointed out the discoloration on the pillars on a closed Citibank Branch which indicated the height of the storm surge during the brunt of the storm. We closed our visit with hot dogs and pretzels from a local cart vendor before boarding the bus for home.

Pictures - 12/13/2012

Ellis Island as seen from Battery Park

A view of Lady Liberty from Battery Park.

One of the batteries at Battery Park. Cannons used to be situated
in the openings of the bunker.

Freedom Tower

Here is the sculpture from the World Trade Center grounds
that stood between the two towers of the Word Trade Center.

The famous bull of New York City.

Trinity Church - This church was made famous in the
movie, "National Treasure".

Like a phoenix from the ashes, the Freedom Tower
soars near the 9/11 Memorial.

A picture of the North Reflecting pool, site of WTC 1.

The lone surviving tree from 9/11/2001.

The discoloration of this pillar indicates the
height of the storm surge of Superstorm Sandy

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

12/12/12

This morning everyone woke up at 6:30 am and after having breakfast, boarded the bus for a trip back to the Big Apple. The first place of exploration was FAO Schwartz. We had a tremendous amount of fun exploring the world's greatest toy store. Next we walked quickly to St. Patrick's Cathedral only to realize that this itinerary option was out due to an influx of visitors who made a pilgrimage to St. Pat's. We adjusted quickly and made our way to Rockefeller Center to see the famous ice rink and Christmas tree. After taking pictures, everyone trouped off to Radio City Music Hall to take in the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular. All of the students agreed that the show was great!

We grabbed a quick lunch at Earl of Sandwich before heading to Times Square and Ripley's Believe it or Not. The kids enjoyed this museum immensely and did not want to leave. The next destination was Chinatown and Little Italy. The kids wanted to visit Chinatown in order to purchase inexpensive memories of the trip. One student also learned the skill of haggling as she negotiated down the price of a sweatshirt from 20 dollars to 14 dollars. Dinner was at Puglia's Restaurant in Little Italy. The day was wrapped up with a visit to the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building.

Tomorrow we will be traveling to Ground Zero and the 9/11 Memorial site as well as Wall Street, Battery Park and the Federal Building before asking Tony, our driver, to point the bus home to WPSD.