Tuesday Afternoon and Evening: WTC, Trinity, City Hall, Addams Family

After eating lunch (chicken in a pita bought from a vendor) in a park near the St. Paul's we walked down to the WTC site. It was not what I had expected. I thought (for some reason) that we would be able to walk down into Ground Zero, kinda like how they have had the memorial service on the anniversary. But really, the entire site is blocked off and there is heavy construction equipment crawling all over it. We could peak through the fencing and get a glimpse of the massive size of the hole they're working in, but it wasn't what I thought it would be. I was struck, yes, by the scope of the site but because it looks pretty much like any other large construction site, it wasn't super heart-wrenching. Life has certainly carried on. People hustle right by here constantly without a second look. Now, about 1/2 block up from the actual site is what looks like a store that is the WTC preview memorial site. This place is moving. It has timelines and photos and video testimonies and all that sort of thing. There is also a model of what the memorial will look like. For some reason, we didn't get a picture of it but it looks like it will be 2 reflecting pools that are the shape of the twin towers (so 2 huge square reflecting pools) surrounded by tons of oak trees. That's what all the cranes and things are doing over at the actual site. Personally, I'm glad that it is going to be a place where folks can come and see and remember. I'm also glad that it will be a green space that is there and not some other building that would somehow try to replace the giant hole left in the NYC skyline.

This is the fence of St. Paul's churchyard and you can see the orange cranes of the WTC site.


This is Battery Park now. You may remember all the people holding signs/pictures of loved ones on the news every night immediately following the attacks. That was here in Battery Park.

After the WTC site, we walked a few more blocks to Wall Street to Trinity Cathedral. It is another Colonial Era church that would hold the distinction of being the oldest building in Manhattan (which is now St. Paul's) except for a fire that burnt most of the city in 1776.

It was rebuilt and rededicated and is really beautiful. Besides trying to see as many cathedrals as possible while we were in NYC, we really wanted to see Trinity because Alexander Hamilton is buried in this churchyard. He is Eric's 6 times great-grandfather. So, you know, that's kinda cool. We were hoping to get a free tour here but that wound up not happening so we showed ourselves around.






See the family resemblance?

As we walked back towards the subway, we stopped at City Hall. You can't get very close to it; it has gates with guards and things. But there is a very pretty little park in front of it.

We had had sort of a late lunch and had planned to go back to the hotel to change for the show (we saw Addams Family that night) and then head to John's Pizza for supper. But we couldn't think of stuffing pizza in before the show. We wanted to be at the theater at 6:30 so that meant we'd have to eat at around 5 to allow for walking and waiting and things like that. We opted wait til after the show to eat. (Although, I thought I'd be too tired to eat after it got out at 9:30 or so) So we easily found our way back to the subway station, got on the right train, and made it back to the hotel in time for me to have a little rest (y'all know I like to nap, right?) before time to get ready.

Seeing a Broadway show is something I've always wanted to do as well. I have a very good friend who is in LA doing TV and movie things right now. I have always regretted that I wasn't able to come to NYC when she was on Broadway. I would have loved that. As we found our seats in the Lunt-Fontanne theater (next to last row in the mezzanine!) I thought about how lucky I am to get to see this. The Addams Family is a new musical and it is HILARIOUS! It also has Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth (I finally spelled her name right!) as Morticia. Seeing them was a huge thrill. They are each kind of legends of the theater and I was so SO impressed with their performances. I just kept thinking,"I can't believe I'm seeing them!" The show has a lot of interaction with the audience, which was fun too. Here's a few pics of the theater and the stage.




Even though this was a comedy, this song choked me up. Father/daughter stuff always makes me happy and sad. Love you Dad!

We came out of the theater at close to 10:00 and I wasn't tired a bit! I was so excited from the show and also hungry so we decided to go eat some pizza after all.

John's Pizza was just a couple of blocks from the theater and had been recommended by everyone. It is in this really cool building that used to be a church so the interior doesn't look anything like a regular pizza place. Really, you should go if you're ever in NYC. The pizza is super good. I do have some pictures of the interior but blogger doesn't want me to post them right now so you'll have to do without. After pizza, we went to Juniors for some NY cheesecake. Eric got cheesecake with cherries on top, which is what I kind of wanted but decided to try to chocolate mousse cheesecake. Well, lets just say it was too big for me to eat. It had more mousse than cheesecake. After the waiter brought be a box I said, jokingly,"That was just too big for me to eat." And he said,"Yeah. It's definitely too much for one person!" Woulda been nice if he had told me that BEFORE he brought it to me. Oh well, that's what room refrigerators are for!

Tomorrow I'll tell you about Central Park and the MET.

Have a good one!