We left the hotel bright and early at 6:15 with Starbucks in hand this morning as we set out to become famous on the Today show. They were celebrating their 60th birthday today, so they had numerous special guests such as old anchors and Tom Hanks. We waited outside around the fence with our homemade posters as the temperatures began to drop. It was beautiful when we woke up, but it soon became much colder, the wind picked up, and it began to mist. However, we stuck it out when we were told they would be filming in front of us soon for the champagne toast and gave us red and orange gloves to wear with the NBC logo on the palms. Boy were we mislead! We did get to shake Al Roker's hand off camera, but we finally left about 9:15 after they never even came close to us with the cameras. We never did get to show our posters on TV or do the Beaver train though we did have many people ask what BVU stood for.
We then headed over to the 9/11 memorial as the wind began to pick up even more. This monument left me speechless. After maneuvering through security, we came upon the reflecting pools. Each pool is the outline of where the towers once stood, and they both have waterfalls on each side draining into a single pool. Along the ledge, all of the names of the victims of the attacks are engraved. It was heartbreaking to see in writing just how many people were lost on September 11th. Even though the wind was blowing like crazy, it was pretty much completely silent as people prayed, etched over names of loved ones, and took pictures.
We then took a walking tour of Wall Street and the financial district. I would not recommend this tour unless it is on a day with good weather. We wore headsets so we could hear our tour guide, but we still could not hear anything because the wind was so strong. We were also rushing to hide behind corners because we were freezing. We have been lucky so far besides today with the weather - it has actually been beautiful here! On the tour, we stopped by Federal Hall where George Washington took his oath as President. This place was actually a bank at the time of his inauguration. We also walked through Trinity Church, past the Stock Exchange, and where the actual wall was located on Wall Street.
We were then free for the day, so most of us took a quick nap to recharge from the morning though a couple people visited museums. Kacie and I decided to do some New York shopping and found some great stores with awesome deals. We then decided to use our free meal at Steak ‘N Shake compliments of David Letterman. Their steak burger was actually really good though there was nowhere to sit. We have come to find this quite common in New York along with no public restrooms! We are resting up tonight and will be trying to get tickets to Saturday Night Live early in the morning. Wish us luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment