Day Two...

Alright, I'm very sorry this post has taken so long, but I do have a few VERY good reasons:

1) I had a test for my Abnormal Psychology class. It kind of sneaked up on me, but I studied a lot and actually did quite well in the end.

2) I got sick.

3) So did my 16-month-old daughter.

Needless to say...things have been crazy, but NOW I'm back and ready to continue narrating the lovely adventures of me and Ty in New York....

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Tuesday morning, we slept in a bit. Why not? We deserved it after such a long day. Not to mention the fact that our hotel room somehow managed to stay COMPLETELY dark, even in the daytime. Therefore, it still felt like 2 AM, even though it was somewhere closer to 10. Anyway...I was the first to get up, so I got to take a shower first. Ha! Take that, Ty! (I thought silently as he rolled over and went back to sleep...Maybe it wasn't that big of a victory after all...)

Now, I simply MUST describe to you my first shower in our hotel in New York...(Don't get too excited boys, this isn't THAT kind of a blog!)

Anyway, as I said before, I trudged sleepily into the bathroom, got my shampoo and soap all ready to go, and turned on the shower. I have to say I wasn't prepared for what happened next. The water came out of that unassuming little shower head at such a velocity that I was very nearly blasted through the opposite wall.

The water pressure in that shower could have EASILY done the same job on the outside of a brick building as a high-powered sand-blaster. In addition to the hurricane-force gale that I was standing in, the poor little shower curtain that had been chosen for that bathroom was nowhere near being sufficient to endure the winds that were created by that level of water-pressure. It flapped and spun like a flag in a tornado.

When I was all clean (super-duper clean, thanks to the over-acheiving shower), I tried to warn Ty about it, and the flimsiness of the shower curtain. He laughed a little, and seemed to think I was exaggerating a bit. I shrugged, figuring he'd find out for himself soon enough.

I had nearly finished doing my hair and makeup when Ty came out of the bathroom. He stood in the doorway and said: "You know, at first I thought all the condensation in there after your shower was from the steam. But now I realize that that water actually has the velocity to go around the room four times before it actually hits you." I nodded, feeling well justified. Then I asked the next obvious question: "How about that shower curtain?" He shook his head, "Like a cape in the wind." Yep. The shower in our hotel room was OFFICIALLY awesome. Now, on to the rest of the day...

(Above picture: A children's clothing store we saw during the taxi drive. Am I the only one who thinks that maybe they should have picked a different name than "Lucky Wang?")

The plan was to take a taxi down to Battery Park and gaze across the water at the Statue of Liberty. (They don't let tourists inside the Statue at this time of year, and we didn't want to pay for the ferry if that was the case.) Anyway, Ty had a place he wanted to show me before we got to Battery Park, so we stopped in an adorable place called Greenwich Village. I'm in love with that place. It's beautiful. We walked around, and Ty (with the help of a map and my Blackberry's web access), found the site of the Triangle Factory Fire in the early 1900's. (Being a history major, he learned about the tragedy quite recently, and wanted to see the place).

Like much of the architecture in New York, the building was beautiful.

After fully enjoying the sights for a while, we took another taxi to Battery Park. Having looked at Lady Liberty and Ellis Island from a respectable distance...

We walked around and even stopped at a few of the outdoor booths of some local artists. We bought three pictures from a Russian painter. They're awesome.

From Battery Park, we decided to walk to the Police Museum. It took us a little while to find it, but we got there. From the museum, we headed toward Ground Zero. That took us a while to find as well, but we finally got to the right place. We stopped at St. Paul's Chapel, which is directly across the street from the site.

Allow me now to say just how beautiful that chapel is. Not to mention the cemetery that surrounds it.

Side Note: I've got this thing about cemeteries. I really don't think they're creepy. I find them to be very peaceful. Whenever I go to a cemetery, I will just walk around reading headstones. At St. Paul's, there are unfortunately very few headstones that are legible anymore, but the place is beautiful all the same.

Inside the chapel, it was even more striking. Apparently, that little chapel was a primary refuge for the rescuers who--just after the 9/11 attacks--were working tirelessly to find any and all survivors in the wreckage. It was an emotional afternoon. There were displays inside the chapel from that horrible day. Pictures of victims, posters made by families--desperate to find their missing loved ones. There was a display of patches from the fire fighters that came from all over the country.

The most powerful sight for me was one of the pews. It was up against the wall, with a plaque that told about how the workers (firefighters, policemen, and so many others), would come into St. Paul's and fall asleep on the pews. Being constantly on call, they would leave much of their gear on, which scuffed and scratched up the wooden pews. When the church was remodeled later on, it was decided that the scratches and scuffs would be left as they were, as a tribute to the brave workers who slept on them.

After the chapel, we headed to the 9/11 memorial preview site. That, too, was an emotional experience. The memorial opens this September. It's going to be incredible. It's hard to believe that this September will be the 10th anniversary.

Once we'd finished with the memorial preview, we continued walking around town until we'd seen all that we wanted to see. Then we caught a taxi back to our hotel to get ready for...yep. You guessed it! Dinner and a show!!!

We went to dinner at a place called The Lamb's Club. Holy crap! It is an INCREDIBLY nice place. We had 6 waiters assigned to our area of the restaurant, and they were amazing! My water NEVER got below the half-full mark, and between the courses, we actually had a guy who came over and SCRAPED THE CRUMBS OFF THE TABLE CLOTH FOR US!!! You know how with Apple they say "There's an app for that"? Well at the Lamb's Club, "There's a guy for that." Seriously, whatever you need, there's a guy for that.

After the service at The Lamb's Club RUINED every other restaurant on the planet for me, we headed back to Times Square to enjoy a few sights before our show.

Then, about 15 minutes before they started letting people in to seat them, we went over to the Ambassador Theater to see "Chicago."

The show was fantastic, but at intermission I made the VERY BAD DECISION to try and use the restroom. WOW! It was insane. If it hadn't been an emergency, I wouldn't have bothered, trust me. Anyway, I barely made it back to my seat in time for the end of the opening number of Act 2. I'll be far more careful in the future, I can definitely say THAT!

Once the show was over, we went back to the hotel to change out of our theater clothes and hit Times Square again. The movie making people were back, so we had to deal with the massive crowd that had gathered to watch the proceedings. However, we then ducked into a little place that I'm pretty sure has changed my life forever. This place is called "Roxy's Delicatessen." These people make THE BEST CHEESECAKE IN THE WHOLE FREAKING WORLD!!! Yep. Fab-u-losity.

After Roxy's ruined all other cheesecake for me, Ty and I decided it was time to call it a night. We both crashed, setting our alarms to wake up relatively early the next day...

(More to come, hopefully more quickly than last time...)