Christmas in New York City—Day 3

Today was our day to visit the place where the money resides—Wall Street.  We strolled along the streets, visiting the New York Stock Exchange and the very popular statue of the bull—now sporting a Christmas wreath—where a line of people waited to take a photo with him.  Since it was another chilly day, we stopped at a Starbucks for hot drinks.

 

Now warmed, we headed to Battery Park and the waterfront.  The sun was low in the sky, presenting us with a silhouetted view of Lady Liberty.  We also had a view of Ellis Island.  Both areas were closed to the public due to damage from Hurricane Sandy.  From there we walked to the new World Trade Center still under construction and decorated with lights.

We walked some more before catching the subway to Times Square.  We discovered why Erin is so slim—she does a lot of walking, as do most New Yorkers.  In addition there are the stairs in the subway stations—you go up and down and up and down.  Good exercise.  And hard for older parents to keep up.  We emerged from the subway to the bright lights of Times Square and lots of people.  We enjoyed looking at the marquees of the various shows and seeing the ball that would be dropping soon.  Erin led us away from there to a small restaurant she had visited before with good food and fast service.  We returned to Times Square afterwards.

Earlier in the day we had bought discounted tickets for a Broadway musical—Mary Poppins.  We entered the ornate old theatre well ahead of time but had to wait to be seated.  We had good aisle seats on the main floor not too far back.  This musical was a favorite movie when I was a child and I knew all the words to the songs.  Some of the songs were new while some of the old ones had disappeared.  However, there were a number of the original songs remaining in the play and I was sorely tempted to sing along.  The tap number, “Step in Time,” performed by the chimney sweeps was great, a lot of fun.  In fact, the whole play was of lot of fun.  The actors were good, the sets creative, and the orchestra just right.  We emerged from the theatre with smiles on our faces.

On the way back to her apartment, Erin had us get off the train a bit early so we could walk the Brooklyn Promenade.  We had a great view of the Manhattan skyline at night.  I snapped a few photos but we didn’t stay long because it was getting cold.  We caught the subway in downtown Brooklyn and arrived back in Erin’s apartment quite late.