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Published: February 2nd 2009
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Inauguration Day
The masses in Time Square I feel very privileged to have spent this week in New York. At such a significant time in history with the inauguration of Americas first coloured president, I never thought that my urge to see the city that never sleeps would fall into line with such a momentous occasion. HOW LUCKY AM I!
I spent the beginning of Inauguration day in time square amongst thousands of dedicated americans who had braved the cold to watch a mans life change forever and a new time in history begin. It was difficult to find a spot to view one of the many large screens that blended amongst the zillions of colourful billboards but I finally found a gap between the patriotic people waving their star spangled flags and settled in for an emotional experience.
Now I must admit that I am not one to usually follow american history and there has been more than one occasion in the last 9 months that I have thought this Obama thing has dragged on. But while standing there watching the many look with hope at the screens I could not help but get caught up in the moment and cheer as Obama stepped onto the steps
Inauguration Day
unable to move and freezing but worth every minute to stand there. of the Whitehouse to state his oath. I then began to think 'what am I doing?'. I took the time to look around and noticed children on dads shoulders, women and men weeping, people looking to cash in on the event selling Obama buttons and t-shirts and flags waving and I thought what a time to be here and what an opportunity to view such a sight. I will always remember Aretha Franklin singing the national anthem and the cheers from the crowds as CNN flashed to time square in live broadcast around the world.
My patriotic day continued with a visit to the Statue of liberty, which was alot smaller than I expected and a tour of Ellis Island. From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through the portal of Ellis Island, a small island in New York Harbor. It was interesting to read about the immagrants journeys and hardships. For those of you who need a Hollywood reference, Ellis Island is the place that Will Smith took Eva Mendez on their first date in the movie 'Hitch'. He had organised for her to sight the transcripts of her family that travelled to Ellis
Island as immagrants. Anyway my day continued to get better and even more special as I made my way to Ground Zero, the sight of 911.
There is not much to see at the sight these days except alot of construction as they build the Freedom Tower but to the side the Fire Staion have set up a museum with information about the trade centres and life for the workers. They have artefacts from the event as well as a ceiling to floor wall full of photos showing all the people that lost their lives. Lots of them were young and in their 20's and 30's. They have copies of the flyers people posted in search of their loved ones at the time of the disaster and you are able to see video footage of the whole days events. WOW! It is really incredible to see the sights. I remember at the time of 911 I was in my first year of teaching and had slept through the event during the night. When I awoke in the morning I had seen the plane and within minutes of mentally consuming the crash I watched the towers tumble live to air. Iremember
walking into my classroom and trying to explain to 30 Year 1 students what had a happened and them wanting to know what a terrorist was! As I walked along the clooage of photos I noticed that some families and also included particular items the reminded them of their ldead loved ones, a base ball cap, notebook and even a half used bottle of Amirage perfume. It really makes you think about life, your invincibility and the need to live the fullest life you can. These people were at the prime of their life........ what a waste.
Feeling all depressed about wasted lives I took myself to Century 21. Which is a massive discounted label shopping store and to my disbelief could not bring myself to buy a thing. I was overwhelmed with the thought that I was wasting my day shopping when people had died right across the road in the prime of your life. So instead I took myself to Magnolia Bakery and bought Key lime cheescake and 6 cupcakes ......... ha ha ha. For those of us who are Sex and the City fans this bakery became very famous as a result of the show. Everything was
divine! and noooooo I did not eat it all....... but almost.
I went home that day feeling very forfilled literally and emotionally. I really absorbed the inauguration day and all its meaning, in particular that america represents freedom and they are willing to pay all costs to have it.
The following day I felt the pinch of my Bakery visit and decided it was time to hit Central Park. What a gorgeous little peice of NY. Covered in snow it seems like a far away place in such a busy town. The squirells which I found to be very cute but are very big pests. I met a guy from Scotland at the hostel and he joined me for the day. I can't believe that Central Park actually has a zoo. I saw the Strawberry Feilds (covered ibn snow) that the Beatles sung about and went to the boathouse where Carey falls in the water on Sex n The City. No doubt about NY........ anything is possible. After our walk in the park we headed to Carnegie Hall, which is one of the most famous venues in the United States for classical music and popular music, renowned for its beauty,
Ground Zero
The innocent faces of those who lost their lives. history and acoustics.
Later that day we decided to go to the Guggenheim Museum which took us about 1 hour to walk to and when we got there it was closed ahhhhhhh. So we settled for a 20 minute walk back to Metropolitan Museum of Art where we got to see the famous painting of George Washington. It was a hectic day of walking but I think I burnt off all those cakes which was really great.
New York is an amazing city that never sleeps. I could not believe my eyes at the sheer size of everything and food was really cheap. There was a 3 story mnm's store and Hershey chocolate store giving out free peanutbutter cups. I went to 5th Avenue and walked into Loius Vutton, Tiffanys, Prada, Chanel...... oooooo if I had the money. The shops are more interesting than the products. Mac has a 3 level super store that is open 24 hours and you can go in there and check your emails for free and play with all their cool merchandise.
Also spent some time in Brooklyn but the Bridge to get there was more exciting than anything else. I saw two theatre shows
while in NY. South Pacific which was fantastic and Mary Poppins which was not as fantastic for it's acting but had absolutley spectacular special effects. She actually is attached to a wire that lifts her over the audience and up into the heavens to the ceiling somewhere and then she appears on the stage again within minutes. The guy who plays Bert walked up the side of the stage and across the top and then back down the other side. For both shows I had middle row orchestra seats and they were perfect. I went to the top of the Empire State building where security gaurds accidently broke my glasses when I went through the metal machines. The view was really good but the following day I went to the the top of the Rockafella Centre and took some fab shots of the city with the Empire State building in it which I thought was better.
I think that it wouldn't matter how much time you spent in NY it would never be enough so the only solution to the problem would be to move there! Just kidding. But if anyone seriously thinks about going, let me know, I would
The Empire State Building
At the top of the Rockafella Centre be keen to go. It's the first time I have ever wished I was travelling somewhere with someone. Besides the fact you can't trust anyone to hold your Camera it is a great place to share lots of Fun.
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