From Sea to Shining Sea

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We started our third day in New York in the Financial District near Wall Street. We got off the subway and saw the Trinity Church, a small church jammed into a small square of real estate, with towering skyscrapers above. We walked down past Wall Street to see the Charging Bull sculpture first. It's featured in one of my favorite movies, "Hitch". It's a more popular attraction than I thought; there were tons of tourists there getting their picture with the bull. We walked back to Wall Street and right down past the New York Stock Exchange. It felt weird being out on the calm, quiet street knowing that it was complete chaos inside with people selling and buying. Security is really tight inside and you can't get in as a tourist anymore. Apparently, a while back a radical political group went in and threw 1$ bills on the floor and the traders stopped working to pick them all up. Even more chaos!

We walked all the way down Wall Street and took a left on South Street near the East River. Even though we were in NY, we decided to have our favorite Chicago style pizza from Uno's! The Uno's near us at home closed down, so we found one in NY and it was right at one of our sightseeing destinations: South Street Seaport. It was mostly an outdoor shopping center, but there were also some nice piers and restaurants next to some old cargo ships. The Uno's had an awesome view of the river and it had a real harbor-restaurant feel to it.

After enjoying the Seaport we walked west to get onto the Brooklyn Bridge footpath to walk across the bridge. The bridge was an amazing piece of architecture with hundreds of beams and wires holding it up from all sides. As cars moved along the bridge under the pedestrian path, we made our way to the middle of the bridge. From the center there was a great view of the river and skyscrapers of Manhattan. We spent a while enjoying the ocean air on the bridge above the river before heading back to our hotel. We ended up doing a lot of walking in New York, which was great because it's a really good way to get to know a city. The beautiful blue skies and sun made walking really enjoyable.

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Photos

George Washington
the first president of the United States

NY Stock Exchange
can't go in anymore :/