New York - Day 1 & 2

OK, So I finally have some time to sit down and write a little!
It has been a blast to be here in NY the past 2 days. My friend Adam & I arrived on Wednesday afternoon & after an hour long taxi cab ride, we arrived at our hotel. We are staying at the Warwick hotel & it is only blocks from Times Square. Our first night here we walked down & took a look around Times Square.
It was nice & busy, but not too busy that we would have had trouble getting around. I haven't been here in over 10 years and what I find funny is that everything I remember from before is actually smaller than I remember. Well, after walking around & getting dinner we decided to call it a night & rest up for seeing the sights the next day.
Thursday morning Adam & I hopped on the subway (which I don't like as much as the ones I traveled on in Europe) and we traveled down to see the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. It was pretty cool to see something that is pretty much the symbol of our country. I was surprised that it was so close to land though, I always had the impression from TV & movies that it was further out away from land. After checking out the Statue, we hopped on the boat over to Ellis Island. They have a good museum in the mail building that documents what immigrants had to go through before being admitted into our country. After Ellis Island, we decided to visit ground zero, where the Would Trade Center towers were. There is construction happening 24/7 and what I found amazing was just how friggin large the site is. Just seeing where the towers were and how much space they took up was mind blowing. After ground zero we walked up to Wall street & the New York Stock Exchange. There is a statue of a charging bull that we wanted to get a picture of.


We then walked up wall street until we hit the river then walked along the side of the river and saw the Brooklyn Bridge. It was getting dark out so we hopped on the subway and got off around Grand Central Station. Grand Central is another place that seems smaller than I remember it being, probably all the traveling I have done since I was here last. We walked up to Rockefeller Plaza and saw the ice skating rink. I would have liked to go skating, but unfortunately I have all the grace and balance of a drunken elephant. In just writing about this day, I feel as if I am writing about a whole week, not 12 hours! After leaving the Plaza, we walked by Radio City Music Hall and back up to our hotel.
That night we met up with Rob (a friend from Ohio who lives out here now) and went out to a few bars. I didn't get back to the hotel until 5am this morning!!! Suffice to say, today is pretty much a recovery day. We might go to the Empire State building later, but right now it is all about getting some rest!