NYC Day Two

On Thursday, our plans all fell together smoothly. Even though we hit a few snags, we arrived at Liberty Park right on time for our ferry which meant we had time to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. And even with awful traffic, we arrived for our dinner reservations right on time. Everything worked out perfectly.

Friday? Notsomuch. We started the day by going to the Today Show where we arrived just in time to see them packing up the outside area. No Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Ann Curry, or Meredith Vieira sightings for us.

I did get to see Amy Robach through the window and get a feel for the layout of the studio which was fun for me. But not quite the Today Show experience I was anticipating. Sigh.
Oh well. After coffee and breakfast at Starbucks, we headed downtown. W-a-a-a-y downtown that is, to buy half-price tickets for a Broadway show.
Annie proudly wore an adorable "I love you" pin made by Aiden.

At this point we were all in high spirits.

When we got downtown, Mom stood in line so the rest of us could go check out the Brooklyn Bridge.

It turns out that the cheapest tickets for shows we wanted to see were twice the amount we wanted to pay. So we walked to Ground Zero. But the construction fences were covered in mesh and the memorial wall had been taken down and there just wasn't much to see.
So we went to a couple stores and then walked to lunch. The good news was that we passed by some pretty phenomenal architecture on our way to all these stops.

Can you believe that this is just the entrance to the old Woolworth Building? Not a cathedral. Not a concert hall. Just a building. They don't build them like they used to.
Apparently, they also don't make dim sum like they used to either. Above is the location of the Oriental Pearl Restaurant. It was recommended to us by Linda, Becky, and Julia but after we walked there through the crazy live-frogs-in-plastic-bins streets of Chinatown, we discovered it was closed. Permenantly.

Seeing as we were starving, we decided to try the place across the street. After waiting for a good 15 minutes, we were finally approached by a server. Although she told us about everything on her cart, the only thing we could clearly understand was "Chicken Feet."

Instead of feet, we chose what we think was chicken and rice, vegetable wontons, and something else. None of it was very good. So we paid our bill and walked to John's Pizzeria (Sarah's recommendation).

It was a good twenty blocks away but it was PERFECTLY DELICIOUS and the first thing that really worked out for us that day. At this moment our day took a turn for the better.

And then, there were CUPCAKES FROM MAGNOLIA BAKERY!!! (***We won't talk about how getting to this stop included an extremely long and unnecessary detour because Susanna and I misread our map.***)

Magnolia Bakery lived up to all my wildest dreams. SO CUTE!

Next, we headed up to Redeemer's Good Friday Service. The music was lovely and the reflections on Christ's last words on the cross were insightful and poignant.

The last stop for the day was Dylan's Candy Bar.
This place had every type of candy I could think of.

And the decor was too fun.

Once again, Susanna was excited to hang out with her brothers-in-law in the form of mints.

With no Broadway tickets, we opted for the next best thing - watching Last Chance Harvey on Pay Per View in our mom's room!

Did I mention that I saved my cupcakes for this moment?

Ahhhhhh... that's the way to relax after a long day! YUMMY!