Smile for the camera!

6:00 AM was our wake-up time this morning.  We were on the 7:44 AM train to NYC.   But we had some problems with NJ Transit.   We were to be delayed indefinitely in Newark, as they were switch problems in Penn Station.  Well that was not going to work for us since we needed to be at the class in 45 minutes.   Off NJT to take the PATH to 33rd street and walk a block to the Hotel Pennsylvania.   Yeah, all that took us well over an hour and we arrived 30 minutes late.   Thank God Bill knows what he is doing.  I think I would have been like a deer in caught in headlights.  Since all of  NJT was affected, we were packed in like sardines.   Considering it was early people were still in very pleasant moods.   Who said Northeasterners are nasty?!   

This is the outside of Hotel Pennsylvania.  

We were on the 18th floor.

The camera class was worth it.   There were two instructors who took turns during the whole day.  We learned a lot of good information in regards to taking photographs.   We were there until 4:30 PM.   They even provided lunch for us.  My poor hubby hated lunch as he is not a turkey and swiss kinda guy.   So we did venture out to find some tea and coffee.    There was lots of information they gave us and for my brain I think a cheat sheet is in order.  But the best and most important advice shared with us today was to get out and play around.   Take lots of pictures of your subject several different ways.   Don't wait until some event where you will most likely miss the picture you wanted as you are playing with camera too much.   

We left there eager and excited to try out all the new information.  I did not bring my SLR camera along.  Bill did and we did have some fun playing around.  I had my new camera with me and low and behold you can do some of the same things with this fun little point-and-shoot.  

This is my little camera inside the ballroom.

Here is one of me with same camera.

Bill is so familiar with the Wall Street area that we headed down there to eat our dinner.   We did lots of walking.   He showed me where he works - some of the time.   He showed me where he used to work (Chase days).   We ate at a place called Adrienne's Pizza Bar.  Very cool.   Loved the street it was on  - Stone Street.   Here is a photo of that:

There are all these different restaurants with outside

seating in the middle of the street.  We chose inside.

This was our pizza we got.  Eggplant and sausage.

Bill inside Adrienne's 

A picture of part of the bar area.

Afterwards it was time to walk off all the food we ate.  We realized we were not too far from South Street Seaport.   As we were walking around we came across these street performers.   Yup we stopped and watched and cheered.  It was a lot of fun.   

Seaport

Street performers

This pose is called, "Your husband can't do this."

Here is was getting ready to flip over him.

I did not capture that image but he really did it.

He ran up and flipped over him.  Amazing.

And finale was - climbed into 17 inch box.  Ouch!!

Then it was walk over to Wall Street.

Note the street name.  This is corner of William and Wall.

Federal Reserve

New York Stock Exchange

Trinity Church (think National Treasure).

Front of building.  It had huge fence all around.

You could not go inside.  

This was a memorial to serve as a memorial for

all the men who fought for our American 

Independence.  (Graveyard)

Twin Towers area.  (This part is still surreal to me.  I am a New Yorker by birth and realized today what a charge and thrill you do get from this great city.   While I know living there is very different from visiting, I must say that you truly cannot take the city out of the girl but you can take the girl out of the city.)    

This empty skyline is where the towers stood.

This is a beam from one of the towers.

They placed it just a 1/2 block away.

This day was a great day.  I really enjoyed being in NYC and especially being with my husband.  Moving back here has been bittersweet for me.   But having the ability to do this fairly easily is without a doubt a blessing.   While I did miss my children, I knew they were in good hands and having a fabulous time.   There is something to be said about family watching over your precious ones for you.