New York, New York (pt. 2)

Miss Liberty in all her glory.

Saturday was definitely our most packed day here in New York. Mike didn't have to work which was great because he could spend the entire day with us! We decided to head down to the South Street Seaport for the day and it was such a good decision, us mid-westerners couldn't help but compare it to the Chicago Pier though!

South Street Seaport

They got the memo about the nautical theme.

Harbored ships

We decided to grab lunch at a brewery right on the street. I love local craft brews and a simple burger sounded great. I've got to hand it to you Heartland Brewery, we were not disappointed.

Summertime Apricot Ale.

Farmer Jon's Oatmeal Stout.

Turkey burger and fries.

From there we decided to walk along the water to get to the Staten Island ferry. Because Jen and I were only there a short amount of time we weren't able to get tickets to head over to Ellis Island and this was a simple (and free!) way to get as close to the Statue of Liberty as possible.

Governor's Island Ferry entry.

The Statue of Liberty
Just as inspirational as ever.

Our last part of the journey took us to Ground Zero and the new 9/11 tribute museum. This was something we knew we wanted to stop and see, despite the construction and there not being a whole lot to look at. I was actually in New York just a few months after 9/11 occurred and was able to see the walls and walls of flowers, photos, and everything memorial-wise that you can imagine. I know I was quite young but it was a very emotional visit and it being back there again definitely stirred up some feelings for me.

The current memorial installed.

Thank you to all those who risked their lives that day. God Bless.

From their we headed to SoHo (didn't I say it was a long day!) for window-shopping and dinner before heading back to Mike's apt. and getting ready for a night on the town. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long long time. Let's just say there was a lot of dancing, running in the rain, 4 a.m. pizza, and as the four of us crawled into bed as the sun was rising we all agreed we had a great night.

Two days down, two to go!