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!

coffee shops and beer.

hello dublin!

monday 28th.

so yesterday was our first day of classes and orientation. neither of which were my favorite part of the day...hah im semi-joking. i was really excited for monday to actually get started on everything about our trip. we caught the bus to be up at school by 8:30, but only after we scrambled to get ready in 10 minutes because our alarm didnt go off! gah such luck. after we chatted with the program directors and saw a tour of the library we had our first class: Irish Flim in the 21st Century. which seems like itll be very fun and our professor, seamus, is awesome. then after a few of us went down to Bakers Corner for lunch before our last class: Myths and Legends: Irish Folklore and Literature. im not sure which class im going to like better! because the film class seems really awesome...buuut i got to talk about gnomes in lit. (keep in mind i then got teased for my extensive knowledge in this particular subject...) and mythology, fairies, history etc.

after school we made a short trip into dublin to try and book a trip for this weekend (this plan fell through a bit but needless to say it all worked out and were still going!) and get a look at the city. we didnt want to be too late for dinner so we just walked around and had a snack at the best coffee shop and cafe downtown.

brewleys cafe. James Joyce was inspired here.mike and jil :)espresso!chocolate croissantcaramel cino ice

later that night, after dinner and such. alyssa (roommate if i havent mentioned that!) and i walked down to a pub called the graduate. to meet up with some friends for the night :) i wish i would've taken more pics of the group but at least other people have been. so ill leave you with visions of wonderfully drafted irish beer.

guinness!and carlsberg!

have a good night loves.