What do you do when your parents mention that they’re going to New York to see Billy Joel? Crash their party of course! That’s just what me and my brother did. How can you have a romantic getaway to the Big Apple without your adult children?
Following the red-eye flight, we were left with the entire day to begin our exploration through New York. We started with a visit to ground zero of the Twin Towers. The above memorial lists the names of those who lost their lives on 9/11 around the pool. The area surrounding the memorial had a strange atmospheric mix of sorrow and tourism.
The story of the crew of Ladder Co. 3 is nothing short of tragic. The attack occurred as the crew was in the middle of shift change, so naturally both crews attended the incident. With Captain Paddy Brown in lead the extended crew did their best to help people out of the South Tower as it burned and creaked, but they unfortunately did not receive the evacuation call and were killed when the tower collapsed. I was only in the first grade when 9/11 occurred so I don’t have any real memory of where I was or what I felt when I found out about the attack. It has always just been a terrible historical event to me. But visiting the memorial museum and learning about the stories of first responders, that could very easily now been my co-workers and friends, that lost their lives and continue to suffer from the effects of responding to such an event, such as mental illness, and respiratory illness and cancer from the rubble dust inhaled, really helped me to fully understand the impact this terrible catastrophe had on humanity and the city of New York.
Now that the heavy material is done, time to marvel over how vast New York City actually is. It’s one thing to see the city portrayed in movies and on TV, but quite another to overlook the never ending ocean of buildings. I spent the entire weekend completely lost in regard to what direction we were going and where we were. I have never loved Google maps more.
The obvious choice for a first dinner in New York is pizza. This was the best pizza I have ever tasted. All other pizza has been ruined.
Following pizza, we sampled a few bars and found a comedy club. With a two drink minimum, Kevin found it easy to enjoy himself. And if I have to babysit my drunk brother you better believe I deserve some milk and cookies at midnight. We found out about this chain when we visited Boston last fall and I firmly believe that this is a brilliant business idea, especially in a neighbourhood with a few pubs or a university.
The next morning, while my father and brother slept in, my mom and I went on an adventure in the rain to find bagels for breakfast. Not thinking that we would be out in the rain for long, neither of us prepared properly. We were very unpleasantly surprised when we got to the bagel shop and had to stand in the line winding out the door and down the street. By the time the line had progressed to the point that we were inside, both of us were soaked through. Thankfully our determination paid off with some absolutely delicious, proper NY bagels.
It wouldn’t be a Tjostheim vacation without a trip to the library.
It is nearly impossible to walk though Times Square without running into at least one person because you’re busy gawking.
Times Square Midtown Comics did not disappoint.
The second night was the night of the Billy Joel concert. His piano skills are not half bad.
The next morning we found another bagel shop with a much shorter line.
Having only walked 18km the day before we felt the need to up the milage a bit and covered the entirety of Central Park before wandering over to SoHo.
Our last dinner was at another pizza place in Little Italy, because why not?
The morning of our flight home we stopped at the diner across the street from our hotel for a classic, massive, American breakfast. With enough coffee to restart someone’s heart it was time to say goodbye to the city that never sleeps.