New York - Day 4

Leaving Boston was bittersweet. We certainly had a great three days in Boston.  It’s quaint, charming, historic, and certainly full of “Boston Pride."  I don’t think anyone in our group had any complaints about visiting Boston. 

~ Click Here To See All The Photos From The Trip ~ 

 

Still, as we left the excitement to finally get to New York was evident.  We boarded Amtrak at about 10 am and 3½ hours later we were in New York. From Penn Station - as we came up the escalator and out onto the busy, bustling Manhattan street - I overheard one of the boys say “I like Boston, but I think I’m more of a New York guy." 😀

After checking into the hotel and getting some lunch, we took the subway down to the Village/Washington Square Park/NYU.  The weather has certainly changed from the first day we arrived in Boston. I think it may have been below 30° and lightly snowing, so needless to say Washington Square Park and the streets around NYU were pretty empty.   

Still, I think the students enjoyed being down there; hearing some of the stories about the history of the park and visiting the site of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist fire. 

 From there, we walked through Soho and down to Little Italy for dinner at Sofia‘s. It was really nice having a group dinner together. Plenty of lively talk and plenty of debate.  Much of the spirited debate seemed to feature Rumi and Will on one side and the entire rest of the group on the other. I'm not sure what the topic was... but it was priceless.  

 After dinner, we got dessert at Ferrara around the corner and then got on the subway and headed back uptown to Times Square. 

 Times Square is... well, Times Square. People dressed in Spider-Man outfits, Elmo impersonators, Mickey Mouse costumes...  I mean, how many times consecutively can you hear Beyonce's "New York" blaring out of a boombox or from a passing car? 

 But, the energy and excitement seems to be made for teenagers. We spent about an hour in Times Square before walking back down Broadway - turning left on W. 35th - and arriving back to our hotel.

Tomorrow morning, we’re going all the way downtown for a viewing of the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Federal Hall, Trinity Church, and Ground Zero. We'll also have lunch in Brooklyn, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and enjoy a Broadway show. Should be fun.