Mr. Behrendt Goes To Washington: New York City

New York City
I went to New York City from Friday, June 27th to Sunday, June 29th. I saw many cool places. My Amtrak train left the Alexandria Union Station early in the morning. After 4 hours, I arrived at Penn Station in New York City (NYC). Penn Station is below or right next to Madison Square Garden. I did not know that until I arrived at Penn Station. I walked up 7th Avenue through Times Square to my hotel on 50th Street near 7th Avenue. This is the first time I have been in NYC, since I went in high school on a choir trip about 7 or 8 years ago. I remember many if not all of the place we went on the my previous NYC trip, but I did not fully appreciate seeing them and I did not know where they were located relative to one another

After checking in to the hotel, I started seeing NYC. First I went to Ray's Pizza a few blocks from my hotel to get some NY style pizza. Next, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). I was blown away by that place and that usually does not happen to me at an art museum. They had a lot of art and some of the art was done by people I have heard of before. There was art from Egypt, Rome, Greece, Europe, among others. They also had multiple rooms of famous artists including Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, Matisse, DeGas, and Dali. I was not expecting to see their paintings. After the MET, dinner, and a change of clothes, I went to see the Phantom of Opera on Broadway. That was fun!

Saturday was by far the busiest day of the trip. I took the Staten Island Ferry to Staten Island and back to Manhattan at 7:30 am in the morning. We went right past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Next, I mosied to Battery Park and the Charging Bull on my way to the 9/11 Memorial Museum. I really enjoyed the museum. I think if you go to Manhattan, you should try to make a trip to the museum. The museum is well put together. It was not crowded when I was there at 9:30 am. There are many articles from the World Trade Center site on 9/11. The museum even showed a film of people jumping off the World Trade Center. There was also a 15 minute video with Rudy Giuliani, George Bush, and Condoleezza Rice. The best part of the museum was a time line of the events of that day in maze with stuff from that time of day. The museum has the potential to move people emotionally. Next I went to Wall Street and the South Side Seaport. The South Side Seaport is under construction until 2016. That was a little disappointing. Then I walked part way across the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge handles 6 lanes of traffic plus pedestrians and bikes. That is impressive for a bridge built in 1883. Then I strolled through Chinatown and Little Italy. Eventually I met up with a friend from high school. We went to see where he works and lives. We had dinner by his apartment on the Lower East Side. Then I went to bed before a big night of shootings in the city.

On Sunday, June 29th, I simply got on a train back to Alexandria Union Station. The quiet car is pretty nice on those trains. You can get a lot of sleep.

My phone is not letting me download the pictures from my phone to my computer. So I do not have any photos available to post right now. I will try to have pictures up in the near future.