Memorial Day Weekend {Part 2}

Sunday of Memorial Day weekend has become the day of our yearly trip to New York City.  We started going this day because it coincides with Fleet Week.  Although we didn't go visit any ships this time, we were lucky enough to see some other fantastic sites to commemorate this great country we live in.

This was our 4th year going.  To see the first 3 years, click here, here, and here.

Time to wake up!

First stop....Fox News, of course.  Dorky little me made a poster of our previous visits to the show.  I thought they'd be so impressed by it that they'd invite me to sit on the comfy couch, but alas, they did not.

#bucketlist

Rick Reichmuth was kind enough to come over and pose with us again this year.  He's super nice and wasn't fazed at all with little Matthew's meltdown.

Dorky poster held by dorky girl in dorky sunglasses

 
We met Peter Doocy as well.  He's a Villanova grad, so Billy's sweatshirt drew him right over.

Tucker wasn't working that day, again!!  Darn it!!

After the show, we walked over to mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral....

....and then had lunch.  Can you guess where?




We were given a golden opportunity to see the New World Trade Center and the 9/11 Museum.

We went to One World Trade Center first.

The trip to the top is quite an experience.  An HDTV screen surrounds you in the elevator as you go up.  On your way you see New York from years past up to present day.  From there you go into a small room where a wall is a makeshift screen and shows video of life on the streets of NYC.  After about 1 minute of video the screen moves up and you are looking out the window over the city.  Amazing.  You are then taken to another room where you can walk around the top and see the city from all angles.

From there we walked around the 9/11 Memorial.  We were told that every morning a white rose is placed on the name of any victim whose birthday it is that day.

We were then taken inside the museum.  There is so much to see here.  Everything is so well done.  There is a beautiful reverence inside.  It was mostly quiet, but some of the exhibits had voice recordings being played.  You hear interviews with survivors, frantic phone messages that were left for loved ones, and dispatchers calling for fire and rescue teams.

One of the most touching exhibits for me was the "In Memoriam" exhibit.  This room has pictures of all of the victims on the walls.  The magnitude of just how many lives were taken that day really hits home.  This is true not only because the walls are covered with their photos, but each photo tells a personal story.  You may see a bride in her wedding gown, a runner with his bib number on his chest, or a photo of someone from a backyard barbeque.

There is an interactive table where you can tap on a digital photo of a victim and you see a small biography of their life, including pictures of their families and loved ones.....the unmeasurable amount of victims left behind. To see more about this exhibit click here.

We were so appreciative to have this opportunity to go there. 


After these visits we stopped to see Dad's office, had a quick dinner in Weehawken, NJ and headed home.  We were wiped out and needed to rest up for Part 3 of our weekend.

Stay tuned....