The 4 Middletons: NYC

Nick has been really busy working on a project involving New York. He was asked to do a business trip to the city and decided to go. I was super jealous because New York City is one of the places that has been on my bucket list for years. After September 11th happened I have wanted to go and see the city firsthand. It was a MUST for me. We had frequent flyer point set aside so Nick bought me a ticket to go with him. I was going to be on my own for most of the 2.5 days I was there since he was going on business, but at least I would see the city!

We left the boys with my parents (first time ever, oh my) and boarded our flight at 7 am for La Guardia airport in NYC. We arrived around 11 am and took a cab to our hotel. The hotel room was really small, but nothing is big in NYC come to find out...except for the buildings themselves!

We soon left the hotel room for the world trade center memorial. Tickets are free to go in and see it, but you have to have tickets. Our time was 2 o'clock. We took the subway most of the way there but still spent over an hour walking!

We entered the memorial and were flooded with emotion. I remembered exactly where I was when the news began airing of 9/11. I remembered seeing the second plane hit, then the towers crashing. I cried and I read the names of the nearly 3,000 men and women who lost their lives on that horrifying day. I needed to see it and I'm so glad we went together.

This is the Freedom Tower that they are still building. It is so much bigger than it looks here in the picture!

Walking towards the memorial and the tower hovers above all other buildings.

It was beautiful and so sad at the same time.

The water was so cold, and the air was so so so hot. What a strange feeling...

You kind of froze as you looked at it. I remembered where I was...

It is SO big...

The Freedom Tower is so big. 7 building were completely destroyed on 9/11.

The people who were there to see the memorial...

I tried to read as many names as I could. Every name belonged to a person who was killed that day and it was hard to read them all. The worst was when you read a woman's name with "and her unborn child" next to it. Very sad and emotional...

That night a good friend from college, Dan, came downtown to go out to dinner with me while Nick had a business dinner. Dan and I finished dinner around 10, right as Nick was leaving his dinner. We met up and went to a neat little bar called Connelly's. We spend a couple hours there before Dan went back to his home and we went back to the hotel to sleep.

Nick and Dan

Krista, Dan, and Nick

Great little bar...and it had my favorite beer: Carlsburg!!!

We had so much fun!

The next morning Nick went to work and I went on a cruise of the city. The boat showed us 121 of the most important/special things on 9/11. I crossed so many things off my bucket list! It was amazing!!! I saw the statue of liberty, Ellis island, Grants tomb, the pier where the titanic was supposed to dock, freedom tower, empire state building, crysler building and SO many more (well 114 others to be exact.)

This is the boat I went on for the cruise. It was amazing!

Hello Empire State building!

View from the Hudson River.

Ellis Island

Statue of Liberty

This city is breathtaking!

Brooklyn Bridge

This is where Captain Sully landed the American Airlines flight that hit a flock of birds a couple of years ago. He was able to land the flight, in the freezing cold, in the Hudson River. All 155 people on board survived uninjured. What a miracle!

The cruise ended at 4 and I hopped a cab back to the hotel. Nick finished work not long after. We met up with Dan again that night for dinner. The three of us went to Carmine's Italian Restaurant in Times Square for dinner. Go check out the place, its amazing: http://www.carminesnyc.com/ I really regret not buying their cookbook while I was there. I didn't buy myself a single souvenir and darn it, I wish I bought that cookbook! Oh well, I'll just have to go back ;)

We explored times square before walking to Rockefeller Center. Nick wanted to go up to the top and get some pictures. The last elevator up was at 11 pm...we got in at 10:56! Dan is a firefighter in NYC and asked if they gave a discount for firefighters. They said they did. SO, instead of it costing $75 for the 3 of us to go up, it cost a whopping $36! Thanks Dan for saving us money!