Lower Manhattan and Staten Island Ferry

Yesterday I got to leave work at about 1pm. My friend Laura DeWitt texted me and we decided to meet for lunch/happy hour at Buffalo Wild Wings in the Atlantic Terminal. It was a beautiful day and this sounded like a terrific idea. When we were finishing up our wings Laura asked what I had planned for the rest of my afternoon and if I'd like to do anything in particular. I asked what was something good and New Yorky we could do. Laura suggested we take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry which is free and takes you past the Statue of Liberty. I was very excited because I've never seen the Statue of Liberty except from a distance from the Manhattan Bridge on the subway.

We went back to our apartments and changed clothes and then met again on the train. I'm so glad Laura lives in my area now! First she took me on a little tour of lower Manhattan. She showed me her old TriBeCa apartment, and took my by City Hall and the two courthouses where they film the scenes on the steps for episodes of Law and Order.

City Hall

U.S. Court of Appeals

United States Courthouse

Next we walked to the Ground Zero area. I had never seen Ground Zero and I also wanted to go to Trinity Church because I've recently seen a documentary that said that Alexander Hamilton was buried there. You can't really see anything in Ground Zero because its all high chain-link fences covered in plastic. You can only see cranes coming up from it. The crowds were also very thick because it was about the time when people were leaving work. Directly across the street from Ground Zero is Trinity Church's St Paul's Chapel. I wasn't sure this was the church I was looking for but we walked around to the entrance to see if we could get into the church yard and look for Hamilton. Instead we found that the inside of the chapel was a memorial to the September 11 rescue efforts. It was very moving and I really enjoyed the exhibit. Laura and I walked down the block a bit and found Trinity Church, which was closed. We walked a round and looked through the fence and I was able to see Alexander Hamilton's marker anyway.

Next we walked to the ferry, past Battery Park which was very pretty and green. The ferry was not too crowded and there were two open bays where you could take photos, if you are on the poor-man's tour like we were. Most of the other people near the bays were tourists speaking various European languages. I was happy to be riding the boat on such a pretty day and took tons of pictures of the Statue of Liberty at sunset!

Laura got one of me being me

Statue of Liberty

As our day drew to a close and we headed home I felt really achy and overly tired. I figured it must have been the mojito I had at BW3s but before I went to sleep last night I noticed I was feverish. This morning I woke up at dawn with a fever of 102!! I feel terrible but even worse, today was the big day we were going to finally go and ride the Wonder Wheel! I can't believe my bad luck. A weekend day off and the weather is beautiful and I'm sick!! I've taken ibuprofen and Tylenol and my fever is only down to 100. I hope that I can perk up enough to go to work tomorrow. I will keep you posted.