9/11 Memorial, Time Square and Broadway Play

World Trade Center

Another late start and we headed out to the visit the new World Trade Center.  We figured out which subway line to take and then discovered that line was not working.  So we had to figure out an alternative.  Seems the subway is going to be the bane of our trip, though it still beats walking.  We picked the 9/11 Tribute Center.  The Tribute Center offers Walking Tours and their brochure states "Guides at the 9/11 Tribute Center are 9/11 family members, survivors, rescue and recovery workers, civilian volunteers or lower Manhattan residents whose personal stories are shared with you and are a testament to the human spirit."  Our guide was an older gentleman who lived just a few blocks from the twin towers on that fateful day.  His personal story was moving and shed new light onto the tragic events that unfolded that day.  He also talked about the history of the towers, and gave us new insights into events of that day and explained some interesting details about the memorial and the new buildings.  I would take the tour again in a heartbeat and highly recommend this tour to all who visit the site.  We did not visit the 9/11 Museum, but heard it was well worth the admission.

We then headed back to the hotel and took a short break before we headed out to the Phantom of the Opera.  Alana wanted to visit the M&M store so we headed directly for Time Square.  The store was jammed packed so we checked everything out quickly and headed back out.  We saw the New Years Eve Ball and my daughter commented that it looked very tiny.  I had to reminder her how high up it was and we were still a distance from that building.

The crowd in Time Square was very tight.  There is a lot of talk in the barefoot community about how those who walk barefoot watch where they walk more then people with shoes.  I have often felt I didn't pay much more attention where I stepped now then I did when I wore shoes. Especially while site seeing in New York City, always looking at the sites and not paying as much attention to what I was stepping on. Now that we were in a packed crowd of people I had to watch out for the people in front of me and make sure we stayed together as a group.  Even if I looked down I couldn't have seen enough in front of me to see any dangers if I wanted to through the press of all the feet around us. Hiking I certainly do pay more attention to where I step, but in this huge crowd it wouldn't have done me any good to try.

We entered the Majestic Theater and I had no problems with my barefeet.  After being given directions by several hosts we were finally escorted to our seats in the back row on the second floor.  Not the best seats in the house, but it was what we could afford and available when we decided to order the tickets.  We then had to visit the bathroom and had no trouble at all in the theater with my barefeet.  This is the second day in a row I've managed to be barefoot 100%