Lady Liberty+The Phantom=a really good day.

Day 2 is in order. Moe told me not make her wait too long, so here ya go Moe. Yes, you run my life. :)

The first order of business of the day was the Statue of Liberty. We rode the nasty subway to the water then took the ferry out to Liberty Island. It was GORGEOUS. The weather was perfect- it was still fairly early in the morning, and the city was still quiet. Plus, the water was calm and beautiful and peaceful. I loved the ride. When we got to the island, we had to go through security literally two times before they let us in to the base of the statue. They had a museum in there telling about how and when the statue was made and delivered to the United States. It was built in France and then disassembled and shipped to the U.S., only to be built again. We weren't allowed to go up to the crown of the statue- that part of the tour has been closed since September 11th, 2001. But, they are reopening it on the 4th of July this year, so that's exciting. Anyway, We came out on the balcony at the base of the statue, but at the top of the podium that she's standing on, and looked out. It was very nice. My hair blew perfectly in the wind, and it felt amazing. I got some pretty snaggly hair, though. We walked around the whole base, then caught the ferry again and went to Ellis Island.

I need to stop and explain that Ellis Island was (besides Tiffany's) the place that I was most excited to see. It really was my one requirement for the trip. So, I was kind of freaking out. We landed and went inside, but unfortunately, because we had purchased tickets for a matinee showing of Phantom of the Opera that afternoon, I only had a half an hour to see the whole of Ellis Island. It was a serious injustice, and I was grumpy about it, but I understood. The last thing I wanted was to be late for our show and not be able to get in.

And I have to pause again, because I LOVED ELLIS ISLAND. The main builidng (the only one we had time for), was so stinking old, but so amazing. The main hall where the immigrants had to sit and wait in was slightly eerie, but more so just beautiful. It looked like the kind of place where you could have a fancy, but sort of oldish looking wedding. I want one. If I was a New Yorker, I would TOTALLY have my wedding reception on Ellis Island. I don't even know if people are allowed to do that, but I would make it happen. :) In the upstairs there was a room set up with bunk beds that the immigrants had to use when they stayed on the Island over night. They were seriously stacked 3 high, and they didn't have mattresses, only canvas stretched across bars like on a cot. There were chains and metal poles, and they looked horrible! I can't imagine sleeping on such a thing. But is was just so fascinating to see! Behind the building there was a lot of pretty grass and a monument for all the people who passed through the Island to be admitted into the United States. I just think the whole idea behind Ellis Island is remarkable. Who knew that immigration could ever possibly so controlled?? A person from our day could never imagine such organization or submission to law and regulations!

This is the main hall that would be gorgeous for a wedding reception :)

So, then, after we left my beloved Ellis Island, we had to rush speedy quick back to Times Square for Phantom. It was at a theater called the Majestic. And it was really really pretty. It wasn't as super fancy as I had imagined, though. It was kind of small, and there weren't like crazy bright lights and flashy things. It just looked kind of old and creepily fancy. But I liked it. The show was really good. I could have sang/said every word in it, so when they changed lines slightly, I was very aware, and it actually kind of annoyed me. They threw off the rhythm a bit, you know? And I was not a huge fan of Christine. But I LOVED the Phantom. He was fantastic. He just got better and better and I loved it. By the end of the show I was pretty much his biggest fan, which is exactly how I like it. The Phantom is a great character.
A third pause. I have failed to mention who I was with through all of this joyful adventure. The main group was: Me, Ashley, Tanier, Tyson, Cameron, and Adam. But, for the show, several other boys and girls met up with us. There was a group of maybe 15 of us there for the show, which was great. It's really funny when we group up that big because we are very happy people, and we are very loud. Everybody watches us. :)

Moving on. We decided that we wanted to have dinner at this famous pizza place in Brooklyn. So, we made our way back to the hotels to check in to the new hotel for the night: The W. Somehow how the reservation for 2 nights at Park Central didn't go through, and then they were all filled up, so we had to find another hotel. This all worked our fantastically, though, because The W was the most awesomest hotel I have ever stayed in HANDS DOWN. Everything in the hotel was very modern and artsy and purple and gold. It was beautiful. They had really squooshy couches in the front lobby and free green apples in a pretty bowl on the counter. The apples had a little sticker on them that said, "An apple a day for your W stay." I ate those apples every day. And our room had amazing comforters and pillows and a giant TV. It was very nice. :)

You can push play again. So while we were walking back through Times Square to the hotel after the show, we passed a demonstration that some Marines were doing for Memorial Day weekend. They were doing pull-ups and fake fighting each other and stuff. And there was this SUPER HOT Marine. Ashley took a picture of him very creepily. I don't want to post it on here, because that seems too crazy, but if you want to see this ridiculously good-looking young man you can check out Ashley Anderson's album of NYC on Facebook. And THEN, soon after falling in love with this perfect stranger, we were all walking along and then SPLAT. A bird POOPED ON MY ARM!! Super super super GROSS!!! I whelped and Tanier and Cameron just started peeing their pants laughing at me. I was laughing too, of course, but it was all slimy and nasty. After laughing for like 5 minutes, Cameron was like, "We have to keep going. We'll clean it off when we get back to the hotel." At which I proclaimed (which, interpreted, means "yelled very loudly"), "I am not moving from this spot until this crap is wiped of my arm!!!" And I meant it. A nice man from a hot dog vendor stepped forward with a napkin and wiped it off for me, while, another man who was standing on the corner trying to sell his latest rap CD yelled, "OHH! You got S***ed on!!" He said it like 15 times, and we were all laughing so hard that I am actually surprised that I didn't pee my pants or faint from laughing right there. It was an amazing ab workout. By the way, people stand around and sell random things all over the place. It is SO WEIRD! Men will carry big sheets around and randomly drop them on the sidewalk, spread them out, and sell the purses that the sheet was holding inside. And then, when they see policemen coming, or have simply been in one spot too long, they pick up the sheet and move to another sidewalk. It was a very odd thing.So then, after checking in to our new hotel, we rode the subway to the Brooklyn Bridge, and walked across! This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I loved walking across the bridge. And I totally did cartwheels in the middle. I couldn't help myself. For some odd reason, I felt strong urges to do cartwheels for a large part of the time we were there. I did cartwheels everywhere. When we were in the middle of the bridge, I leaned over the edge and yelled like they do on Newsies. And when someone said that they had never been to Brooklyn, I said, "I spent a month there one night." And also, I said, "Brooklyn is Spot Collins territory. Spot Collins makes me nervous." And then I would shiver. I was totally a Newsie when we were in Brooklyn. And I loved it.On the Brooklyn side, we found the pizza place, but the line was seriously like half a block long. Some of our friends had already been waiting for an hour and a half, they were just barely at the front of the line. So, while Adam, Tyson, and Tanier decided to wait for this pizza place, Cameron and I decided to ditch out and go somewhere else. We walked down to the pier and found an alternate pizza place that was actually really good. Cameron ordered for us like we were hicks from Louisville, Kentucky. I just laughed. I'm pretty sure our waitress wanted to kill us, but we thought we were funny.

After dinner we met one of Cameron's friends from home who recently graduated from NYU. He walked back over the bridge with us and showed us around NYU's campus and Greenwich Village is was really cool to see some local flavor. You know, where the kids our age hang out and what they do. Pretty much they just drink. We went to a really good gelato place, though. :) While in Greenwich, Erik, Ryan, Jeff, Jon, and Matt met up with us. So pretty much, it was me and Tanier (Ashley stayed back at The W to take advantage of the hotel that her father was financing for us) with 9 boys. Those are pretty good odds. And you know what? I loved it. :)

When we got back to midtown it was about midnight, but we took a detour through the Waldorf Astoria hotel (which was right across the street from The W). It was gorgeous. So fancy.

And then, we went to sleep, and that is the end of Day 2. It was a very long day. But is was very, very fun.

P.S. I learned something very important from this Day 2 in New York City: I like Navy and Marine people.