NYC Pics Aplenty!

OK, at long last here are the promised pics. There are a ton of them, so I'm doing some in this post and the rest in another post.

I'll start with the Times Square pics that Blogger wouldn't let me post the other day. First up is an M&M ad that was sort of memorable.

This is a classic tourist view of Times Square, including the Virgin Megastore, where we shopped for touristy things including a t-shirt featuring a map of the Manhattan subway system.

I think hubby was standing in roughly the same spot, facing the other direction for this shot. The number of lights and ads in that area is just insane.

On Monday, March 3, hubby and I went walking around all over the far southern end of Manhattan. We started near Ground Zero, where Robert took this pic of the sphere that used to be in the World Trade Center plaza. We remembered it -- the last time we were in NYC, we stood on the WTC -- six weeks and a day before it came down. September 11th was pretty sobering for us, of course.

These yahoos were posing with tourists. There were actually three of them, but it was hard to get all three in the picture. Naturally, they were yelling at us for taking a picture and not giving them money. Ah, America!

The REAL statue -- much more dignified, don't you think?

There's also a monument in that area that I don't remember seeing before. This is what it's for.

This is that plaque in context.

This is the entire monument (actually, we may be missing one of the pillars; again, it was hard to get the entire thing in one picture). The eagle statue is in the center of the picture, which should give you an idea of scale, as should the people walking around.

This is Ground Zero, a.k.a. a giant hole in the ground right now. They're working on construction. This pic was taken from the second story of a Burger King, which is about the best view into the pit that you can find. See the covered wagon looking thing? The next pic was taken over there. That is the entrance into the subway station that used to be under the WTC.

So under the covered wagon, there are brochures, a list of the people who died on September 11, and the plan for the area, which is what is in this shot.

After we finished near Ground Zero, we walked a bit. This is apparently City Hall, which is (perhaps not coincidentally) in City Hall Park. Apparently you'd be intimately familiar with this if you watch "Law and Order," which I don't.

I wanted a pic of the glass staircase in the Apple store in Soho. Apparently the employees don't take kindly to picture taking in their store, as you can see from the expression on the gentleman on the left.

And last but not least, if you park anywhere in the country other than Manhattan or maybe San Francisco, this will just blow your mind. This is how parking is done all over the city -- they even stack 'em three and four tall in places. This isn't even a garage; it's just a parking lot. Makes me appreciate my two-car garage!