new york city - day five

thursday morning we left around ten again and headed toward ground zero and to the seaport. there we got some great shots of the brooklyn bridge.





next we took the staton island ferry (for FREE!) so that we could get some good shots of the statue of liberty and the skyline, without actually having to pay to go
to the statue of liberty. it was thirty minutes there and back. on the way back we braved the back of the ferry in the freezing cold in order to get better pictures!








from there we headed to little italy for lunch at a tiny place tucked away. real italian food! i had contacted a cousin of mine earlier that morning and we planned to meet him at his apartment. my cousin, carter, is a reporter for the stock exchange every morning on cnn, and he is married to courtney friel who works on the entertainment side of fox news. needless to say, seeing their apartment was a treat! it was only a block from times square and spacious for a ny apartment! these are the views from his balcony:






carter took us to a bar called the joshua tree, where we stayed for two hours in the afternoon! we were floored when he picked up the tab - and very grateful!



from carter we went to the empire state building! we have NEVER been SO COLD before. it was freezing and the amount of wind was RIDICULOUS. we were on the 86th floor and got these fun pictures!







that night we did the touristy stuff a little more and shopped in the tacky 'i heart ny' stores in times square. we went to m&m world and the virgin records closing sale. we just kinda took it slow for our last night. we were so exhausted! we grabbed dinner and took it back to the hotel to wrap up the evening. that was our last full day in ny!