Wednesday, March 28th: 9/11 Memorial & Travel Home

Sadly today it was time to say farewell to the Big Apple & travel home to the West Coast.

First though there was time for one more visit - to the site of the 9/11 attacks, now home to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

After a morning transfer from our hotel we arrived in time to visit the outdoor memorial plaza first, with the 'footprints' of the twin towers providing a sombre focus as we contemplated the name lists, the 'Survivor Tree' & more.

Next we entered the Museum, opened just a couple of years ago.  We had around 90 minutes to explore the museum in small groups. Although it's not a 'fun' visit the students did apple to appreciate it & so it was a meaningful end to our time in The Big Apple.

From Downtown Manhattan we traveled back to New Jersey, arriving at Newark Airport with lots of time & a very quiet check-in desk so we were able to check-in smoothly & efficiently.

Then it was time to say goodbye  :(

We had a fun time in New York City this week - seeing so many iconic sights, traveling around the city how the locals do, eating a variety of cuisines, etc.  But most importantly the trip was highly educational.  We discovered New York's amazing history - from learning about its original native peoples to explorers & rival colonial powers, & the arrival of different ethnic communities including impoverished immigrants.  We learned about the way the city has changed, the gradual expansion of the city northwards from its original Dutch settlement to the Uptown neighborhoods around Central Park, & more recently the 'cleaning-up' of the city & then the devastation of 9/11.  

Postscript:

Rumor has it that this may be the last ever trip Mr. & Mrs. Duffy lead.

On behalf of an entire generation of Guajome students a huge THANK YOU goes out to the Duffys for so tirelessly recruiting, organizing, & leading so many student groups over the years.   

Personally, it's been an absolute pleasure for me to work with them for so many years & with so many GPA students, parents, & faculty.

Declan

Tuesday, March 27th: Independence & New York's Diverse Communities

Today we continued our discovery of New York's history in Downtown Manhattan.
Our first visit was to Federal Hall on Wall Street, once the city's Custom House & later the site of George Washington's inauguration.  There we had a short talk from a park service ranger & viewed the building.
Next we walked over to one of the city's newest architectural wonders, the Oculus, center of the World Trade Center hub.  There was time for a relaxed lunch before we walked to the edge of the Hudson River to see the Irish Hunger Memorial.
We walked along the Hudson to get to our next destination, the National Museum of the American Indian, were we were able to learn about the great diversity of indigenous peoples & how the Native Americans who lived in the New York area before the first Europeans arrived were unlike the stereotypical Native Americans of the Great Plains.
Afterward we rode the Subway to Times Square where we had a pizza/salad buffet dinner & a little more free time before we spent the evening in a Broadway theatre as we enjoyed our excellent musical, the Rogers & Hammerstein classic, Carousel.
The show was spectacular in every way, with great singing/dancing/acting - a very enjoyable show & a great way to end our day.

Tuesday, March 26th: City of Immigration - The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, The High Line, the Tenement Museum, & Chinatown

Today we had a great day packed with sightseeing mostly focused on the Immigrant Experience that is so central to New York's history & character.

We began the day with a short drive to nearby Liberty State Park in New Jersey.  This was our departure point for the ferry to Ellis Island & then to Liberty Island.

On Liberty Island we came face-to-face with the iconic figure that greeted the generations of immigrants who arrived in the USA in New York.  And at Ellis Island we learned more about the experience of those 'huddled masses' as they arrived in the 'New World' through this gateway.

After arriving back on Manhattan we rode the New York subway to 'the Meatpacking District' where we had time for lunch at the hip, new Gansevoort Market.

Chelsea marks the beginning point of the High Line, the city's newest 'city park', built on an elevated railroad over the streets!  We walked part of the High Line, then walked to the nearest direct Subway line to the Lower East Side.

The Lower East Side is known as the original home for many of New York's immigrant communities, & our visit to the excellent Tenement Museum, complete with a living history encounter with a young immigrant girl in the early 1900s helped understand the live that many lived when they arrived.

We walked through Little Italy to Chinatown where we had a little free time before our Chinatown dinner.

Finally we met our bus for the drive back to our hotel, at the end of another great day.

Sunday, March 25th: Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn, & Times Square!

Today our travels will take us all over the city, including Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn, & Times Square!
After riding the shuttle bus into the city this morning we began our sightseeing with a visit to Times Square.  The students were excited to see the 'big city lights' & Duffy Square!  We'll be spending more time here later today.
After walking across Midtown to Grand Central Terminal we rode the Subway for the first time, taking the Express train to to the Upper East Side & the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
We spent over 2 hours at 'The Met', allowing the students to split into smaller groups to visit the collections of their choice.  Whilst wandering around the museum I met students visiting the Chinese, Arms & Armor, Egyptian, Greek, & European Painting collections.
From the Met we rode the subway all the way, under the East River, to Brooklyn so that we could walk back across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan.  
Even though it was pretty chilly as we walked across the bridge we enjoyed the great views of Manhattan's skyline, full of skyscrapers.  
Next we rode the subway again, this time heading back 'Uptown', to the Times Square area.  
We had a great dinner at Hurley's Irish Saloon, then the students were set loose for 30 minutes in Times Square, to see the lights, shop for souvenirs, etc before we boarded our bus for the short drive to our hotel at the end of another great day.

Saturday, March 24th: Welcome to The Big Apple

The group arrived into New Jersey's Newark Airport safely & a few minutes early this morning.

After meeting with their tour leader Declan everyone boarded the bus to begin our adventure.

We made a short stop at our hotel, with time for a quick breakfast, then rebounded our bus for the short drive to nearby Hoboken, birthplace of Frank Sinatra & home to Carlo's Bake Shop, the original bakery of TV's 'Cake Boss'.  We visited the store & purchased baked goodies - some for immediate consumption, some perhaps to take home (I wonder if any will make it...).

Then we headed into New York in to begin our sightseeing with a relaxed 'walking tour' through Central Park, including seeing Sheep Meadow, the Carousel & Chess House, the Dairy, & the Ice Rink.  Being a sunny Saturday morning there were lots of joggers, cyclists, & other users in the park, as well as plenty of tourists.

Next we headed south, down Fifth Avenue, seeing Grand Army Plaza with the Plaza Hotel & the Apple Store, Trump Tower, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Rockefeller Center, the New York Public Library & Bryant Park, & finally Grand Central Terminal.  Along the way we stopped for lunch & even saw the New York 'March for Our Lives'. 

Our final visit of the day was to the Empire State Building, with a visit to the Observation Deck on the 86th floor!  With such great weather the views over Manhattan & further into the distance were fantastic!  

Afterwards we had our first group dinner, in the Empire State Building itself, before leaving Manhattan for our hotel at the end of a long but successful day.