Saturday morning we took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty. FYI for anyone who has not been there since 9-11-01, prepare to feel robbed of your liberty upon entering. You have to go through security twice before you can even go to the museum at the base of the statue. The first time is before you board the ferry, and then you have to go through it again after you arrive at Liberty Island before you can enter the base of the statue. (There were no tickets available for the climb to the crown on Sat.) It was worse than airport security. You had to completely empty your pockets, no liquids were allowed, and I even had a park ranger give me trouble about taking my camera bag inside - because it is a backpack style camera bag. No backpacks allowed. I rolled my eyes at her and she gave in. Thank goodness. I wouldn't have gotten irritated about it if it hadn't been for the fact that they allowed women to take in these gigantic purses that a couple small kids could fit into. If they don't want people to take backpacks inside, then they should not allow giant purses either. Next time I will just take a giant purse to put my backpack style camera bag into. HA!
The ferry ride was nice. The weather was great, but we both got a bit of windburn from standing at the bow of the boat.
After we got back from the Statue, we walked to Ground Zero. The memorial is still under construction, and will not be finished for quiet some time from the way things looked. The fire station that first responded to the emergency is located right across the street from where the Twin Towers once stood. There were a couple of long plaques on the exterior of the fire station. There one pictured read "Dedicated to those who fell and to those who carried on." There was a poster that had a photo of each firefighter who died in the rescue efforts, and there was a small place for people to leave flowers.
Saturday night we went to see "Wicked." It was a great show. The music was well done and the costumes were fantastic. The picture below was taken in the lobby of the theater. 
Sunday afternoon we went to a Yankee's/Red Sox game. It was rainy, and the game was delayed for about 1 hour. It was nice to see the new stadium. I liked the architecture, but Busch and Wrigley are still the best to us. The Yankee's won the game, and thus their division. It was also their 100th win of the year. The heckling between the Yanks and Sox fans was way more intense than anything I have experienced at Cards/Cubs at either Busch or Wrigley. If I had to listen to that kind of trash talk during the games, I don't think I'd go to Cubs games at Busch.
Sunday night we went to Madame Tussoud's Wax museum. It was James' idea, and I will admit that I was not fired up about going. I mean, it's a wax museum. . .I'm glad we went. We both had fun. Unlike other wax museums we'd been to, you could touch the models and pose for pics with them. There were models of celebrities, presidents, foreign heads of state, professional athletes, musicians, and even Sponge Bob Square Pants. There's James below doing what all of us Microsoft users would like to do - giving Bill Gates a piece of his mind.
Monday we went to the Museum of Modern Art. James didn't really want to go until he found out that they had Van Gogh's Starry Night there. They also had some of Salvador Dali's work, and Picasso, Monet, Warhol and Jackson Pollock. We spent at least two hours there and we still didn't see everything they had. This pic was taken in their outdoor sculpture garden.
After we left the MoMA, we walked about the square at Rockefeller Center. I loved seeing all the flags. It was so colorful!
We walked around the outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral. We didn't have time for a tour. It is a beautiful church.
For lunch, we went to the Hello Deli. It's a little place that Letterman helped put on the map. The owner, Rupert, who has appeared on the Late Show a number of times, was running the register and taking orders. 
After lunch we went to the Guggenheim. I was really impressed with the building. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The opening scene of "Men in Black" was shot there, and that kept playing in my head the whole time we were there. HA. Most of the museum was showing the work of one artist, and neither of us were enthralled with his work, so we didn't stay there too long. Their permanent collection did have some famous piece from Degas, Picasso, Renoir, and Van Gogh.
Tuesday was our last day in NYC. We were able to squeeze in some sightseeing before we had to go to the airport. We went to the NYC library. There is a Gutenberg Bible on display - that's what James is standing next too.
Our finally stop was a tour of Radiocity Music Hall. Our tour guide was great. He had been working there for 12 years, and he loved his job through and through. We got to meet a Rockette.
Our flight home was interesting. We flew from NYC to Baltimore then to STL. When we got to our gate in Baltimore, I noticed that were were a lot of people in wheelchairs waiting to board. I pointed it out to James, because it was unusual. It turns out they were all World War II veterans from the STL area who had been in DC to visit the monuments and to see the sights. They got a round of applause on the plane, and when we landed in STL, there were 4 firetrucks there to do a water salute. 
There was a welcoming party inside the airport along with a local news station.
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