The Ingle Family: NYC Day 2

Day 2! My favorite day! We packed SO MUCH into this day and I wish I could relive it over and over and over again.

I had bought tickets for us to go up to the top of the Freedom Tower (One World Observatory) at 10 am on Friday morning, which is all the way down town. We slept in until 8:30 (and loved it) but it didn't leave us enough time to walk there. We grabbed some coffee at Duncan Donuts and hopped on the subway, which left us enough time to get more coffee and bagels downtown. We found a little cafe/diner that apparently was a FDNY/Construction worker hangout. Literally every single person in there had a hard hat or uniform on.

Snapped this on our way into the Freedom Tower.

This picture had a filter on it, but it was truly the most beautiful day in the city! Cold, but not too cold, and so clear!

We were immediately impressed when we walked into the building. Everyone was so friendly - you can tell they want to provide you with a welcoming experience. They are truly celebrating the city and what has happened and how they are overcoming it all.

After we checked in (complete with a full airport-style security screening) there is a big massive screen that shows a map of the world, and as each person is getting their ticket scanned, a dot shows up showing where that person if from. So cool.

Next we took the Sky Pod elevators up and I'm so glad I got a video of it!

The doors open up to the most incredible views.

They also had iPads available for rent that had custom mapping technology on each that would move around with you as you walked around the building. It basically showed you a picture of what you were seeing out the windows, and then allowed you to click on and learn what each building was and it showed a video of it's history. We didn't get them ourselves, but we should have.

After spending a good amount of time up there, we headed back down for more coffee before our next destination: The 9/11 Memorial Museum. It was a somber experience to say the least, but we are both so glad we went. They did SUCH a good job with memorializing each and every person who lost their lives on 9/11 (and also those from the 1993 bombing).

Our next mission for the day was to make our way to the West Village to get pizza at Joe's Pizza. It was a bit of a trek from downtown, but totally worth it.

But before we even left downtown, we randomly happened to walk RIGHT BY Trinity Church, (where Alexander Hamilton is buried) and RIGHT by his grave. I couldn't believe it, actually. On the same day we were seeing Hamilton on Broadway, it was so crazy to me that his happened by accident.

Next up was pizza - and it was just as good as Greg had told me it would be.

We ate it in the park across the street.

As we made our way back to our hotel (which was a long ways), we strolled through Washington Square Park:

After naps and showers, we were ready to head out for the whole reason we were in the city in the first place: HAMILTON. As we walked to grab a bite to eat first, I must have checked my pockets a hundred times. I was SO SCARED I was going to lose a ticket! Serious anxiety, haha.

We stopped at Urbanspace Vanderbilt and I got a fish sandwich. Greg got a gyro.

And then it was time:

We had to wait outside the doors in line for awhile. I stood up on the top step looking around to see if I would spot any of the actors on their way into the theater. (I did: Daveed Diggs aka Thomas Jefferson).

Inside the theater, we headed to our seats. When I bought them, I really was buying the best seats I could with what was left. (The show is now completely sold out for the next year, I hear). Our seats were in the 3rd row of the front mezzanine, so I wasn't entirely sure how close we would be. But luckily, the theater is SO small and our seats were SO good! I could see every facial expression.

And amazingly, the ENTIRE original cast was in the show that night. I had been wondering/worrying that one or two would be on vacation or sick (unnecessarily, as I'm sure the understudies are fantastic). I was particularly concerned that the writer/composer/star, Lin-Manuel Miranda, would be out for some reason, as I was so excited to see him in particular - but he was there, and it was wonderful.

With our wine sippy cups, waiting for the show to start! It took me nearly the entire show to drink my 1 glass of wine. I don't know if I blinked the entire time they were on ;)