Trip to New York City--part 3

Friday, July 26th - NYC

We took an early subway and ferry past the Statue of Liberty to Ellis Island where we spent

The family with the Statue of Liberty

most of the day.  It is a fascinating place to see where immigrants landed and were examined carefully before they were allowed in the country. If you were not healthy enough, you were given a return ticket to your homeland. The large hall where they waited to talk to the Registrar and to begin the inspection process was intimidating. Later Dirk and I got time on a computer to find our ancestors. Dirk found his easily, but my only ancestor who might have come

Ellis Island

through Ellis Island was Kristine Amalia Mortensen who came in April of 1907, but I could find no record of her. When I got back to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, I found her immigration record—she came in through Boston, not New York. showed her correct age, that she was traveling from Denmark to Brigham, Utah where she would meet her brother, Peter Hendrickson. I was excited to see the record because no one else had located it before.

Not a big deal if it is not airconditioned, and you are in the bottom
especially during rush hour traffic

We got a Hop-On/Hop-Off pass there at Ellis Island, but it was brutally hot and the bus that came had no seats below and no air conditioning, so we roasted as we traveled through traffic back to the closest stop to our hotel available due to rush-hour traffic blocking.

You would think we would give up on the Hop-On Hop-Off tours, but most of the family took a nighttime tour on them to Brooklyn and back.

Saturday, July 27, 2019: NYC

Trinity Church on 1 Wallstreet

We visited Times Square and then the VanderMeydens saw a matinee of “Waitress” on Broadway.

I took the Hop on-hop off bus to lower Manhattan where I got off at Trinity Church, where Wall Street begins. This church (which was under massive reconstruction) is where Ed’s Dutch ancestors had rented the land for the Church before the Revolutionary War. After the war, there was a dispute about ownership and Ed’s ancestors lost the land which even six generations later would be unbelievably expensive.

I then took the Hop on/Hop off bus to upper Manhattan where I saw Central Park, and many other noted places. I know many people think Hop On/Hop Off buses are a cop-out, but Ed and I have gone on them all over the world, and I think they can give you an overview of a city, as well as a chance to stop at various places and then get on and continue the tour.

Frozen the play

That night Jenni, Dirk, James and I saw “Frozen” and Athena and Emma went to “Mean Girls” on Broadway. I was disappointed a bit in “Frozen” as it appeared to be an excuse to make a Broadway show from the film. Most of the music was new, however, and I especially liked the song “Hygga” about the Scandinavian word for good things.

SUNDAY, JULY 28, 2019: NYC

Family at the Manhattan Church Building

We got up early and took the subway to the Manhattan building where Church meetings and the Temple are. We enjoyed Sacrament Meeting, visited with Jenni’s friends from Layton before we walked around and got something to eat and headed toward the Natural History Museum friends from Layton.

Me and the metro system 

Jenni & I

Now, I must admit I struggled walking 10,000 to 20,000 steps a day during our time in New York, especially since my right knee rebuild was less than five months past and I’d torn my left rotator cuff the week before. Jenni got to be my assistant and would help me go slower. This time, I suggested taking the subway to the Natural History Museum, while the rest walked (or as it appeared to me, double-timed). Well, Jenni and I got on the wrong train, then the stop we needed to get out on was blocked for repair, Jenni and I got off, two stops from when we’d gotten on. ONLY, the train hadn’t gone parallel to the direction of the museum, but at a left angle, so we were fortunate to have gotten off when we did, or we would have been further away from the museum than we already were! They called us to ask us where we were, and we were trekking along the long blocks New York is famous for, instead of the short blocks that are easy. Dirk came to meet us, and we finally arrived at the museum a long time after everyone else had.

The Museum, which is the site of “Night of the Museum” movies, is a fabulous place, but I was overwhelmed and overtired. The rest zipped through all of the Museum afraid to miss a thing while I took my time and enjoyed the exhibits that I did see, before heading back to the entrance before it closed.

You’d think with the day I had had, I would have been too tired, but Jenni and I took the Hop On/Hop Off night tour which was really a delight.

MONDAY, JULY 29, 2019: 9-11 Museum & home.

Our family outside  9-11 Museum

We checked out of our hotel but stored our luggage there before we headed out to what I thought was a real highlight of our trip—the 9-11 Memorial, commemorating the day in September 2002 when terrorists fly planes into the Twin Towers buildings in Manhattan. There is the outer memorial, a footprint of the one tower which is now a pool, with names of the deceased on a frame around the water. You could see where people had placed flowers on the names of loved ones for their birthdays, or other reasons. It was very humbling.

Inside the Museum, it was exhibit after exhibit showing that famous day and things affected

Painting of 9-11

by the attack. The neatest exhibit was one where you couldn’t take photos but it chronologized that infamous day! I felt as I did when I visited Gettysburg battlefield or the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Germany—overcome with sorrow at the loss of life.

We went back to the hotel and picked up our bags to go to JFK Airport. I was extremely tired, so I paid for Jenni and me to take the hotel shuttle to the airport, while the rest of the family took the by-then familiar subway. What a mistake that was!

The shuttle made one stop at the airport and then called for all individuals going to the 2^nd Terminal to get out. If he’d added, go upside and take the AirTran to the Delta Terminal, we’d have

Our walk from terminal to terminal

been fine, but he had just dropped us off at the 4^th terminal and left us there on the sidewalk. We began our infinitely long walk along the outside of the terminals (which are not close together) to get to the right terminal, with our bags. Athena kept calling to find out where we were since they were there waiting! Finally, when we arrived at the terminal, Athena was waiting with a wheelchair and we zipped through security (since we had a TSA pre-check). It was an amazingly short walk from the security to our gate, but I appreciated the break I’d had after my long walk. I still feel embarrassed to have had a wheelchair there in the terminal.

Looking back, I really think I should have had a sign on my head, saying, “GPS needed; she always gets lost,” because I swear if there were two ways to go anywhere—I’d take the long way. Even when I got on the subway when I was by myself, I headed to Brooklyn instead of Times Square, until someone set me right. But I must admit, I got my steps in walking in the city.

The other thing I disliked about New York City was that it was humid that no matter what I

The only good shot of my hair in New York--at the Temple

did with my hair, it stayed straight and limp.

We had a late flight home, but I had a window seat, so I watched as the big cities below, lit up with lights, paraded before my eyes. I did see several movies on the plane, including “Peterloo,” based on the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 in England when the aristocratic leaders of England thought the public meeting in Lancashire was the beginning of the

A scene from my plan window

masses revolting like the French for a new England. Of course, it wasn’t but men, women, and children died for the fears of the aristocrats. I had read a lot about it, so it was interesting, though I don’t know how truthful.

We finally arrived back home where Emma’s boyfriend’s family met us and drove us home. It was a fun trip—with variation from Church sites to Baseball Museums to Vermont (where we got maple syrup) to a historical family home, and lots of NYC.