To say that Rachael is unique dog is the understatement of the year. Rachael can be a brat, a sweetheart, and just plain crazy. Needless to say this is one of those crazy moments. We have a rather large plecostomus fish which Rachael has developed a love hate relationship with. After watching the video you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.
September 11th was one of those days that will never leave your mind, it’s etched into memory like a first kiss, wedding day, or death of a loved one. They’re not all bad memories; in the depths of the heartache and pain rose hundreds of stories of heroism and love. This was one of those events that affected everyone who witnessed it but unless you lived through it I’m sure it would be impossible to understand just how bad it was. I was living with my parents in California at the time. My mother rushed into my room to wake me up with the following words, “the world trade center has been hit by an airplane.” Thinking about it right now gives me chills.
For a 21 year old who had no idea what the world trade centers were, my life has never been quite the same since. It’s not too much to ask to take a few minutes each year to remember those who were lost, those who rose from the ashes to motivate and inspire, and equally as important, reflect on yourself and who you were before and after that fateful day.
Sure our vacation was about getting away, having a great time with friends, but for Crystal and me it was also about remembering what happened. We visited Ground Zero on our first trip to New York last year and did so again on this visit. However, we failed to find the Ground Zero Memorial workshop on our first visit but with the help of Dennis had no problem finding it this time around. Out of all the things we had on our list to do while in New York this was by far the one thing Crystal wanted to follow through on.
It’s actually a very fascinating back story behind the Ground Zero Memorial Workshop. The museum is filled with photographs taken by the museums owner Gary Marlon Suson as well as artifacts from ground zero. Mr. Suson was asked to document the recovery efforts by the Fire Fighters union and was the only photographer allowed at Ground Zero. It’s not my place to document every ounce of the museum or it’s back story but I will say it is something everyone should witness at least once. A large majority of the images have numbers that correlate to an audio track on their electronic media player that tells a back story to each object. The museum is small in size, it’s basically a studio apartment but as they say it’s the “smallest big museum in New York.” Don’t let it’s size fool you, there is a lot of images, stories, and artifacts.
A couple of my favorite artifacts was the glass from the World Trade Center, a portion of one of the American Airlines fuselages that hit the twin tower(we were politely asked not to to take pictures of the fuselage which we respectfully obliged), and several crosses and Stars of David cut out of the steel beams from Ground Zero. I could tell you the whole back story behind the glass, fuselage, and crosses but I’ll let you visit the Museum on your own so you can experience it first hand.
After an emotional visit to the museum we headed back to the apartment where Dennis fixed some delicious pork chops, fresh vegetables, and fresh salad. Of course we toasted our last night in New York with some good wine and some great company including discussions ranging from Asian’s having shorter intestines to vegetarian having better smelling gas. We had a wonderful trip and are very thankful to Dennis and Yuki for hosting us and being so generous with their time and money. Crystal and I are looking forward to returning the generosity when Dennis and Yuki make it out our way for a visit.
Day three shall be known as a lazy day, we all got a very late start. More than likely from the amount of walking and staying up so late visiting. Either way we made the best out of the day and Dennis treated Crystal and I to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, seeing New York City from that view is simply breathtaking. As you can probably tell from the picture of Crystal and me, it was extremely windy and cold outside but well worth it to witness the views in this elevated, panaramic fashion.
After soaking the scenery in for about an hour we headed back towards Brooklyn to meet up with Yuki to grab some dinner. We went to a pizza resturaunt, Fornino. The menu was a bit much for country folk like Crystal and I but we knew we were in for a treat with the aroma of delicious pizza cascading through the resturaunt. I’m assuming we visited Fornino during a non-peak time because it seemed they had more staff sitting/standing around than actually working. Our waitress was nice but only checked in on us once in between delivering the food and delivering the bill. One thing that is a sure fire way to irritate Crystal and myself is to let our diet coke run dry.
[singlepic id=63 w=120 h=100 float=right]Overlooking the lack of personal attention, the pizza was delicious. The four cheese pizza was almost too much, even for a cheese fanatic like myself. I bet they could market the four cheese pizza as an over the counter laxitive. Dennis and Yuki ordered a combination pizza that featured fennel sausage, cherry tomatoes, spinache, and more. I tried a piece of that and it was a bit spicy but overal was quite tasty. Not being a fan of tomatoes I was very surprised to find that I actually liked the cherry tomatoes on their pizza. Overal, day three wasn’t as action packed as the first two days but we had a wonderful time and it was probably a much needed break from the busy, non-stop couple of days we had prior.
Our second day in Brooklyn started out with an amazing breakfast at Brooklyn Label. Despite the 30 minute wait in a crowded entrance and strange debris constantly falling from the ceiling the food was good enough to overlook the negatives. Crystal had a monster cast iron waffle while I had their very unique French toast which was delicious.
Unfortunately the buzz we got from a great meal was quickly spoiled when we arrived back at the apartment. As we were about to head back into the apartment to freshen up I asked Dennis, “What’s that note on my car?” His reply, “oh shit you got a parking ticket” was all I needed to hear. It’s still annoying me as I write this post. The ticket states that I was parked three feet from the fire hydrant; I’ll let you be the judge.
After I had about a twenty minute breather we all jumped on the subway and headed towards Dylans Candy Bar which was a destination recommended to us by Crystals brother. This place quite honestly makes an adult feel like a kid in a candy store, literally. The prices are a bit high but then again it is New York we’re talking about here. Dylans consists of three different levels of candy, candy, and more candy with a candy bar on the top level. Still feeling the sting of receiving a $115 parking ticket we only spent about $25 dollars but if we had the money it would have been easy to leave with a $100+ of candy in our possession.
Here’s an great interview with the founder of Dylan Candy Bar.
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