December 13 Downtown Manhattan

We started our day with a photo shoot at the Marcy Avenue station on the J/M/Z line just over the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn.

As you can see, this isn't exactly the glamour spot of NYC. And yes, that is the world famous Peter Luger Steakhouse in the background. But since my sister in law is named Marcy, it was the perfect spot to take some pictures of her. It was the least we could do since she had to put up with two Ott boys for the past few days. I hope you like them Marcy.

This last one was on the street under the elevated station. It was kind of like Times Square, 42nd & Broadway except it was Marcy & Broadway...Marcy Square. So off we went back into Manhattan to spend our day in my favorite part of the city, lower Manhattan also known as downtown. Our search for some lunch landed us in Chinatown, took us through little Italy, where I sadly have to report that Umberto's Clam House is no more. The place where Crazy Joe Gallo was whacked is gone. Yes I know the hit actually took place at the original Umberto's location down the street but so what, it still makes for a sad story...the closing not the mafia killing. Anyway, we ended up having a slice of pizza at L'asso on Mott Street. The pizza was pretty good but I was thrilled to be able to take some pictures of the pizzas being made the best way possible...by hand in a real brick oven...the D.O.C. way.

Then we headed down to Wall Street so Marcy could see the New York Stock Exchange.

This is the street in front of the NYSE. The building has a huge FEDEX banner across the front. FedEx is the sponsor of the Christmas tree too. So we wandered around the oldest part of NYC to see the contrast of the old stone buildings against the giant skyscrapers that prevent sun light from ever hitting the streets down here.

 Geo & Marcy standing on the steps of Federal Hall where George Washington was inaugurated as our first president. This is across the street from the NYSE.

After wandering the crazy maze of streets down here we ended up at the World Trade Center site, where there is construction on several different buildings taking place. 

 This is WTC Tower 1, the main building that will be 1776 feet when completed. It is now about 52 stories.

This is WTC Tower 4, just to the west of this will be the memorial site at the exact location of the original Twin Towers. We stopped at St. Paul's Chapel to pay our respects to those that perished on 9/11.

 The Chapel was a refuge for those that volunteered to search for the missing in those days after the attack. It also became a shrine for the missing and a place for people to leave messages of hope and thanks. They have a very moving tribute inside the Chapel that is worth a visit.

This is the graveyard at St. Paul's. You can see the WTC construction cranes in the background.

 A few shots taken while walking around the city.

We did take a quick walk through Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty but it was bitterly cold & very windy down there. So we headed for the shelter of tall buildings and narrow streets. We stopped at the Aqua Grill for oysters and an amazing bowl of French Mussel Soup.

I stole the oyster picture from Geo's FB page.

 While everyone shopped at Vosges Chocolates, I amused myself by attempting a self portrait in their mirrors.

We continued eastbound in search of a place for dinner. This took us down some very cool cobblestone streets where we checked out a few art galleries and Lola Starr's Coney Island Boutique.

 Our night ended with Lovely Day, a Thai place where we shared a bunch of different plates.