Amazing New York City - Day 2 - Lordy, Lordy look who's 40

At 6:48 a.m. I offically turned 40! I woke up to an overcast morning, but a day of adventure ahead. I was able to rustle Dennis awake by around 9:30 a.m. and we were up and off. We decided to take the subway downtown to Ground Zero and work our way back uptown. I was expecting Ground Zero to be a somber site for me as I remember 9/11 so vividly. However, with all of the construction and people, it was very hard to find a quiet place or a quiet moment. I will be happy when construction for the memorial is done and people can find some peace to reflect on what actually happened there and the lives that were lost.

From there we made our way down to the Statue of Liberty via Wall Street. The sun finally broke through after a few showers at the pier. We decided to stop for a bite to eat and had the biggest sandwich we have ever seen! Luckily, we wanted to save room for our dinner before the show and asked to split the "Woody Allen". It was 1 1/2 pounds of corned beef and pastrami and two little bitty slices of bread :-) The Carnegie Deli was definitely a highlight on our list of places to visit today.

A little more sightseeing like Central Park and Tiffanys, of course, and then back to the hotel to get ready for the show. We had reservations at 6:00 p.m. for the View restaurant at our hotel on the 48th floor. It is a rotating restaurant with 360 views of New York City - wow! The meal was a pre-theater prix fixe menu and we were out the door by 7:15 p.m. "Wicked" here we come... we walked to the Gershwin Theater which was about 6 blocks away and were ready to take our seats by 7:40 p.m. Honestly it was above and beyond expectation. We loved it!!! Dennis was along for the ride to indulge my love of the Wizard of Oz and musicals and celebrate my birthday, of course; he was quite pleased that he actually enjoyed it as much as me :) We went to Roxy's Deli for a post theater dessert - a birthday brownie was my choice - and it was delicious. We were back at the Marriott with still a few birthday minutes to spare. I had a remarkable day today from top to bottom. Thank you so much Dennis for always encouraging and supporting my dreams and desires and still believing I am 22!!!!!