Today’s trip started off on Wall Street. You know, where the stock exchange is. The security there is pretty crazy, I must say. Just right off the street from the New York Stock Exchange, there were at least 3 marked police cars, one of which was an emergency services team vehicle with assault gear on hand. Just a bit further down in front of a Starbucks was an interesting mechanical roadblock system, controlled by a security booth. When cars want to head out of the financial district, they would go up to the roadblock, which would be moved down by the security guard. It happens again after the car moves up to the other roadblock. I guess it’s all just in case terrorists decide to attack Wall Street.

My dad and his high school classmate’s husband were looking for the Charging Bull sculpture. Apparently there’s some superstition that goes around it where it provides stockbrokers good luck if they rub it in the right places (ie. the testicles). When we finally found it, a block or two off of Wall Street, some Chinese tourists were taking turns having their pictures taken while rubbing the bull. Quite a funny sight if you ask me.

After that, we started to look for Ground Zero, the site of the collapsed World Trade Center buildings due to terrorist activities on September 11, 2001. It is by far one of the most unique memorial sites I have ever seen, considering it’s located inside what is currently a construction site for a new World Trade Center building. It consists of a visitor center (which had a fairly long lineup) and a set of signs on the fence surrounding the construction site along the path to the World Financial Center.

We then went to the World Financial Center for lunch, which consisted of soup and sandwiches, the first instance of non-Chinese food during the entire New York trip.

The original plan was to find our way to Battery Park and catch a ferry to let us see the Statue of Liberty, but the intense heat and the discovery of a Century 21 department store, which my dad’s high school classmate was actually looking for. So some shopping was had.

We then went off to SoHo to check it out. We ended up doing some shopping, then walked over to Chinatown for dinner with my cousin who’s working in New York. It was pretty decent Chinese food, somewhat similar to Vancouver’s Chinese food in taste.

After that, it was time to head home and get ready for tomorrow.