NYC!!!!

We finally finished our crossing and made it to NYC!! I was up before 6am to watch our approach into the harbor. We sailed under the bridge at 6 am or so, then by the statue of Liberty around 6:20. The lights of the city were still on as we approached Manhattan. The front crew deck was packed with other crew, all equally excited to finally be reaching the legendary New York City. Many of my acquaintances were seeing America for the first time in their lives, and it was a very special moment to share with them. After a morning of inspections, immigration, and a coast guard drill, we were finally allowed off the ship around 11:30. I have never seen such a line of crew anxious to get ashore!! I got off with my friends Adrian and Christy, and we were led by our friend Jeremy, who lived in NYC for 4 years. He took us downtown, to the best pizza in New York (so he says, I thought it was awesome, anyway) at a place called Lombardi's. After that we walked around downtown and then to ground zero to see the new construction there. We walked down to Battery park and sat there in a cafe for a while, then took the subway back uptown for our evening's activities.
I was able to meet up with my fried Teal Frost, a friend from my months on the Norwegian Majesty in 2009. She came with us to the Jazz Standard, where we ate dinner at Blue Smoke and got to hear the Mingus Big Band. They were absolutely incredible....my mouth was open a lot. Trombonists Andy Hunter and Conrad Herwig blew my mind and made me want to quit....ha ha. After that amazing set we explored some of the smaller jazz clubs and caught a couple of jam sessions at Small's and club 55. It was such a succesful night!!! We got back on board around 3am. We dragged ourselves out of bed the next day to catch a few more hours in the now-rainy New York before rehearsal. Shopping and food and sightseeing....it was a great time. I was so sorry to leave New York....I feel like I haven't seen a thing, despite having a great couple of days. It would take weeks!!! But I am glad for the 2 days I had.