NEW YORK {part 4: the city..again}

at last, here it is. the Grand Finale section of these vacation posts. after this post, I can start blogging about....other things! and by other things I mean tennis. since I've been back from vacation, everyone's been asking me, "are you excited to go back to school?" and I say, "well, I haven't seen my friends for a while. but I'm really excited for tennis season." and then they're just like, "oh yeah, you're quite the tennis player. have you done anything else this summer?" and I reply, "well, I did go to New York City, Palmyra, Niagara Falls, and Philadelphia."

to pick up from where I left off, we headed back to New York City. but for most of the day, we were actually in New Jersey. I've lived a pretty good 16 years and until now, I didn't know that the Statue of Liberty is actually in New Jersey. (sorry to burst your bubble, folks.) we went to Liberty State Park (in New Jersey) and took a ferry to Ellis Island (also in New Jersey). but we had a great view of New York.

 the classic "Mama Castle's white sunglasses and closed eyes Merm" shot

 again, my eyes are closed. Justin looks pretty good, and Wesley is making a normal face for once.

 the Immigration Museum. this place is where all the immigrants to the United States would go before they could live here. now, it has been converted into a museum all about immigration. it tells different stories about how people would immigrate to the US and what they would have to go through. it was a huge sacrifice for them, to leave their home country and come to a new country with a different language, different food, different lifestyle, and a completely different culture. having lived in a foreign country, I know how hard it is. but it must be harder to have to leave everything permanently. it was very interesting to learn all about immigration.

 the audio tour guides have made a return. one of the many highlights from England.

we took another ferry to the Statue of Liberty (which is also in New Jersey). Justin announces as soon as our boat is docked, "the Statue of Liberty is a gift from Fronce, right?" another thing I had no idea about. my brothers are getting smarter than I am. we only went to the pedestal, but we still had a great view of New York (and New Jersey). inside the pedestal, there was a museum where we learned how the statue was made. Justin was right; it indeed was a gift from France (or "Fronce" as Justin says. who knows why he does that. when we watched the World Cup, he was cheering for Fronce, he wants to go to Fronce, he calls my tennis coach "Froncis"...it's pretty funny.) During the French Revolution, France thought that if they gave us a present to symbolize liberty, then it would show France that they should get liberty too. so, the statue was designed in France (the guy who built the Eiffel Tower even helped with that), built in France, taken apart in France, shipped to America, and rebuilt in America. I swear, this blog could turn into a History Fact Blog. but much more interesting than a history textbook. 

after the Statue of Liberty, we drove our rental car to Guttenberg, New Jersey. we learned from London that our family does much better when we rent apartments than staying in hotels. I love hotels, until you try to cram all 5 of us in 1 room. apartments are a lot more spacious, and they have their own kitchen so that's a plus. we rented from a small Chilean man named Victor, and it was a great deal. only a 20 minute bus ride away from Manhattan, which was close compared to everything else we did on this trip! and we got an amazing view of the city from where we were staying. after getting settled and making dinner, we took the bus to Manhattan. (so I guess we thought we were in New York City all day, but in reality, we weren't in the city until the evening.) we walked around Time Square, and it is nuts. lights everywhere, people dressed up in costumes, so many shops, theaters.....it's crazy. I don't know if I could live there, because the traffic is crazy!

of course, we got one by my favorite store. not so much Justin's.

we got all excited when we saw all the people dressed up. Mom and I got this really stupid idea to take pictures. we didn't know that Mickey was going to ask for a tip! all my mom had was $5. great. $5 for a crappy picture in Times Square with a fake Mickey Mouse. Dad got so mad at us, but too bad. we didn't know!

Saturday was our last day in New York. we only had 3 things on our agenda: Central Park, the Museum of Natural History, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. there were a lot more things I wanted to do, but I don't plan the vacations, Dad does. so I really have no say in things. a new family moved next door to us, all the way from Canada. our families have become pretty good friends over the summer. the mom was telling us about how in their family, they have a respect system, and if any kid feels disrespected by another sibling, they get points taken off. once a certain number of points is gone, that sibling has to become the other sibling's slave. well anyways, on Monday, Mom and I wanted to go to a bagel place, but of course, Dad goes along with Justin's idea of just getting food at a convenience store. we did it all the time in Japan, we did it in England, so why not New York? but I didn't want anything there. I told Mom I wasn't feeling respected, and she said, "well, Dad does it his way." and I said, "well, no one ever listens to me. if Justin and I wanted completely different things, you would go along with Justin because he's the youngest, and you can never say 'no' to him." that shut her up for a while. 

(she didn't even deny it, like most parents would! they would say, "oh no, I love all my kids the same!" she agreed with me.)

anyways, enough complaining. we started off our day in Central Park. I had no idea how big it was until I went to the real thing. what a great place. I loved walking around and seeing the teeny little portion we saw. next time, I will bike around the whole park and ride in a boat. 

we walked around for a bit, and ended up at the American Museum of Natural History. we didn't really take a ton of pictures, but it was awesome. we learned about dinosaurs, ocean life, and historic people. we couldn't go through the whole museum, because it's huge. but we did as much as we could without getting tired. we finished around lunchtime, so we tried the foodstands in Central Park. Dad got mad because I made him pay $3 for a Diet Coke. I argued that it was worth it. the only places I could find Diet Coke on this vacation were in Philadelphia and New York City. everywhere else just had Pepsi. and let me tell you, Pepsi is completely different. it's nasty. but I convinced him, and we ate some New York gyros on a park bench. when we finished, we let the boys run around for a bit and scare some pigeons. we walked through the park again to go to the next museum, which was my favorite part of the whole vacation:
the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I promise, we did go to the Met. again, we took no pictures, because.....it's an art museum. maybe we don't want our pictures taken in front of famous paintings. or, we were too focused on the paintings to take pictures. my favorite is the European paintings, especially the French artists. I just love the color they use, and the tone of their paintings. someone told me that "Starry Starry Night" by Van Gogh was at the Met, and we looked everywhere. we saw a few Van Gogh paintings, but we couldn't find "Starry Starry Night." we later learned that it was at the modern museum of art. not the Met. and the rest of my family was very impatient and would probably not want to suffer through another art museum. but I enjoyed every minute of it. I also loved the Modern Art section. I don't know why I love modern art so much, but it's just so....weird. but it's definitely unique. too bad the rest of my family hates it.

we walked through Central Park once again, we got lost, and I saved the day, and got us out of there and on the subway. once we got back to our apartment, our parents went into "crazy packing mode" so that's what we did. pack, pack, try not to sass the parents, try not to kill the brothers, and pack. as soon as we woke up on Sunday, what did we do? pack, sass the parents, get lectured, and drive the rental car back to the airport. after what seemed like ages, Mom, the boys, and I flew back to Salt Lake, and Dad flew First Class to Boston for a chemistry conference.

so, there ya go. another Castle family vacation. done. I still can't believe I not only got to go to London, but New York as well! now, I have to make a new bucket list of places I want to go! don't worry. I've already started. France, Italy, Germany, Hawaii, Florida, Costa Rica, China, San Francisco (my dad still owes me a trip there because we were going to go there instead of Yosemite, but again, because I have no say in things, the rest of the family decided Yosemite would be a better idea) and England (again) are on it so far. have the best summer, and if you ever get the chance to go to New York, you should.