WTC, Chinatown, soho

Monday we spent the first part of the day in lower Manhattan. We saw the 9/11 memorials at the   trade center site, which we thought were pretty powerful. 

  
There are pools for each of the former twin towers buildings, with water running down the sides and another pool in the center.

There’s also a new train station in the area, built by Spanish architect  calatrava. Readers might notice the similarities to the art museum in Milwaukee! Same architect but this building won’t have the ability to move like the Milwaukee one does.

We saw some historical sites in lower Manhattan, like the place where George Washington was inaugurated and the stock exchange. 

   
 But a highlight of the day was in Chinatown when we saw this artisanal ramen maker making noodles. He rolled out the dough then folded it accordion style into a long strip, then sliced across the strip 

He unfolded each strip of noodles and laid them out over the rolling pin

 
Then picked up the noodles by the handful and shook off all the flour.  

I would love to report that we then went inside and tried this national treasure’s noodles but it was really hot and we didn’t feel much like hot bowls of soup. We went to bahn mi Saigon for Vietnamese sandwiches instead. 

We also did some shopping in soho

  
And then went on a tour at the tenement house museum. The tours follow families who used to live in the building, and our tour followed a family who ran a garment business in their tiny apartment, with 6 kids and no plumbing or electricity.

Finishing this jam packed day, we went to a Mario Batali pizzeria with some friends from Chicago who were also visiting New York over spring break. Fun times!