New York

This year we decided for our wedding anniversary we wanted to see Hamilton. It was definitely our best anniversary yet and it is going to be very difficult to top seeing the original cast in Hamilton. We were able to get some decently priced tickets to the show on the second hand market, and because Ben has a ton of hotel nights we didn't have to pay for our hotel. Another great thing about visiting NYC is that some of our favorite people live in, or nearby, meaning that we got to see some of our absolute favorite people as well as see Hamilton. Double win! Our first few days there we hung out with Lydia and Hank. We did very touristy things, and they were all really fun. Our first stop was Liberty Island. 

Ellis Island was so interesting. We all enjoyed walking around and learning how it was used to funnel immigrants into the country. 

After touring the statue of liberty and ellis island, we headed to the Guggenheim to check out some good art, and a classic building.

 Ironing.

Man in speedo with horse.

Detail.

Now for the main event. HAMILTON! It was so exciting. We loved it. The cast was absolutely amazing and both Ben and I were smiling from the beginning to end from excitement. Everyone should see this. Thankfully it is going to start touring this year. Ben and I are already on the waitlist to get tickets for when it comes to London next year.

Ben doesn't look happy here because he didn't want to take a photo, not because he didn't like the show. He loved it.

 So patriotic.

Our trip to NYC involved a lot of things, but oddly we didn't take pictures of a lot of what we did. In fact we only took pictures two days that we were there. Our last day we headed to the UN headquarters before catching our flight back to London. We absolutely loved our tour and would highly recommend this to anyone visiting NYC. In the picture above Ben is standing in the UN security council room. We learned that anything decided by the security council becomes international law. All other councils can only set guidelines and suggestions for countries.

All the council rooms are designed by and donated by different countries. The building is basically a study in mid century modern.

There are also murals, sculptures, painting, statues, etc that have been gifted to the UN from every country. The mosaic above was based on the Normal Rockwell illustration and gifted by the US. The golden rule is inscribed on the mosaic.

Peace is one of the main missions of the UN. These are the current figures on what the world spends to keep its military, and what it spends to keep peace.

The UN won the nobel peace prize in 2001. This is the second nobel prize we have seen. We saw the peace prize won by the EU when we toured the european parliment back in December.

We loved our time in NYC. We loved the food, the city, the shopping, visiting our friends, and generally just relaxing. We will definitely be going back to visit.