New York - part 1 (Fri 5th & Sat 6th October)

Friday 5th October - Had a lovely breakfast looking out at the view.  Made a list of places/things to see, checked locations on the map, checked subway directions to get there & made notes. Went out & found the subway station (only a 3 minute walk from the hotel), went to the store on the corner and got some milk & water, then went back to the hotel. Spent the afternoon sorting photos, booking hotels, etc and watching tv.

Breakfast with a view. :-)

Saturday 6th October - Woke up quite early (8am-ish) I was going to go to Liberty Island & see the Statue of Liberty first and then make my way to the 9/11 Memorial but when I checked the 9/11 Memorial website I found that you couldn't just arrive & see it, you had to have a ticket with a viewing time and there were only a certain number of tickets given out for each viewing time, there was no charge tho.  So I proceeded to reserve a ticket online so I could plan my day and by the time I completed all the hooplah to reserve a ticket I didn't have time to go to Liberty Island first. So I showered, got dressed, went downstairs & printed out my 9/11 Memorial ticket, and headed to the subway.  And, yes, I got lost, not at the 1st subway station but at the one where I had to change trains.  Some of those subway stations are HUGE!!  Anyway, managed to get the correct train, and get off at the correct stop and made my way to the 9/11 Memorial site.  Got there earlier than my admission time so I went & visited the 9/11 Memorial Visitor Center & Shop. It was quite an interesting place, lots of info about 9/11 and some mementos too, and of course heaps of stuff for you to buy.  I bought a couple of magnets, then headed back up to the entrance to wait for my admission time.  When it was time I got in line & made my way to the 9/11 Memorial, which is actually quite a distance from where you line up. And here I have to make my one major complaint about Americans, and I say Americans because since I have been here every time this particular 'thing' happens it is Americans (local or visitors) that do it - cut in line - nearly every line I have been in someone has tried to cut in. It amazes me the number of times, and the number of people that do this. It is something we just don't do back home, well something I have never experienced back home.  Anyway, I finally arrived at the 9/11 Memorial site and have to say it is very nice.  They are still working on it - putting up a museum & a couple of other things, but the main memorials are all done. No squirrels there at all tho.

Outside the 9/11 Memorial. This is one of the new towers they are building.

A real, actual NYPD patrol car.  Wow!!

The place where you line up to get into the 9/11 Memorial.

There were policepersons everywhere.  Very high security here.

And on all sorts of transport too.  

Taken from the entrance to the 9/11 Memorial.  The actual entrance, not the place where you line up.

The ledge at the edge of the North Pool with names engraved.  The South Pool has the same thing but different names.  The 'ledges' are on all 4 sides of the pools.

The North Pool.

Walking to the South Pool.

Ulrich by the South Pool.  Was rather windy & the water from the right hand corner in this photo would whip up & out over the edge, and wet anyone walking past.

The South Pool.

The 'Survivor Tree'.  It is the only plant/greenery that survived.  It was covered in rubble, and all broken but still alive, so they transplanted & tended it & it started growing again, then they transplanted it at the memorial.  Rather amazing I think.

You can actually see where the new parts have grown from the old.

No squirrels at the 9/11 Memorial, just a few pigeons.

After the 9/11 Memorial I walked down to the harbour with the intention of getting the ferry to Liberty Island & the Statue of Liberty.  Unfortunately I took too long and arrived just as the last ferry was leaving the dock. Buggar. Damn Broadway with all it's buildings & shops & stuff.  LOL  I walked around Battery Park, went through Clinton Castle, bought a couple of t-shirts, had a cheese pretzel and made my way to the subway to catch the train up to the Empire State Building.  I did think about walking there but the couple of people I asked said it was far too far to walk, would take a couple of hours.

There were so many interesting, gorgeous buildings. I only took photos of a few tho.

The National Museum of the American Indian.

Part of Battery Park.  They have an Urban Garden project going on here.  Right at the centre of this photo there is a wee dark dot - that is a turkey.  He moved before I could get a closer shot.

The Statue of Liberty from Battery Park.

A military memorial at Battery Park.

Ulrich trying not to be scared of the angry looking giant eagle.

Castle Clinton.  Very unassuming looking but very interesting history.

Cheese pretzel I had on my way to the subway.

I was quite proud of myself as I not only found & got on the correct train, but got off at the correct stop too. :-)  Had to walk a couple of blocks to the Empire State Building, which again took more time than it should coz of buildings & shops & stuff.

One side of the American Stock Exchange building.

The 'Federal Hall National Memorial'

The Trump Building - well one of them, I saw another one outside Central Park the next day.

Macy's.

Macy's - the middle entrance.

Macy's - the other end.  I didn't go in to Macy's, was trying to get to the Empire State Building before dark.

Tiffany & Co building.

There is my goal.  Not too far away.

Anyway, finally got to the ESB, got my ticket & made my way up to the 86th floor. I did think about getting the upgrade ticket which allowed you to go up to the 102nd floor, but the 86th floor was quite high enough up for me, thank you very much.  By the time I got up there it was dark, which was a bit disappointing as you can't see as much, but the night view was amazing. There were HEAPS of people up there, and it was rather windy & cold, and I didn't have a jacket or cardi, so went around as quickly as I could.  By the time I got down from the ESB it was about 8pm so I went across the street & had Wendy's for dinner, then was very brave and got the subway back to the hotel, didn't see any obvious crazies or drunks.  I got back to the hotel about 9.30pm, went up to my room, checked facebook & emails, then lay on the bed to watch tv and just crashed.

In the lobby of the Empire State Building.

A model of the Empire State Building.

Night view of New York from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building.

I can see these 4 red striped towers from the window in my hotel room!!

This is a blimp docking station. They were going to dock blimps here until they discovered that the winds were too strong so it has never been used.

Cool photo eh?  LOL  Not sure if this was just my camera playing up or if it was caused by me shaking from the cold.

I tried about 10 times to get a decent photo of this sign & this was the best of them all.  LOL  At least you can see what it says.  But just in case you don't have your glasses on, or have had a bit to drink & are having trouble focusing - it is the Pepsi-Cola sign.