Darcie and I wanted to go to New York before we headed back to BC so I took a few days off work and we headed down in the car July 7th. We got out of Toronto at 2 o'clock so we missed all the rush hour traffic which was nice. We stopped in Scranton Pennsylvania for the night and drove the rest of the way in the morning. We drove through New Jersey and made our way into Manhattan from New Jersey via the Lincoln Tunnel. We couldn't check in until 3 o'clock so we parked the car and wandered around until is was time to check in. For 4 nights of parking underground, it cost $140 and that was with an internet coupon saving $5 per day. We headed up to Times Square since it was only 8 blocks away from our hotel. We stayed at the same one mom and dad stayed at when they went to New York a couple years ago. We thought the hotel was nice - we had a king size bed (which took up the entire room pretty much) and it wasn't an unreasonable cost, especially with its location. So after being in awe of Times Square, we kept walking north because we knew we'd eventually run into Central Park. On our way, I noticed the sky scraper that manages the Popular Mechanics magazine I've got a subscription too. I knew which one it was because they had a small write up about it when it was being built in the magazine, so naturally I had to go inside and check it out for myself. Yup, just like I remember seeing in the pictures! It was the Hearst building, and they look after the publication of many, many magazines you've probably seen on news stands. So after that, we got to the southwest corner of Central Park which also happens to be where the Time Warner building is and where they televise all things CNN. The park was beautiful. We didn't get too far into it because it's so big and because we figured we should head back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped at Rockefeller Plaza which is a bunch of buildings (21 in all) where they produce more television shows but this time for NBC. Conan used to tape his show there before he went to L.A., SNL is taped there, the Today show taped weekday mornings is taped there plus a myriad of others. After we checked in we went out to find a bite to eat. It had started raining so we bought umbrellas for $5 each (the only time it rained while we were there). It was crazy because immediately after it started to drizzle, guys started selling umbrellas on the streets and people were snatching them up so fast because a lot of people, including us, got caught in the ran and didn't want to get wet so I'm sure they made a lot of money fast. You could tell who had just bought an umbrella because most of them were all the same. Anyway, the guy we checked in with at the hotel told us to check out this thing called the Highline which was a recently converted old elevated train track that winded its way through the streets of the Fashion District. It's about a 30 block walk. They kept the strucure and tracks but added a walkway, benches, seats, and so many plants and trees, it was a beautiful, unique way of walking through the streets without worrying about traffic lights or cars. It was a nice green space added to the "concrete jungle" of New York. We ate dinner on a covered patio while it rained and then took the subway over to Grand Central Station. Again, we were in awe of the beauty, history, size and openess of the station. There's really only one word to describe it - grand. We hung out there for a while, doing some people watching, and then took the subway back to our hotel since Penn Station was right across the street from it. I could write about so many of the things we did and saw and heard and ate while we were in New York but to keep it short, some of the other highlights were going on a hop on/hop off bus tour of Uptown, Downtown, and a night tour which took us through Uptown and Brooklyn. We heard some amazing stories and stats about New York and its history from the tour guides on the buses. We also rode our bikes through Central Park, checked out the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge, Broadway Shows, Times Square plus so much more. On Tuesday when we left around noon and got back about 9:30, it was weird to think we woke up in Manhattan and would be going to bed at home. It made us realize how close we really were to New York this whole time. We loved it there, and have nothing but good things to say about it. People were friendly, the streets were clean (by a city the size of New York standards) and we felt safe. We hope we can go back soon - we just have to save enough money for parking.
When Darcie spent a day shopping, I went to Ellis Island, Wall Street & the New York Stock Exchange, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn and walked around for a little while before heading back over the bridge and taking the subway uptown to meet Darcie at the hotel.
Brooklyn Bridge was the worlds first suspension bridge and at one point, the tallest structure in New York. Here is a beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline in Uptown where the most prominent buildings are the Empire State building, the Chrysler building, and Trump Tower. There is a whole nother skyline downtown as well which is where Ground Zero is. The Twin Towers used to be the tallest buildings in New York, but currently the Empire State building is the tallest. Once one of the Freedom Towers is fiinished, the building being built in replace of the Twin Towers, it will surpass the Empire State building as the tallest in New York.
Here is a view from our hotel room. The main building you see and to the left is the department store Macy's. This specific Macy's is the largest department store in the world - one entire block and 11 floors. It's where the very first escalator was used - which was made out of wood and still runs to this day. See below.
Darcie and I on one of the huge tv screens in Times Square. We're against the right side of the furthest left yellow bubble. I'm wearing a red shirt with one of my hands in the air. If you click the picture it'll go bigger and you can see us better.
The bull near Wall Street in the Financial District. It's made from copper, just like the Statue of Liberty so in hard to reach places like the top of the bulls back, the copper is starting to turn the light green color. However, there's one spot which I don't think will ever turn green and are probably the shiniest part on the bull, its balls. More people getting pictures touching the balls than any other spot.
I went to Ellis Island while Darcie did some shopping. It was the first stop for literally millions of people immigrating into the United States between the late 19th century till around the 1930's until a new immigration law changed the need of the buildings on the island to something else. It was used for military purposes for a while until it was abandoned in the 50's or 60's and left that way until the late 80's when they refurbished it and opened the island up as a museum displaying the island's rich history and affect it had on the United States. It was incredible to know you were standing where so many people from around the world had stood so long ago unsure of so many things. Above is grafitti workers found on the walls before they started cleaning up the buildings. Over decades of abondonment, the layers of paint had eventually peeled off the walls revealing names, dates, and drawings of people who had once passed through over 100 years ago. The one above either says 1901 or 1907. It was incredible. I was glad I went. There were so many great exhibits, pictures, and artifacts displaying the history of the island with most of it being about when it was used for immigration purposes. There was so much history there - I loved it.
This is the Registry Room where peoples names were written down among 28 or so other things they were asked. In the middle of the floor used to be a set of stairs up to the room which is where doctors would first view the people coming off of the boats from around the world looking for signs of various diseases or ailments people had. If they suspected something, they'd write in chalk on the persons jacket lapel or back and they'd be looked at more carefully at a later time. The displays said most times there were so many people being filtered through the room that they only had about 6 seconds to check people over.
This block of buildings date back to the 18th century. The one on the corner is where George Washington informed military officials at a dinner of his retirement from the military.
Parking garage in Brooklyn. Cars are parked 3 high.
