The following day we took the Statten Island ferry (which is free!) which takes you right out past the Statue of Liberty to, er, Statten Island. Didn’t seem like much to do in Statten Island so all we did is buy a donut, hang around half an hour, then catch it back again, but the trip was very pleasant and offers a nice view of Manhattan, Brooklyn & New Jersey, along with all the bridges. While we were down there we thought we’d go check out Battery Park which fronts onto the water next to the South Ferry terminal. Actually the subway in New York is a bit of a game compared to other places I’ve been to – there is no indication of direction apart from ‘uptown’ and ‘downtown’ etc, and the trains don’t have any order of destinations displayed on them. After a few days of course I had it sussed, but on the first night I spent about half an hour trying to decide which platform/train to take and missed about 3 in the process, doh. Also one time we got on the wrong platform and then our day passes wouldn’t swipe onto the other platform so had to consult the disgruntled ticketing chappie. Oh well.
After Battery Park made our way up to the financial district and took in Wall Street, the New York stock exchange, and such like. One could play a game of count-the-flags here, although I guess that’s no different to anywhere else in the country – they love their stars & stripes, oh yes. Bought lunch in a little sushi restaurant just off Wall St. then headed up to “ground zero”.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the WTC site, I mean I’d heard that it was quite moving but I wasn’t expecting it to affect me quite as much as it did. The trade centre towers must have dominated the skyline, as I couldn’t help but feel that something was missing from every shot I took of the skyscrapers which sprawl over lower Manhattan. Nearing the site you could definitely notice the gap in construction; the disturbance in the regularity of the buildings creating a sudden abundance of light.
The area is enclosed by fencing adorned with placards taking you step by step through the events that unfolded on 9/11. That day must be one of the very few in my lifetime on which I can place exactly where I was and what I was doing when the news first broke around the world. What it must have been like to actually *be there* in New York at that time.. Well it gave me a feeling of great sadness, to the point where I could feel the water in my eyes. To have seen the people hurling themselves from 70 stories to their death to escape the inferno inside, I could remember the pictures all too well even though the landscape four years on, almost to the day, must be so incredibly different. There are still plenty of reminders left though – many buildings around the “superblock” on which the towers stood still have netting covering windows smashed by debris, and scaffolding poles where work is ongoing to restore facades.
The placards also paid homage to the heros on the other flight which was diverted from the whitehouse, and listed names of all those who died fighting the fires – people who without hesitation put others before themselves. I can only imagine what the mood of the nation must have been during the time after the events, but the people of New York worked day & night to restore subway service to the area a year ahead of schedule. Now the city projects two huge beams of blue light into the night sky as a memorial, take a look at this photo, taken from the Brooklyn bridge. Also, the photo below is of the New York trademark slogan spraypained onto one of the fence posts. I felt I had to capture it for some reason..
After walking past ground zero, we went to check out the world financial centre, which is housed in and around the canary wharf towers. toward Chelsea cuz we were going to see a baseball game that evening at Yankee stadium. Phil’s housemates from uni (who were staying at the same time) were kind enough to get us tickets so all we had to do was rock up :p the game was ok, bit of a mission to get to the stadium, but it [baseball] seems kinda pointless. I mean, if stuff was happening the whole time then that’d be cool, but the Yankees got all their runs in the first 2 innings then did nothing for the rest of the game (and ended up losing), so the crowd got a bit out of sorts. Also the beer and food is ridiculously expensive, but what can you expect hey? Still, it was a cool experience! Stayed in Queens that night – not as rough as I thought it was going to be but some annoying kids on the subway who thought it funny to accidentally fall into people – and ate chinese takeaway :)
Next day we went to see the statue of liberty, didn’t actually go up in the crown x-men style cuz they only let a certain number of people per day up there, and to be honest what the hell else are you gonna be able to see? Oh well. We did get to see a million bottles of vodka all precisely arranged for some commercial that was going to be shot. I presume it was for a commercial else there were gonna be quite a few people hospitalized. Tried to buy some food too but as usual it was ridiculously overpriced so didn’t bother. After wandering for a bit took the ferry past the old immigration building. We’d already read all about it so didn’t bother getting off to go inside!
Once back on mainland we decided to go check out some of the famous districts – Chinatown, Little Italy, TriBeCa, SoHo & NoLIta. If you’re wondering why the funky caps – as I was – they stand for “Triangle Below Canal”, “South of Houston” & “North of Little Italy”. Not quite as catch I think you’ll agree. Anyway, first wandered through Chinatown which was MASSIVE. You could actually be in China.. All Chinese storefronts and the like. I thought it was cool as of course I like that kind of thing! Skirted round Little Italy and wandered through the leafy streets of SoHo, which looked very hip (and expensive), maybe saw Kate Moss, then walked up through NoLIta which was not quite so nice but had plenty of character. On the way back we stumbled upon the business school of NYU and whatever arch is in the park next to it. After that spent some time, er, shopping (poor show I know) then went over to Brooklyn to scope the view of the bridge by night. We didn’t find exactly the place where we intended as the directions were a bit vague, but ended up walking along the boardwalk in the centre of the bridge which was pretty cool. Tried to take some night shots but largely in vain! Didn’t help that the bridge was vibrating so much from all the traffic below, lol. We must have walked miles and miles that day before checking in to a hotel (splashed out as it was the last night) and heading out to find cheap dinner, which turned out to be a Japanese style noodle bar, which was nice. Hotel wasn’t too expensive but was quite nice, although I refused to give the guy a tip for just opening our door and turning the air con on :)
On the final day dragged ourselves up for breakfast – very continental, cakes, croissants, and.. muffins. I stuffed myself to try and get value for money but it made me feel kinda dodgy when we were walking round Central Park a bit later. Either that or the fact that it was pretty scorching! Central Park was pretty massive – didn’t attempt walking all the way through it, especially as we got a bit disorientated and starting doing sideways zig zags. Still, found a couple of the lakes and walked some nice trails, chilled out by the fountains for a bit before heading back to see a few other bits and pieces. I wanted to go see the Chrysler building but unfortunately you can’t go up it so I just had to take a snap from outside.. That afternoon was largely spent pottering about and going to make some impulse purchases to take home. Would be rude not to really given the price differential. Sadly all good things must come to an end though and after heading by Phil’s to pick up my stuff and say goodbye, I had to head to JFK airport to catch my plane home :(
Fittingly, the subway station that serves the airport does seem quite like the end of the world. From what I remember (as the time in transit was all a bit of a daze), there was just this jetty looking platform that’s surrounded by blackness – quite odd. On the subway our carriage’s air con was broken, must explain why we found a seat so easily, but that was a nice parting gift from the Metro Transit Authority :) I won’t bore you with the airport details as I know I have a tendency to go a bit over the top, but it was a very sad occasion. Reminded me of an unhappy ending to a film really and can’t say that I’d ever be too keen to replicate the experience. Anyhow, think I might have already mentioned that already..
So here end the travel chronicles.. It’s a shame I lost the original New York pt2 post as I’m sure I wrote it better previously, but hey ho. On to pastures new… Or at least that’s the plan.
