New York, specifically Manhattan, is an easy city to get around. There is the Subway, there are buses, there are ferries and of course you can walk. I took the Subway. I grabbed myself a seven day pass that gives me unlimited rides. I figured I don't know how much I will use it but for $32 it will save me lining up every time I do to get a ticket. It is $3 each ride so I only have to use it eleven times to get my money's worth.
After my adventures in the theatre district I thought I would try the other end of town. I caught the subway to Brooklyn Bridge and walked the bridge to Brooklyn and back. You get a pretty spectacular view of the city skyline from there.
It was a clear day with a little wind and I think the top temperature reached 11 degrees. I ambled down to Battery Park and checked out Castle Clinton, mainly because it played a small role in one of my favourite computer games Deus Ex. It has nothing to do with the current Clintons and is named after I think the fifth governor of the state.
From there I wandered along Wall St, just to say I could. It was nothing special but then again it was Sunday so it wasn't full of masters of the universe wearing their power suits and sending investors bankrupt. I tried to get a good shot of the famous brass bull that is nearby. It was surrounded by Asian tourists and it was almost impossible to get to.
Then I did something quite sombre. I went to the 9/11 memorial. Firstly it is a little odd to have that much open space in this city. Where the two buildings stood has not been built upon. They have outlined their edges of the former World Trade Center buildings with a oak lined walkway and an eternity fountain. Even with the hundreds of people that were there it was quite powerful. You can touch the water, it flows straight down polished black granite into a centre well and then disappears from sight. It was incredibly evocative. Around the edge of each of the two fountains they have eteched the names of the victims.
There is a new building nearby called the One World Trade Centre that has an observation deck on the top three floors (100 - 102). It was a surreal mix of the cheesy, tasteless and the breathtaking. You ride an elevator (they are not called lifts here) to the 102 floor. It takes 60 seconds to go up the 417 metres to the top and it is like no other elevator I have been in my entire life. The three walls are an LCD display. When you start out it shows where you are in high resolution, the bedrock of the building. Then starting at the year 1500 you see New York as it was. As you rise New York gets built around you. You see the harbour filled in, the colonial buildings going up and then you hit the 20th century and all the skyscapers start to appear. Ultimately you see 2008 and watch the construction of the final floors of the building itself as you tower over everything and arrive at the 102nd floor in 2015. On the way down it is even more impressive. It gives a birds eye view of you swirling around the the outside of the tower looking out on modern day New York. I could see it made one lady ill as she had her head down and hands covering her face.
The fun doesn't end there. You exit to a 2 minute theatre experience. I used to dread these things but I have seen so many that are well done here that I am going to have reevaluate my opinion. There were 28 projectors throwing their images on to a 3D rendering of the New York skyline. You are given a potted history of the city using archival footage and current imagery. Then they lift the 3D rendering to reveal the view and what a view it is.
They had a few other funky things inside that were fun but it is hard to beat the view. They have a sky portal where you supposedly see the ground below you (you can't it is a camera display giving you the images). There is also a thing called the city pulse which is an attempt to get you to spend a further $15 on a ipad that tells you what you're looking at. I had a very late lunch before I left. You wouldn't go there for the food. I got talking to a few locals and didn't end up leaving until 5.30pm. It only opened on 28th May 2015 so it is still a novelty to many New Yorkers. I wandered down to the end of Wall Street again and caught the East River ferry up to 34th Street. I just wanted to do the New York Skyline by night. I think it was worth it.
It was hard to top the experience. I grabbed a quick Turkish doner for dinner and had a reasonably early night (11.00pm). Tomorrow is another day.
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