The sounds and sights of New York City have been seen and
documented in so many ways, but like most of the famous cities in this world,
there is nothing to compare with spending time walking the streets and seeing
those for ourselves!
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| One World Trade Center stands above the rest of New York City |
New York City consists of five boroughs, the Bronx,
Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island but we spent most of our time in
Manhattan. The total area is 33.7 sq.
mi. but Manhattan Island is 13 mi long and only 2.3 miles wide, 22 square miles
with a population of 1.6 million people. Sure is amazing to see all that can be in that
small area, it is brimming with amazing sights.
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| Our Manhattan neighborhood |
We were staying in the Upper West Side on a tree lined
street in a ‘brownstone’ , a neighbourhood
with the subway entrance and Central
Park on one corner of our street and restaurants, drugstores, grocery stores,
shoe repairs, laundromats, and anything one might need was down at the other
corner. We could not have been in a
better location.
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| Rockefeller Center in New York |
We began our New York holiday by taking the open decked tour
bus, always a great way to learn and hear the history or stories about the
sights. These tours have a “hop on hop
off” so that you can get on and off at any of their stops if you wish to spend
more time there.
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| Cabs of New York |
The traffic in New York is a sight to watch and definitely
makes one appreciate what the bus drivers and cab drivers deal with every day,
let alone the bicycle riders. When they
say there are lots of cabs in New York, they are so right, over 13,000 counted
in 2012 all within that 33 square miles!
All streets are filled with them and people do walk out into the middle
of the street waving down a cab, just like in the movies. Pedestrians do not heed the crosswalk traffic
signals, seems they have the ‘right of way’, but lots of warning horns can be
heard.
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| United Nations Headquarters, New York, USA |
We walked for hours every day for two weeks and surely did
not see it all but we did spend our time enjoying the most famous landmarks,
heritage buildings, museums, ferry rides, and so much more. We
also spent time in the subway stations, but waits were short and the rides
were, as well. It was an easy system to
learn, although our first ride was with a helpful New Yorker, Micki and we
found New Yorkers were quite willing to enlighten us when necessary.
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| Central Park, Manhattan, USA |
Central Park is world famous and the largest park in New York. We were staying within one half
block of Central Park and enjoyed many walks, but there are so many lovely
places within the Park that I will share more on another page.
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| Statue of Liberty |
If I had to name the highlight of our visit to New York
City, I would have to say that it was seeing the Statue of Liberty out in the
harbour. Our first good sighting was
from a tour boat that was not making stops on Liberty or Ellis Island so we had
the opportunity to go back another day and see it up close and hear the story
behind the statue.
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| The lights of Times Square, New York |
Times Square might be considered the heart of the city. I had expected it to be a “square” but it
actually covers several blocks and includes the theatre district. It lights up best at night and the brightest
sights are the billboards that line the main corridor of the Square at Broadway
and 7
th Avenue. These
billboards rent for millions of dollars a year, the most expensive in the
world, seen by the 330,000 people who visit this area daily!
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| View from top of Red Stairs in Times Square |
The northern end of Times Square is Duffy Square and the
home of the red stairs where people are gathered at any given time. The stairs (shown in photo collage above) are actually the roof of the TKTS pavilion
where discount Broadway tickets can be purchased. The novelty of the stairs invites one to
climb up but the view is even better from there.
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| Broadway plays |
We would not visit New York without seeing a Broadway
play. It was not easy making a decision
as there are many to choose from but it had been recommended to see
Wicked. It was based on the witches of
Oz and a great musical to see in the Gershwin Theatre. The
theatre seats 1900 and there were very few empty seats to be seen on a Monday
night in September.
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| The Metropolitan Museum of Art |
There are so many museums to visit with quite a variety to
choose from. We visited more than we
planned to but found some to be surprisingly fascinating, from famous art to
dinosaurs and more.
Most of the buildings themselves are a work of art.
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| Parks of Manhattan |
It is surprising the number of green spaces scattered around
the city. There are several that have
trees, gardens, benches and fountains to sit and enjoy, and many playgrounds
for the kids to play.
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| National September 11th Memorial |
We couldn’t visit New York without spending some time at
Ground Zero to show our respect to all those who lost their lives in that
devastating event on September 11,
2001. The National September 11th
Memorial was built on the land that the twin towers once stood. The two granite pools, one for each tower
cover 2 acres with a 30’ waterfall. The
infinity pool is surrounded by a bronze panel border inscribed with names of
every person who died on that fateful September day. It is a sad but tranquil place to visit.
New York City, known by many names such as “the Big Apple”, “the
City that never sleeps” and “the Capital of the World” due to the size, wealth
and being the location of the United Nations Headquarters, is the largest city
in the U.S. by population with over 8.4 million people. It is a spectacular city and one that offered
us a wonderful visit and was a very special place to celebrate our 50th
anniversary.
