New York City

I have been to New York City (NYC) many times and each time I either have a new place to go or have a new experience.  This trip is no exception.  I recently spent two weeks here, with my son, Shawn and his family.  I am very lucky I have a place to stay.  Hotels in NYC are expensive, at least $200 a night.  Those around Times Square are even more.

Since I have a lot of time I planned our my itinerary carefully, going to places or try new things that I normally would not have time to.  The first place I went to was the One World Observatory (OWO), on top (101st Floor) of the new World Trade Center.  I did not get a chance to go up to the old World Trade Center, which I regretted.  It costs $37 to go up to the observation floor.  If you buy it online, it's $34.  On the way up, they try to sell you the services of iPad that identifies different landmarks in NYC for $10.  If you are familiar with NYC, you don't need to waste your money on this.  It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day, the day I went.  You can see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island clearly. Looking north, you can see all the NYC landmarks, Empire State Building, Chrysler Tower, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, etc.  It is quite an impressive sight, although I am not sure how many people can afford the $37, especially with a big family.

Looking North, with New Jersey and Hudson River on the left

Looking South, you can see Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

Just before the OWO is the 9/11 Museum.  In the courtyard is the memorial.

9/11 Memorial with names of all who died, inscribed on the side.

An online ticket to the 9/11 Museum costs $24.  Reasonable considering how much things you see in the museum.  I was planning to spend about 2 hours there but I ended spending almost 4 hours.  You can't help but stop and read and listen to the events that lead up and after the incident.  There were a lot of sad stories.  The toughest one to swallow was seeing pictures of people jumping from the building when the plane crashed into one of the towers.  They had no choice - either get burned up or jump to their death.  At the end of the visit, as an American, you get angry.  How these idiots can be so callous about other people's lives.

One of the beams that got burnt and twisted.

A fire truck that came to the rescue got smashed

Since reading the book on the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough, I've always wanted to go back and look at the bridge again.  I now have a better appreciation for the bridge, what it took to build it and the amount of sacrifice by everyone involved, especially Washington Roebling, who became debilitated after suffering decompression sickness while working on the bridge.  I took the A train to the High Street station in Brooklyn and walked to the bridge.  There were many people walking and riding their bicycles from the Manhattan side.  After a while, I had enough of the crowd and decided to walk to Manhattan Bridge, where I can take a nicer picture of Brooklyn Bridge.  I took many shots from dusk to night.  Here is one of them.

Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan

I also had the opportunity to visit the Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum near 45th St and 12th Avenue.  It is very similar to the Midway in San Diego except that here they have a prized exhibit, the Space Shuttle Enterprise.  I enjoyed learning about the aircraft carrier, the various fighter planes and the space shuttle.

The Intrepid Aircraft Carrier