When we arrived on Friday night the flight was delayed by two hours which caused us to end up in rush hour traffic getting into New York. So all we did for the evening was to check into the hotel and then go out for some groceries. Pasta fixed in the little hotel kitchenette was our dinner.
The next morning Grand Central Station (https://www.grandcentralterminal.com) was the first sight we went to. Not only because it happened to be the metro station closest to our hotel but also when planning our trip this for me was the number one sight I had wanted to go to in New York. Not the Statue of Liberty, not the Rockefeller Center, not Central Park, not the Empire State Building. No, the Grand Central Station was the place I longed to see. Whenever I saw this train terminal in a movie I could not help imagining what it must have looked like when it was first opened- with wealthy people boarding a train with trunks not suitcases carried by a porter, with steam trains departing to exciting cities. With travelers settling in to a journey not business people rushing from A to B.
I was not disappointed. Grand Central Terminal has all the grandeur I imagined it to have. I could have stayed all day to watch people come and go. But there was still so much to see and do…
So once we got our metro tickets (http://web.mta.info/metrocard/mcgtreng.htm) we boarded the subway to Bowling Green. The weather had turned from a gray drizzle the day before to beautiful sunshine and we wanted to get a view of New York as the “huddled masses” (see the poem by Emma Lazarus, also quoted in parts below this blog entry) had when entering the United States for the first time- looking at the Statue of Liberty.
Arriving at Bowling Green we thanked the heavens above for not booking tickets for going to the statue directly. The queue was going around the block and back again. Our destination was the Staten Island ferry instead. This ferry passes right by the Statue on its way from Manhattan to Staten Island. Waiting time here was not too bad. With ferries running every half hour we were able to board the next one right away.
Along the way to the ferry we passed bee hives that were buzzing with activity right in the middle of this big city.
The ferry is actually a means of commute for people living on Staten Island. As such it is part of public transportation in New York and is included in the metro card.
When we passed the Statue of Liberty our ferry was tilted quite a bit to the right side as that’s where all the passengers were standing. The view was stunning to say the least!
When I was 17 years old I had spent a high school year in the U.S. Back then my host family had taken me to see the Statue of Liberty from the New Jersey side. We went to the base of the statue. While I enjoyed the experience I remembered not being too impressed with the island itself. What I did enjoy was the visit to Ellis Island though (https://www.nps.gov/elis/index.htm). But I figured that our kids were yet too young to understand the meaning of the immigration process on Ellis Island.
So passing by the Statue of Liberty on a ferry was the perfect way to get started on our New York experience! Plus we had a beautiful view of the skyline.
Once we arrived on Staten Island we immediately turned around to Manhattan as we still had quite a bit we wanted to see. This time the ferry was leaning all the way to the left. It must have been a different type of boat though because we could only stay inside and not stand on a balcony.
Back on solid ground we started our walk up Broadway where we see saw the famous bull (http://chargingbull.com/index.html) that you keep seeing on tv. What we had not realized was that the bull was standing across 25 Broadway not in Wall Street. Getting even close to it was impossible as it was surrounded by hundreds of people taking or posing for pictures.
So we opted for hot dogs instead which we ate enjoying the sunshine in Bowling Green Park. I have to say I was a bit disappointed- the typical NY hotdog was not the greatest thing in the world. I have had better hot dogs in Sweden before. But maybe we hadn’t found the right place to eat yet.
Walking along the New York stock exchange on Broad Street
we passed Trinity Church where preparations for Easter service were well underway.
From Trinity Church we made our way over to the 911 Memorial.
This was our first trip to New York. So we had not seen the twin towers in real life. Before going on this trip however I had watched a documentary of the creation of the memorial ground. It went into the discussions around how to best honor the victims of this horrible event. Apparently some people thought that the towers should be rebuilt the way they were before. I think it is good that they weren’t reconstructed. The two pools on the site where the towers were gave me the feeling that there was something missing, a kind of vacuum. Even though I had never seen the towers. I was really impressed by the site.
And the One World Tower is just beautiful!
What struck me as odd was the 911 shopping center right next to the memorial site. The building is stunning but I have mixed feelings about a shopping mall next to such a memorial. But on the other hand it strikes me as a very American trait: to remember the horrible event but also to look forward and embrace the fact that life goes on.
Inscription of the Statue of Liberty: “… Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Emma Lazarus
November 2, 1883
https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/colossus.htm