There's no easy way to cover our time in New York City. It is just too big and varied and diverse. We spent four days in NYC and covered a lot of ground. At the same time we barely scratched the surface. I get the impression that one could spend a lifetime in the city and still not run out of things to see. Instead of doing the usual chronologically ordered summary I think I'll just freestyle it and hopefully cover everything relevant. This will be in two parts because it's quite long. So here goes...

The city is located right at the bottom left corner of New York state. From here on New York most likely refers to the city. New York City is comprised of five separate boroughs which are basically separate administrative areas within the city as a whole. I never made it outside of Manhattan, the most famous and iconic of the five. The others are Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Staten Island.

A 9/11 Memorial in Jersey City

We were staying just across the Hudson in Jersey City with Peggy and Todd's sister, Jean, and her partner Toby. Each morning we would get up (not too early to avoid rush hour) and walk the short distance to the nearby subway station. A short journey under the river brought us out at the World Trade Centre in Lower Manhattan. This was handy to a number of other subway lines allowing us to get around Manhattan quickly and easily. We all had seven day passes allowing unlimited travel within New York (the trains to and from New Jersey were not included).

The World Trade Centre station is currently under construction as is much of the area immediately outside. The station was completely destroyed in the 9/11 attacks and while a temporary station has been in place since 2003, the proper station will finally be back in full service by the end of the year. Above ground are numerous new towers, the most impressive of which is the One World Trade Centre tower. At a height of 546 metres it dominates the skyline. I know some would question the wisdom of building such a distinctive tower so close to where the Twin Towers stood but in my opinion it is the best response that the city could give.

The new station under construction. It's a strange looking building

One World Trade Centre

Immediately beside the One World Trade Centre tower is the 9/11 memorial. The footprints of the Twin Towers have been turned into two huge sunken pools matching the size and location of the buildings. It's an incredibly powerful way of showing just how huge the towers were. I can't imagine how it must have felt to have lived in New York when it happened. The names of each person killed in the attacks is engraved around the edges the two squares. There was a 9/11 museum which would have been interesting but was super expensive so we decided not to visit.

One of the pools of the 9/11 Memorial

We also made a visit to Wall Street which is close the the WTC. I the street itself is actually quite short which I wasn't expecting. The famous bull statue is also not actually on Wall Street but a fair way further south. Jean worked close to Wall Street at a web company called StackbExchange and we were lucky enough to get an invite for lunch. The office is on the top floor of their building and has great views out over the city. There are two chefs that cook amazing food for all of the staff every day and friends and family are allowed to join and eat for free. Stack Exchange web sites are probably the most important resource for any software developer so it was cool to visit the place where it all happens. It seems like it would be a pretty cool place to work.

Wall Street

The Bull. People were clamouring to get a good photo of themselves holding it's balls

View from the Stack Exchange office

Moving further up Manhattan, we visited the tourist magnet that is Times Square. It was always incredibly busy with people taking photos and standing around. The billboards and advertising is interesting but you stop noticing it pretty quickly. The whole experience is aimed at tourists meaning that the area is crawling with people trying to take your money. From the people dressed as super heroes to the body painted American flag girls everyone is expecting a tip for almost no effort. Some of the them are quite aggressive too. A big man stopped me while I was walking and tried to give his 'comedy CD'. It was free but he "only asks for a small tip". When I said no he immediately became hostile and swore at me while I walked away. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the CD was blank. It was worth seeing but really it is a horrible place. By far the worst place in the city for me.

Times Square

Nearby are landmarks galore. We walked a short distance to the Rockerfeller Centre and browsed through a small food market. A bit further south took us past the famous Waldorf Astoria and to Grand Central Station. It's an impressive building but the most amazing part is below the surface. There are 44 platforms, the most of any station in the world. It's almost like the polar opposite of the rest of the US. We stood on a balcony overlooking the station plaza and watched as thousands of people moved through the station. Also nearby is the Empire State Building. We walked passed and Peggy tried to go inside. As she pushed though the revolving door, a doorman made a looping gesture and she came straight back out again!

Urban Canyon

We had nice weather for three out of our fours day. Of course we managed to pick the one rainy day to visit Central Park. We started the day by visiting the apartment where John Lennon was shot and then walked to his memorial within the park. Soon after we got completely soaked by torrential rain. It was an interesting experience; we were standing on a rock beside one of the lakes in the park when we heard a sort of roaring sound that was getting closer. Looking out onto the lake we could see a straight line of turbulent water coming towards us as the rain approached. I ended up as wet as I could possibly be, and did the others.

Gloomy skies in Central Park

In order to escape from the weather we decided to visit some of the museums nearby. Todd, Hannah, and I went to the Natural History Museum while Rez and Peggy went to the Metropolitan Art Gallery. One thing that I should mention is that air conditioning in American Buildings is stupidly cold. It will be 30 degrees outside and what feels to be about 15 inside. This is stupid because you're forced to wear light clothing while out and about but as soon as you go inside a building you end up freezing. The Natural History Museum was ice cold and we were all wearing wet clothes. It seemed as though half the tourists in the city had had the same idea as us; the museum was packed. Unfortunately the museum is one of the biggest disappointments of the trip for me. It has such a reputation and it was just boring. It was cramped, dark, and just felt stuffy and old fashioned. It's an amazing building but the interior doesn't do it any justice. I have visited a lot of museums on this trip and the New York Natural History Museum was the only one that I found boring.

I'd hoped to have time to go back and explore more of Central Park but unfortunately never made it back. It's cool that such a vast area of green space exists in such a dense city. And don't think that parks in New York are restricted to ground level. We visited the awesome High Line; a recently opened park built along the raised structure that used to carry freight trains into the city. The line was scheduled to be preserved but some local residents came up with the idea to turn it into a park and it has quickly become hugely popular and has even spurred the regeneration of the surrounding suburbs. The structure has been landscaped with trees and other greenery which is mixed in with remnants of the railway. It gives it a cool industrial vibe.

View from the High Line

They park cars on top of each other in NYC

The High Line

The Hudson Yards from the High Line. This whole rail yard will soon be covered over for development. The yard will remain in operation the entire time.

I think I'll stop here for now. Hopefully this isn't too unfocused. Next time I'll go over how we spent our evenings and other thoughts on the city.