Been To New York City!

Saturday, July 24th, my suitemate, Reshica, and friend Kat, and I decided to head on up to New York City. We looked into the best way to travel to Manhattan, and we found the MegaBus which is a double decker bus that travels to many locations (one being Manhattan) for cheap rates. If you book your rate in far enough advance, you can purchase your tickets for $1! But sadly we did not purchase them in enough time and ours were about $12.

So Saturday morning, Reshica traveled to the bust stop…only to receive a phone call from Kat to say that the bus was LEAVING…without us!!! Kat was on the bus and we watched as she rode right past us. Fortunately, there was a bus in the next hour that Reshica and I could catch to then meet up with Kat (who would get into NYC an hour and half before us). So we wasted time at 30th Street Station until our bus arrived. We had to wait in line, almost as if we were on standby to make sure there were seats for us. Again, we were lucky enough to grab seats on this bus! We were now NYC bound!!

We arrived and met up with Kat about 1pm that afternoon at New York, 7th Ave & 28th St. At that point, Kat had already searched for food places and shopping so that once we arrived, we could grab some food. We ended up finding a delicious pizza place (my First NYC pizza), which had a large selection of pizzas. You searched for your option, told the workers and they placed your pieces in the oven to heat them up. I chose a chicken parmesan pizza and a broccoli/chicken pizza (which were both huge slices and very, very delicious)! Kat decided since she did not finish both pieces, that she would wrap up the second piece and give it to a homeless person (who we figured would graciously accept).

So we ventured out, into the city. With no real idea of what to do. Luckily, Reshica had a fellow intern that was living in NYC during the weekends who was willing to meet up with us. So we traveled from 7th Ave around town to meet her. I forgot to mention that the day we decided to go, was the hottest day NYC had seen this year (over 100), which was not entirely typical for them. So along the way, we found a 7-eleven store and bought Slurpies (Reshica’s first).

Once we found Megan, she started talking about things we could do in the city. We decided to trust her, and let her take us all over! So we went down to the subway, grabbed a metro pass and jumped on! We were headed to Battery Park and the Staten Island Ferry. Once we arrived to the Ferry, we had to wait inside for the next arriving Ferry. This is a free ferry which takes you over to Staten Island, past Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It didnt hurt either to take a boat on such a hot day! Once the Ferry arrived, everyone was hustling through the doorway to get onto the Ferry. I couldnt help but think that this seemed (to a minor degree) what Immigration was like. A large mass of people, trying to fit through a doorway to get onto the Ferry to take them to the new land. While on the Ferry, we stood up top to get a perfect view of the New York Harbor.

The ferry is the only non-vehicular mode of transportation between Staten Island and Manhattan. NYC DOT operates and maintains the nine vessel fleet as well as the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island, Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Manhattan, the City Island and Hart Island Facilities, The Battery Maritime Building and all floating dock building equipment. The 5 mile, 25 minute ride also provides a majestic view of New York Harbor and a no-hassle, even romantic, boat ride, for free! One guide book calls it "One of the world's greatest (and shortest) water voyages." (http://www.siferry.com/)

Upon leaving the Ferry, we traveled over to Ground Zero. This was a definite adventure and I was so grateful for the opportunity. We walked the blocks around Ground Zero and it was at that point that I realized how extensive the site was. There was construction all over and security check points to enter into the sites. We walked on over to the World Financial Center, which was a fantastic building in and of itself.

The World Financial Center is a complex of buildings across West Street from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan in New York City, overlooking the Hudson River. This complex is home to offices of companies including Merrill Lynch, Nomura Group, the Wall Street Journal and American Express, as well as Dow Jones among others. The entire complex is owned by Brookfield Properties, except for the space occupied by American Express (which American Express owns). The complex also serves as the corporate headquarters for Brookfield Properties, which has its headquarters in Tower Three.

Designed by César Pelli, with Adamson Associates, the complex was built by Olympia and York between 1985 and 1988 on landfill used to build Battery Park City. The fill material came from dirt excavated during the building of the World Trade Center, as well as garbage, dirt and debris.

Portions of the complex, especially the Winter Garden, were severely damaged in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but have since been reopened after significant repairs.

The complex has its own zip code, 10281. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Financial_Center)

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This building was so large and beautiful, and provided a nice escape from the city life. There is one large wall that serves as a window to overlook Ground Zero. It was here that you are able to look at the surroundings and see how much work is being done. It is mind blowing to see numerous sky-scrapper building and right there is a large and massive hole in the ground. Together, we were recalling the events to Reshica (who is living in the US for college, originally from Napal), and the recollection of events made me stop and pause. Wow….September 11 happened here…It really happened…and this is what is left…

We stayed here for some time…just talking. It was serene to just walk around the wonderful building and reflect on what this was…

We decided to head out of the World Financial Center and head over to Rockafellar Center to visit the Top of the Rock, which we wanted to catch before total night fall!

We traveled through the subway and by foot to Rockafellar Center. This was a really interesting walk, with lots of sights to see.

Rockefeller Center or Rockefeller Plaza is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres (89,000 m²) between 48th and 51st streets in New York City. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Center)

The Top of the Rock allows you the opportunity to stand on top of the Rockafellar Center to observe all of NYC at its finest. You travel 70 stories up to be able to visit on multiple levels of the building to view NYC. This is a large tourist attraction and was a wonderful opportunity. I felt so much at peace just walking around and taking pictures.

Central Park The Hudson River

Times Square

Lovely View!!!

Empire State Building

After leaving the Top of the Rock, we had to hurry back to pick up our bus at Penn Station. We grabbed a taxi which took us through Times Square. So even though we didn’t officially see Times Square, at least I got to see a drive by view of it!!

We had already missed our scheduled return bus, but there was a bus that was an hour later than what we selected. So we had to wait in line, anxiously anticipating the bus and hoping that there were enough seats for the 3 of us!!! We sat, stood, hoped and prayed that there would be enough room….AND THERE WAS!! We were able to pick up the bus and head back home!! Overall, the bus was a fantastic way to travel, because the seats were similar to a Greyhound bus and provided a bathroom (which was handy after a long day in the city!).

We eventually made it home, traveling back to 30th street station where Kat took another train back to her place and Reshica and I grabbed a taxi to take us the rest of the way home.

Overall, we had a fantastic day and I felt so grateful for the opportunity. Thanks for riding along with me!