The day I spent walking in NY September 23, 2007

Today, I had breakfast with Natasha and Murat (from Russia), and we decided to visit NY together today as our plans were the same.
We started our walk in Central Park. I didn’t really enjoyed my short walk there last week because of the weather, but today, the sky is blue, the temperature is ideal, there are a lot of people running or walking in the park, the squirels are also here… it’s just per-fect!!
In Central Park we saw the Reservoir, Alice in Wonderland, Strawberry Fields (with the memorial to John Lennon) and some other nice places.
After Central Park, we took the subway to Greenwich Village and walked around. In some streets, you do not feel you are in NY because everything is so quiet (or maybe it’s only because it’s Sunday) and the houses are smaller, older… well it’s different (look at the pictures if you don’t understand).
After Greenwich, we went to Chinatown to have lunch (at 2.30pm) and then we went to Little Italy, where we had an excellent traditional ice cream (pistachio, of course!!!). We walked in the now famous street all decorated for San Gennaro Feast.
From there, we went to Soho and its particular architecture (many of the buildings were once factories). It’s amazing to see that each area in NY has its own culture, architecture and spirit (you can also see some pictures).
Then, I sugested we could go to the Flat Iron Building and we took the subway to go there. Unfortunately, only a small part of the building was in the sun (if ever you plan to take a picture of it, don’t wait for the end of the afternoon). We had a short rest in the park across the street, where we also took pictures of tree-shaped metal sculptures (I love the light effects on it).
We then again took the subway to see Wall street before heading to South Street sea port. From Wall street, we could already see Brooklyn skyline, which looked like gold thanks to the late afternoon light.
Arriving at South Street sea port, we went to the former fish market (now, you have restaurants and bars there) and found 3 seats to admire the sunset on the Queens and Brooklyn. We stayed for quite a long time and left only at night… many, many pictures later.
My stay here couldn’t end in a better way.
… well, once back at the hotel, I saw on TV that I could wave good bye to my plans for tomorrow as Ahmadinejad (the Iranian President) was in NY and would make a speach in Columbia University tomorrow… guess what wasn’t far from the hotel and still had to see? Yep, Columbia University!!! How did you guess?

The day I saw the blue sky above NY September 12, 2007

Big surprise today: the sky is blue!!!!! I can’t believe it as it was still grey and raining yesterday. Well, I’ll change my plans for today. Yesterday evening I took a ticket for the Empire State building (just in case) and it just seems I’ll use it today.

I left the hotel at 8.30 and arrived at the ESB before  9.00am, wich was a brilliant idea because I didn’t wait at all: thanks to my NY pass I got my ticket from the news stand yesterday and didn’t have to wait for it, then today I skipped the ticket line (more than 50 people were waiting). I didn’t wait neither at the security check (a local specialty), didn’t wait for the 1st lift. We stopped at the 80th floor, wich looked ugly because they are revamping it (you cannot enven reach the windows to see outside). Then I took another lift and of course, I didn’t wait. When I went out of the lift, I had a breathtaking view on NY. Everything looks soooo small from here!!! It’s fabulous! And with the blue sky it’s really per-fect. It took me a while to start taking pictures because I didn’t know what to start with. You can see a picture of South Manhattan, where I’ll go tomorrow.
When I decided to go away, I suddenly noticed that it was a good idea to wake up early: the lines for the lift was so long! and I didn’t see the one for the tickets, but it was certainly even longer.

When I was at the top of the ESB, I was a little cold (i didn’t notice the air had cooled in the night) and I was almost sure I would be very cold on the boat to Liberty Statue & Ellis Island. Once again, I changed my plans and headed to the City Hall, thinking that I would go to the WTC after. But when I got there, I saw it… my bridge… Brooklyn bridge. I couldn’t resist… I started walking and crossed it and arrived in Brooklyn. The bridge is gorgeous and the view from it is amazing. (you have some pictures of both).

In Brooklyn, I did visit the NY  City Transit Museum, Brooklyn Museum, the Botanic Garden and the Aquarium (which was much smaller than I thought, but anyway it was large enough for today and they kicked me off as they were closing).
I ended my visit of Brooklyn eating an ice cream, my feet in the sand of Coney Island Beach.