Short trip to NYC flying EK & SQ F

[amaroo]

New York Day 1

We booked an Early Access 9/11 Museum Tour, starting 8:15am before the museum opens to the public. This is an exclusive 1h small group tour, highly recommended!

Wise choice - the only way to see the Museum IMO.

 

[mmchow]

New York Day 1

We booked an Early Access 9/11 Museum Tour, starting 8:15am before the museum opens to the public. This is an exclusive 1h small group tour, highly recommended!

Last photo taken before all hell broke.

This is what I'm waiting for. Thanks for the heads up. I'm booking this tour as I type

 

[boomy]

The plan for day 1 was to stay in Lower Manhattan where our hotel was, see all the attractions in the area and later on move upwards in following days.

The next stop was Wall Street, just 10 min walk from One World where I've booked us a 2h Financial Crisis walking tour around Wall Street and Downtown.
I'm very interested in finance but my +1 is exactly the opposite, that's why I only told her about this tour AFTER I've booked it and possibly failed to mention it's going to be at least 2h
Little I knew this stunt will later cost me an equal time of strolling through Victoria Secret's flagship store...

Meeting point was at the Stock Exchange building.



When I first came to NYC with my parents in the 90s we got to enter the building and witness all the action. Sadly this is no longer an option after 9/11.
Nowadays only a small fraction of the trade is still done in this building. Most of the trade currently done online by people sitting in flash office buildings in Midtown.

Our guide pointed out many historic buildings once owned by the biggest companies and instead of being preserved they were modified to apartment blocks, even halls and even Starbucks and its only a matter of time until the stock exchange building will also become obsolete.

Federal Hall National Memorial.



Built in 1700, served as the first Capitol, saw the inauguration of George Washington as the first president and where the Bill of Rights was introduced by the first congress. New York was the capital for short period before it permanently moved to Washington D.C.



The original building was demolished in 1812 and the one we see today was built in 1842 as the Custom House and later the Treasury. It eventually became too small for the former and too unsafe for the latter so it eventually became a national memorial.

Federal Reserve Building.



Holds the worlds largest depository of gold in its vaults.
In this building all the important people met trying to find solutions to the latest financial crisis.

The Wall Street Bull.



Interesting story behind it. The bull was sculpted by a rich Italian immigrant as a gift to the city of New York. He spent $360,000 from his own pocket to create it and in Dec 15 1989 he placed the bull, at night in total secrecy beneath the giant Xmas tree in front of the Stock Exchange building.

 

[Pushka]

I love the way NYC is laid out so that even if you have never been to a particular address, you know exactly where it is.

 

[boomy]

I love the way NYC is laid out so that even if you have never been to a particular address, you know exactly where it is.

Yes, it's one of the easiest cities to navigate.

 

[boomy]

Next we took Uber and crossed the bridge to Brooklyn.



We planned to have lunch at River Cafe but for some reason it was closed. Too hungry to look for another special place we went across the road to Shake Shack.



Not the most stylish meal but their burgers are good!

View of Manhattan from the Brooklyn side.





Walking back on the bridge is a nice experience.

 

[boomy]

After walking on the Brooklyn Bridge we headed towards Battery Park with the intention to take the ferry to Liberty & Ellise islands. By the time got there we didn't feel like visiting the immigration museum on Ellise and since it's not possible to climb Lady Liberty anymore we decided to take the free ferry to Staten Island, do roundtrip and see the statue from far.

Leaving Manhattan.



Same ferry as the one we took.



This is the closest view we got. Good enough for us.





Short stopover in Staten and back on same ferry.

 

[PLANT]

Get to highline walk while weather good...... Worth doing at night for the effect!

 

[boomy]

Last stop for today is One World Observatory.



Interesting sculpture, not sure about it's meaning.



Below is the World Trade Centre Transportation Hub. There is also a beautiful shopping centre which was scheduled to open in two days, more details and photos later in the TR.

The slick Hilton Millennium is on the background.



View from the top (100th floor).



Explorer tablet provides info about different landmarks.









And night view

 

[mmchow]

How was the queue to One World Observatory? Did you get the express pass or just standard?

 

[boomy]

How was the queue to One World Observatory? Did you get the express pass or just standard?

If you have MasterCard Platinum then sign up for MasterPass and you get free express pass upgrade.

The normal queue looked quite long but not too terrible. No queue at all for express pass holders.

 

[mmchow]

If you have MasterCard Platinum then sign up for MasterPass and you get free express pass upgrade.

The normal queue looked quite long but not too terrible. No queue at all for express pass holders.

Thank you for the info. Another tips going into the book

 

[boomy]

Thank you for the info. Another tips going into the book

Hope you can use it Book normal ticket, take the print with you and show it at the counter on the day together with your card to receive the express pass.

Since the normal tickets are for same day use only I would wait until 3-4 before the wanted date to book.
The reason is to try predict the weather as much as possible as you don't want to be up there on rainy day.

 

[boomy]

New York Day 2

We started the day with a walk along Hudson River until we reached the High Line.







The park was built on disused elevated train line. It's 2.33km long starting below 14th street all the way up to 34th. It was officially opened to the public in Sep 2014.

 

[amaroo]

We planned to have lunch at River Cafe but for some reason it was closed.

Bummer... always next time.

 

[get me outta here]

what's up, no nude sunbathers?

Bummer... always next time.

 

[mmchow]

Hope you can use it Book normal ticket, take the print with you and show it at the counter on the day together with your card to receive the express pass.

Since the normal tickets are for same day use only I would wait until 3-4 before the wanted date to book.
The reason is to try predict the weather as much as possible as you don't want to be up there on rainy day.

Good idea re checking weather before booking, didn't think of it. Thanks for the tips.

 

[PLANT]

Go back at night time as the show from the hotel you actual walk through/under and then turn around is famous for.... Not having curtains in the bedrooms..... Just saying

 

[boomy]

Go back at night time as the show from the hotel you actual walk through/under and then turn around is famous for.... Not having curtains in the bedrooms..... Just saying

Lol, I should pay more attention next time

 

[boomy]

From the end of High Line (34th street) it's relatively short walk to Empire State Building but we didn't go up because already booked tickets to Top of The Rock tonight so instead we visited the worlds second largest department store (Shinsegae in Busan is currently the world largest).





Later we walked the streets down towards Chelsea. On the way we passed by the Flatiron Building.



One of my favourite NYC landmarks, I remember visiting the city for the first time in early 90s with my parents and my dad (an architect) was so enthusiastic about this architectural masterpiece.