Wed 1 May - New York City, NY

Local lower Manhattan exploration today...

 

After a good night's sleep we realise that our apartment is perfect for our needs - all we need for our time here and in the heart of Chinatown that just makes us smile every time we step outside. Half Hongkong, half NYC.

 

We start with a couple of shots from inside the apartment...

 

Below is a photo looking towards our bedroom, with kitchenette on the right and bathroom on the left. The kitchen has a full stove and fridge so we can see quite a bit of home cooking to make up for all the meals out so far.

Looking back from the kitchen we have a dining table and a lounge space with a coffee table.

No TV in this apartment, which suits is fine. Chris, our host, seems to be a man aligned with our views and does not see a need for a TV. Certainly our TV time in the US has been a handful of hours in the last 4 months and every time we've tuned into American TV we quickly get annoyed with far too many ads and far too little intelligent contents and we turn it off again!

This is our bedroom with windows facing the street. We have lots of natural light and ventilation.

The fantastic view of Henry Street from our bedroom window. We can also see a Chinese lady doing her morning exercises outside the apartment block to our right. Love it!

The stairs can be a bit scary but the climb is no higher than what we have at home in Manly.

Pretty steep. Many feet have climbed these steps over the years...

We say hello to any neighbours we meet and we get hellos back and sometimes giggles too. A Chinese schoolgirl was singing in a lovely voice here today so we complemented her of course, she was a bit embarrassed. We feel we are fitting right in!

The entry corridor and the front door to the outside and to Henry Street.

From our doorstep looking right we see the Manhattan Bridge.

We start the day with a little orientation and grocery shopping so we are equipped with water and some food items for breakfast and dinners. We find the local supermarket - C'Town - and take our haul back up to the apartment. Yes, up the stairs again (and another few times today). We expect we may go up and down the stairs 3 or more times each day. Good training!

 

Today is an exploring on foot day with no set destination or agenda except generally south / southwest and wanting to see the waterways.

 

We head first past the Civic centre of Manhattan, with the City Hall and Court Houses but what leaves us inspired is this fantastic Frank Gehry building. We believe that some people have described it as a crumbled paperbag... Undeserving, we think.

Close by we find the pedestrian entry point to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge - we will definitely do that, but another day.

We want to see Hudson River and across so we head westwards toward the Hudson and quickly realise we are close to the World Trade Centre site, so decided to explore it further...

This building will soon be the new Number One World Trade Centre and it will be more than 1770 feet tall when finished (we guess that's more than 100 floors but not sure exact numbers, not specified in the spiel).

Close by is St Paul's church, which is the oldest continuously used building in New York City. It also was relatively unscathed in 9/11 (debris covered their graveyard) yet is only a block away. The church became a gathering site for mourning and comfort during the days and weeks after 9/11 and now serves as a permanent memorial to that event.

The memorials inside the church are very moving and the exhibits and stories made us a bit teary.

This altar displays the photos of missing people that were stuck to St Paul's fence by relatives and friends during the rescue and recovery so relatives could be identified.

Badges of fire, police and rescue crews have been donated from all over the world by fellow officers showing solidarity. The badges still flow in and are all on display.

As we are just around the corner and already reflecting on 9/11 we decided to get passes to go to the memorial. We get security screened and our passes are checked three times before we reach the site. At the moment there is a lot of construction as new tower buildings are rising around the site.

A view of the South pool on the exact footprint of the collapsed South Tower. The outer rim of the pool lists all the names of those who died. What you may note in the background is the spire of St Paul's - with trees in front that are part of their old graveyard.

The 9/11 Memorial is not a place of smiling for the camera.

We liked the pools as a memorial but generally the sight feels a bit sterile with so much granite and straight lines etc. There is more to grip your emotions in St Paul's Church.

Looking towards the North Pool, also with names of all the victims.

This tree is known as the survivor tree. When the buildings collapsed the stump was found and nursed back to health and transplanted back here This tree is the only plant remaining from the site of 9/11.

Quite a heavy going morning so we head for the open spaces on south west Manhattan, next to the Hudson River. This photo is looking south and we are super impressed by all the waterfront work done. It feels quite Parisian.

Approaching Battery Park - you can see the Statue of Liberty over Hans's shoulder. Unfortunately she's closed due to Hurricane Sandy so the closest we will get will be from the Staten Island Ferry.

On Battery Park, Hans says it was nothing like this 29 years ago (his last visit here) which was then an area filled with bums that there was no reason to walk through. Great work NYC.

Not all art in the area is in good taste.... And before you get ideas the artist thinks these are eyes. Hmmm, not what Hans saw...

Ellis Island, the old Immigration centre for America is in the photo below. It is also still closed after Hurricane Sandy damage. There is evidence everywhere of work still being done to fix all the Hurricane damage on many streets here in the south end of Manhattan.

The Battery Park area looks fantastic. Great open space and some nice art too. This memorial to lost Merchant Sea Men was very realistic

And then we found the fun... These guys were buskers and gymnasts and they were a riot. They attracted a huge crowd ith their antics. Just look at the muscles - amazing strength and flexibility. The three black guys say they are brothers and have been doing this for 10 years. From Bronx, of course, or so they said...

Of course they chose some innocents from the audience to jump over and made a big deal of the token Asian guy. Their humor collecting money made sure they got good donations.

Yes - they did it - running forward somersaulting over 4 people.

We continued on and ran the gauntlet of lots and lots of ticket agents trying to sell us helicopter tours and cruises. It was too much. It put us off the idea of a commercial cruise.

We reached the Staten Island Ferry terminal and vowed the take that ride, for free, another day. We are still getting our bearings.

It is 1pm and we have not stopped so time for a break. When in Rome... Or NYC financial district... do as the locals do. Food truck lunch. We chose Hibachi - a Korean rice, Vegies and cooked chicken dish. It was not as moist or saucy as we would like but was filling and good value. We found a nice sunny space with a table and chairs in Wall Street Place and ate our meal.

So we are accidentally in Wall Street so we have to see the New York Stock Exchange on Broad Street. You can't get close to it anymore but its still easy to identify on the right. We think the pink banner is for a new listing of a company.

Across the road is a National Memorial building which once held American Congress - so of couse they have this recognizable guy out the front... We mean George Washington, not the guy posing next to him!

Back to the water's edge - this time on East River. Again a lot of work has been done to make the foreshore bike and pedestrian friendly. This sign of course caught Hans' eye... Oh no! Definitely not in our plans!

Pier 15 has been converted fully to public space and we found ourselves sitting on nice chairs in the sun for quite along time. Just lovely view back over Brooklyn and wonderful to relax and soak up the atmosphere.

This open space could become a favourite place of ours for coffee with a newspaper. We sat on the seats behind Hans but plenty of people were also sunbathing on the grass (there was a second section) or just snoozing.

We wander under Brooklyn Bridge and its a full on reconstruction zone post Hurricane Sandy. This place - Jeremy's Ale House - managed to stay open. They had bras hanging down for the ceilings...

We figure during peak hour it might be a bit crazy with traffic here. There were already some "words" exchanged between a traffic cop and a taxi driver here and it was only 3pm.

The traffic cop's vehicle. Too cute. The Brooklyn Bridge is in the background and also appears to be getting some serious repair work. We were not sure from Hurricane Sandy damage or otherwise.

A bit more pottering in our local area and some more shopping.

 

Firstly we stop for wine at a liquor shop which is locked down more than a bank. Forget browsing - say what you want through what looks like bullet proof glass then exchange money for wine through a larger slot. Perhaps just one too many robberies...

At a nearby Asian grocery store we find our favourite brand of Malaysian Curry sauce - Curry Ayam. After 4 months we are so excited we buy 2 packets.

Of course we also had to play with the cat. Not sure about the hygiene factor but you only live once.

Back home after a huge first day to have some wine and a home cooked pasta boscaiola. Delicious.

A relaxed night to catch up on some blogging and emails and do some planning. Too much to see and only 29 days to go! Good night.

 

 

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