So we got up early and headed through Niagara falls past Rochester and then took a right at Syracuse. I happen to be a fan of "The Office" and I was delighted to past through Scranton Pennsylvania. From there we went straight through New Jersey accross the Washington Bridge onto the north part of the island. We left our car at JFK international airport in the longterm parking. The hostel was located on the Upper Westside right near Central park and on the subway line so it was perfect.
We first ventured out into Central Park. This park is huge (843 acres) and it's surounded by a rectangular wall of Manhattan City. Inside the park you will find a huge reservoir, a zoo and aquarium, and a fair. The park is a great place to walk around and enjoy.
Because I am a Computer Engineer, don't be suprised I stopped by the Apple Store on 5th Avenue. It's a pretty cool place and it's open 24 hours for your Apple computing needs. I love my Mac.
Heading south on 5th Avenue we come across some famous sites such as St. Patrick's Cathederal and Saks 5th Avenue. We stopped at the famous Rockefeller Center. This is an extreemly famous broadcasting (NBC studios) and culture hub of American. At the center of the 19 building complex stands the centerpiece, "30 Rock". At the bottom is Rockeffeler Plaza where you can skate in the winter and they place a huge Christmas tree (I remember it from Home Alone). So, we went to the "Top of the Rock" to catch a good sight of the city.
The above picture is looking south at the bottom of the Island. You can see the huge Empire State Building reaching into the clouds. And in the far distance you can see the cluster of huge buildings in the Financial District where the World Trade Center used to be. Below you can see looking north and the huge outline of Central Park and the city surrounding it.
Just south a few block you can find Grand Central Station. This place always reminds me of Armageddon when the meteor's crash through the walls into the grand halls within. From there we caught a subway north along Park Avenue to the Upper East Side. We got off near the Metropolitan Museum of Art ("The Met"). You can see the Muesum on the right in the picture below. The perminant collection contains over 2 million pieces of art from around the world. You can't even begin to see and understand all this museum has to offer. From their we walked a few blocks north to the Guggenheim which was being restored on the outside. We actually didn't go into the museum but we should have.
Times Square!!!This is where Broadway intesects 7th Avenue stretching from 42nd to 47th street. Like Red Square in Moscow, Champs-Elysees in Paris, Trafalger Sqaure in London, Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Times Square has become a world landmark and a symbol of the very city it is in.
Down at the southern tip of Manhattan Island is the Financial District. The first site we saw was the crater left by the World Trade Center. There were tonnes of people here checking it out. They had an amazing photo display of September 11 and a very detailed time line of all the events that occured that day. There is still a lof of construction going on in the area and you can still see visible damage on the buildings surrounding when the WWC came down. You can see in the right hand side of the picture below a support girder left in the shape of a cross from the World Trade Center. The last time I was in NYC, I actually went up the World Trade Center to the top. Very amazing.
Just a few blocks away is Wall Street. Wall street is the heart of the world economy. Below your feet lie the gold bar vaults from countries around the world. When two countries make a transaction, they just move the gold from one vault, down a few vaults to another countries vault. Walking around down here makes your feel like you are on military lockdown. There are huge barricades to stop any unwanted cars from entering the area. There is a building very close to the picture below called Federal Hall where George Washington took the oath as the first President of the United States of America on April 30th, 1789. I thought that was interesting too. 
Wall Street is very close to the Southern Tip of Manhattan and we walked down to the shore where you could see Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty in the distance. As you curve around the east side of the island you get an awsome view of the Brooklyn Bridge. This is an Engineering masterpiece, and I still remember Prof. Collins talking about the bridge in our Civil Engineering class. This bridge is 5, 989 feet across and spans the east river and it connects Manhattan to Brooklyn. I am very happy to have walked across the Brooklyn bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge on the west coast.
There is so much more to this city then just the tourists locations. The food is spectacular. We had dinner in little Italy and it was some of the best food I have ever eaten. There is so much to this blog that I have left out and I can only urge you to come see this truly amazing city.On the way out we went up through Harlem. Harlem is a great part of the city with some amazing architectural and cultural sites. We went through Columbia University and saw the Apollo Theatre. From there we went back to JFK to get the car and head out to Boston.
GO TO NEW YORK CITY !
