We arrived on a Wednesday and had planned to rent a car for the weekend to go north into the Catskills for some lovely fall foliage sightseeing. All in all, we had a fantastic week, but I have never walked so much in my life. Worth every step, though.
New York is an amazing place to be, because it's so incredibly huge, and every time you turn a corner, there's an awesome building or landmark you've probably seen a dozen times in movies or on TV. I couldn't live there, because it's too big and I would feel like an ant in an enormous colony, without face or name, but I definitely did enjoy this visit. I think each day held its own set of incredible experiences for us, as well as just plain old good times with the family, without entering even one museum! The weather overall was just too nice, you had to be outdoors - the walk across Brooklyn Bridge, the sunset from Empire State, the harbour cruise and the upstate weekend trip - simply amazing.
Mona & Thomas had a wee small (and I mean that very literally) flat in Brooklyn, where Anders and I would be sleeping - mum and dad were in a B & B up the road. The week in brief looked like this:
Wednesday: Arrival and wee look at Brooklyn
Thursday: Walking tour with Thomas: Canal Street, Five Points, Chinatown, South Street, Little Italy, SoHo, Greenwich Village.
Friday: Walking to Manhattan over Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, Financial District, Battery Park
Saturday: Driving north along the Hudson River. Vanderbilt's Mansion. Staying in Saugerties on the Hudson
Sunday: Saugerties Lighthouse, driving into the Catskills. Lake Onteora, Bear Mountain, Mid-Hudson Bridge. Back to New York City.
Monday: Bryant Park, Grand Central Station/Chrysler Building, Fifth Avenue, going up Empire State Building to catch the sunset
Tuesday: Harbour Cruise around Manhattan incl. visit to the Statue Of Liberty. Central Park incl. Bethesda Terrace
Wednesday: Going home :(
The walking tour of Lower Manhattan on Thursday was amazing. Especially because of the route we took, the contrasts were very clear between the various 'hoods. Thomas was a great guide, having spent his fair share tramping the streets of Manhattan for the previous 4 months :) I quickly fell in love with the subway stations because of the various mosaics used to decorate the walls at the tracks - the Canal Street ones were instant favorites, also because they were cleaner than in some of the other places.On our way through Chinatown, we went down to the East River at a point between Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, majestic constructions that
they are. The latter much more so than the former, but I absolutely loved the blue hue of Manhattan Bridge:
In Greenwich Village we turned back, so we could meet Mona after work in Madison Square Park. The below picture is from Greenwich Village:
Friday Mona was off work, and therefore able to accompany us on one of the many highlights of the week - the walk across Brooklyn Bridge:
Sadly, it was the only day we had semi-bad weather, although it did remain restricted to only a few drops of rain but many clouds. The other days were lovely and sunny. Then again, Brooklyn Bridge doesn't really need the sun to shine on it to be impressive, the way a landscape might do. It is an awesome structure and a very lovely walk too. It's quite a thrill watching Manhattan come closer and closer, and at the same time enjoying the views of Empire State Building and the Statue Of Liberty.
Once on Manhattan, we visited Ground Zero, after having strolled past City Hall. The small Winter Garden building, which borders Ground Zero, is a lovely place, and we sat down here inside on the steps for a bit and some of us even went shopping (it's a small mall):
Get the rest of the story in Part II.....
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