NEW YORK

We visited New York City after Christmas and spent 3 very full days there. New York City consists of 5 boroughs; The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhatten, Queens and Staten Island. Although you can see these other boroughs most of the tourist attractions are in Manhatten so that is where we went. The total population is approximately 8,300,000 people who speak at least 170 different languages. In fact most of those we heard on the streets were languages other than English. The population is thus very diverse and approximately 36% were actually born outside the United States. The greater city occupies 305sq miles.

The city was founded in 1624 as a commercial trading post by the Dutch, who called it New Amsterdam. It was the US capital from 1785-1790. In 1664 the English conquered the city and renamed it New York after the English Duke of York.

The photo above is of the New York skyline from the shores of New Jersey and the one below is of the Empire State building. Both were taken at sunset on our 3rd day in the city. We had just returned via ferry.


We stayed in a city called Fair Lawn which is in New Jersey. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay with Nellu and Anca, Andrei's aunt and uncle both of whom work in Manhatten.
On our third day we had decided to take a ferry ride to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty, however, we got sidetracked in The Holocaust Museum for 3 hours so by the time we got to the ferry wharf the line was kilometers long so we had to settle for this long distance view which you can see below. Likewise for the Empire State building which we had intended to go up, also had an extremely long line as well. When you are there for only a short time you have to make compromises.


On our second day there we were treated to a personally guided tour of Manhatten by Nellu and Anca. Some of the sights we got to see were Central Park, Union Station, The Rockefeller Center, Broadway, Times Square, Bryant Park, the Plaza, Hyat and Marriot Hotels and Trump Tower. It was great not having to make decisions as they both knew the best routes to take and the right order to see things in. Below is the Rockefeller Center where skaters were making the most of the great weather. On this particular day the temperature was mild, about 66f so of course the city was crowded.


Below is the bridge in Central Park which has been used in several movies. The park itself is about 250 acres so you would need days to see it all.


Below is a group shot, minus Anca, at the entrance to Central Park. Nellu is very tall which in the crowds was very helpful as he stood out amongst everyone else.



Below is Tom's Diner where the sitcom Seinfeld was filmed. It is quite close to Columbia University and judging by the crowd is a popular place although no one could tell us if that was because of the food or the fact that the show was filmed there.




One of our first stops was uptown at the University of Columbia where Nellu works in the computer department. The University itself is huge covering a large part of the city. It does not have too much parkland although the plazas are unique and many of the buildings are very beautiful, particularly the Library. To do an MBA there can cost up to $60,000 a year. It is considered to be number 5 of the Ivy League universities in the USA.



The pictures above and below are of the Wall St Stock Exchange and the intersection of Wall St and Broadway. We visited the financial center on our first day in the city which was very cold and also foggy so you could not see much of the river at all. We took the subway from Hoboken in New Jersey over to 33rd Street and then walked south through Soho, Greenwich Village, Little Italy then Chinatown where we had a great meal at a Japanese restaurant. We went to the financial center from there and finished the day at Ground Zero which essentially is a hole in the ground and a construction site.


All in all this was a great experience despite the crowds which we expected but did not realise they were going to be quite so bad. Will try to do a couple more postings before we leave but cannot promise anything.