I think there are about four major bridges that connects Manhattan to its neighboring boroughs. The most famous of the bridges is undoubtedly the Brooklyn Bridge. Believe it or not. when it was built 120 years ago, it held many world records.

At over 1 mile long, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world and was also the bridge ever built with steel wire. The most common measure of suspension bridges is the length of the main span. The main span of the Brooklyn Bridge is just 500m … that is just a quarter of the main span of the longest suspension bridge today.

Another record that the Manhattan Bridge held then was that it was the tallest structure in the US.

Today, the Brooklyn Bridge is a national historic landmark. I decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge in the late afternoon so that I could get across to Brooklyn just before sunset. I had wanted to take shots of this famous bridge from Brooklyn with the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan as its backdrop.

I did not realize how popular the Brooklyn Bridge was. There were a lot of people, and a lot of tourists too, on the bridge. It was here that I took a lot of time taking pictures with my newly acquired lens.

The Brooklyn Bridge is basically a six lane bridge with an elevated center walkway for pedestrian and cyclists.

It was really bright that afternoon and the lighting was perfect (more…)

The morning is dominated by this cruise. For once, I so look forward to a few hours of sitting and enjoying the sights. The CityPass I had, included a 2 hr Manhattan Island Cruise.

So, I got there at shortly before 10AM. It was later I found out that the next 2 hr cruise will start only at 11AM. That is an hour wait and where the jetty is, there is nothing around interesting to burn the hour. So, I paid $4.50 and upgraded to a 3 hr cruise which leaves immediately.

The cruise goes around the Manhattan Island counter clock wise starting from the 42nd Street pier. Here are some of the more interesting pictures I took during the cruise. First there is a four level golf driving range, I had seen this in TV or movies before but not in real life. I find it kind of strange that New Yorkers would take up golf since I don’t think there are any golf courses nearby … certainly not on Manhattan.

On the cruise, there are live narations. I am amazed at this guy who kept on talking for 3 straight hours. Anyway, when we came to this pier, he did mention something about Titanic berthed here. I must have heard it wrongly because as far as I know the Titanic’s maiden voyage is from Europe (England?) to new York. The Titanic never made it to the US. You know what this pier is about? New Yorkers?

Some of the best thing in New York are free. (more…)

It rained cats and dogs the entire day that one Saturday. So, I had a quick change of plans and decided that it’s a day to be spent indoors … at the museums. For the entire day, it was spent at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History.

Many of the museums in New York are located along what is known as the Museum Mile which runs along 5th Ave by Central Park. Along this stretch are ten museums .

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, also known as the “Mets” is not the same as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The Mets is actually one of the most influential art museum in the world along with the ranks of the Lovre in Paris. It is the home of numerous important art pieces too.

Being a Saturday, it was very crowded. Looks like a lot of people had the same plan as I did too … spending the day at the museums. I first headed off to the cloak room. There was a long line which took me about 10 minutes before I could hand off my bag and jacket to them. All I needed for the day was my camera.

Got myself the all important audio guide, a map of the museum and I am all set. Checking the floor plan, it appears that there is no way I could cover everything as I also wanted to visit the other museum too in the afternoon. They have an extensive collection and are located on two floors. I decided to cover the several Asian Art sections and European Paintings, and leave what ever time I had roaming the place until it’s time head off to the Natural History Museum.

After my visit to Europe earlier this year when I had a chance to visit the Lovre and the Rijksmuseum, I had gathered quite a bit of knowledge about European Art. There was quite an extensive collection of Rembrandts here.

The painting below by van Gogh is called Mother Roulin And Her Baby. (more…)

After the visit to the WTC, I headed next to the direction of the NYSE. Lower Manhattan is really small and compact. Seems to me like everything is about 5 minutes walk from one place to another.

I wanted to check out the Federal Reserve Bank. It is here that a quarter of the world’s known gold bullion is stored deep inside this building. There are 10s of billions of dollars worth of gold bar stored 5 stories underground. The gold here are mostly owned by governments and international organizations around the world. As countries made payments to each other, gold bars could simply be wheeled from one country’s vault to the next. This is not the only Reserve Banks in the US … this is one of twelve but this is the biggest of all.

My guide book says that there is a exhibition of “The History of Money” and is opened for visitors but I just could not find the entrance. Every door seems to be heavily locked … no opened welcoming doors. I am guessing that they do not open for visitors anymore after 9-11. Anyone could confirm this?

Security around the New York Stock Exchange is really tight. All around the block, there are barricades designed in the form of street art. Also, there are not only policemen but there are heavily armed SWAT team patrolling the place. They are armed to their teeth. I wanted to take a picture of them but had second thoughts!

Right in front NYSE is the Federal House, where the bronze statue of George Washington looks on down Wall Street.

It is on these steps of the Federal House that George Washington took his oath as the first President of the United States in 1789. (more…)

So … where were you on 9-11 when the World Trade Center was attacked?

For me I remember that morning well. When I switched on the TV in the morning, the first plane had just hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. It was all surreal. At the time, all the report was saying is that a small plane hit the tower … and then everyone saw it … a second plane coming in from the south and hit the other building. I still went to work that morning, I thought I had to because my company was only days from cutting over to production a $30 million project. Before I left home, one tower came down. Driving to work, I heard on the radio that the second tower came down too. Nothing much happened at work that day even though we’re in a different country and thousands of miles away. It’s the day the world stopped. This is just my little account of the event.

In New York, there are over 8 million people. I know everyone of them has something to share of that day when it happened, if you ask them. It happened to them and their city. The 9-11 event will stay with them for the rest of their life.

The first plane screamed just over the light brown building below before crashing into the North Tower. Everyone knows that both 1 WTC and 2 WTC collapsed but seven hours later 7 WTC (48 stories high) too collapsed from the damage and fire. When I was in NYC, they had completely rebuilt the 7 WTC building (the glass tower on the right).

I went very early to the Tribute WTC Visitor Center. If there is one thing I wanted to do for the day, I wanted to visit the WTC site. I was determined to get myself signed up for the walking tour around the perimeter of the site of the Freedom Tower. It costs $10 for the entrance to the exhibits and another $10 for the walking tour. I believe that the CityPass covers entrance to the Visitor Center because I was only charged $10 when they found that I had a CityPass with me.

The visitor center was well organized into several galleries. The first gallery started off with showing us how life had been in the Twin Towers back then. How it was a little city on its own … how people’s life centered around the towers. It was not just a complex of office buildings but a real community just like your own neighborhood.

The next gallery shows the entire event on that day it happened. (more…)