Coming back from our Europe trip in 2011, we had arranged to fly from Dublin to the USA, landing in New York. We spent a wonderful 4 days, utilizing the hop-on hop-off double decker buses and doing the tourist thing, visiting all those famous landmarks found across Manhattan Island. Our accommodation was fantastic, staying at the Crown Plaza, right on Time Square!
Staten Island Ferry, New York.
| Tourist Site | Short Summary | Website information |
|---|---|---|
| Times Square | Ever since it was named after The New York Times in 1904, Times Square has made two things abundantly clear: it can be neither replicated nor subdued. We rejoice in that, and remind ourselves of how far this place has come. The Times Square Alliance is proud to continue to work to improve and promote Times Square, so that it retains the creativity, energy and edge that have made it an icon for entertainment, culture and urban life for over a century. | Times Square info |
| The Empire State Building | Soaring more than a quarter of a mile above the heart of Manhattan, the Empire State Building is the World?s Most Famous Office Building. A symbol of dreams and aspirations, the Empire State Building connects with people around the world. A beacon for international and domestic tourists alike, the Empire State Building is a New York City and a National Historic Landmark. The Empire State Building is located at 350 5th Ave New York. |
Empire State Building info |
| Central Park | Central Park was the first landscaped public park in the United States. Advocates of creating the park–primarily wealthy merchants and landowners–admired the public grounds of London and Paris and urged that New York needed a comparable facility to establish its international reputation. A public park, they argued, would offer their own families an attractive setting for carriage rides and provide working-class New Yorkers with a healthy alternative to the saloon. After three years of debate over the park site and cost, in 1853 the state legislature authorized the City of New York to use the power of eminent domain to acquire more than 700 acres of land in the center of Manhattan. An irregular terrain of swamps and bluffs, punctuated by rocky outcroppings, made the land between Fifth and Eighth avenues and 59th and 106th streets undesirable for private development. Creating the park, however, required displacing roughly 1,600 poor residents, including Irish pig farmers and German gardeners, who lived in shanties on the site. At Eighth Avenue and 82nd Street, Seneca Village had been one of the city’s most stable African-American settlements, with three churches and a school. The extension of the boundaries to 110th Streetin 1863 brought the park to its current 843 acres. | Central Park info |
| The Staten Island Ferry | The Staten Island Ferry provides 20 million people a year (60,000 passengers a day not including weekend days) with ferry service between St. George on Staten Island and Whitehall Street in lower Manhattan. The ferry is the only non-vehicular mode of transportation between Staten Island and Manhattan. NYC DOT operates and maintains the nine vessel fleet as well as the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island, Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Manhattan, the City Island and Hart Island Facilities, The Battery Maritime Building and all floating dock building equipment. The Staten Island Ferry is run by the City of New York for one pragmatic reason: To transport Staten Islanders to and from Manhattan. Yet, the 5 mile, 25 minute ride also provides a majestic view of New York Harbor and a no-hassle, even romantic, boat ride, for free! One guide book calls it “One of the world’s greatest (and shortest) water voyages.” From the deck of the ferry you will have a perfect view of The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You’ll see the skyscrapers and bridges of Lower Manhattan receding as you pull away and coming into focus again as you return. A typical weekday schedule involves the use of five boats to transport approximately 60,000 passengers daily (109 daily trips). During the day, between rush hours, boats are regularly fueled and maintenance work is performed. Terminals are cleaned around the clock and routine terminal maintenance is performed on the day shift. On weekends, three boats are used (75 trips each Saturday and 68 trips each Sunday). Over 35,000 trips are made annually. | Staten Island Ferry info |
| The Statue of Liberty | The Statue of Liberty is more than a monument. She is a beloved friend, a living symbol of freedom to millions around the world. These exhibits are a tribute to the people who created her, to those who built and paid for her, to the ideals she represents, and to the hopes she inspires. The Statue of Liberty exhibit, which opened in July 1986 and is located on the second floor in the pedestal of the Statue, traces the history and symbolism of the Statue of Liberty through museum objects, photographs, prints, videos and oral histories. In addition to historical artifacts and descriptive text, full scale replicas of the Statue’s face and foot are also on display. The main historical sections include: From Idea to Image, Fabricating the Statue, Stretching Technology, Fundraising in France, The Pedestal, Fundraising in America, and Complete at Last. The next area focuses on the symbolism of Liberty with sections titled Mother of Exiles, Becoming the Statue of America, Century of Souvenirs, The Image Exploited and The Statue in Popular Culture. The Torch Exhibit includes the original 1886 torch and much altered flame in the lobby. On the second floor balcony overlooking this torch is a display on the history of the torch and flame, explaining the various alterations through diagrams, photographs, drawings and cartoons. | The Statue of Liberty info |
New York subway system
While we were in the Big Apple, and being great train travel enthusiists, we just had to head underground and take a trip on the famous New York subway. so after a hot dog and walk around Central Park, we caught the A Train from Central Park to Times Square getting off at the 42nd Street Port Authority Bus Terminal station.
To use the Subway visit MTA New York City Subway System:New Yourk Subway map
Angels of the Waters fountain and Bethesda Terrace, Central Park New York.
The journey ends
From New York, we flew across the USA to Los Angeles then onto our connecting Qantas flight to Brisbane Australia and attended a blindness conference before heading home to Perth.