NYC: Part One

[kv0925]

Okay, got the first couple days of NYC photos done, and the rest sorted. So since I'll probably break it up into a few posts anyway, here's part one! You know the drill, lots of photos under the cut. :)




Thursday was mostly a travel day. We got an early start for our 7:30am flight, so the girls napped a bit on the flights. We flew to Laguardia with a stop in Nashville, which worked out okay because we were hungry for an early lunch on the layover. Flights were all good, though, and we had no trouble getting out of LGA and finding the taxi I'd booked to take us to the hotel.



Our hotel room ended up being on the 44th floor, which was awesome--don't think I'd ever stayed in a room that high! It was a corner room with great views, towards Battery Park and the Hudson River on one side, the East River and the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges on the other.

We had no big plans for the evening, so we decided to take a walk to explore the immediate area.




We checked out Wall Street and took a look inside Federal Hall, which was the site of George Washington's first inauguration in 1789.


They even had the Bible that was used on that occasion, and at a number of inaugurations since as well.






We walked over to the South Street Seaport and the Imagination Playground there.


Fulton Center, a subway/transit hub near the hotel that we used several times. Pretty new (just opened in November 2014), and pretty neat!

Friday. First stop: Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty ferry!


But along the way I made sure we visited this guy: Di Modica's Charging Bull at Bowling Green Park, which has a pretty cool story (as does the park itself). It was still early and a bit of an ugly morning weather-wise, so we were lucky and had it mostly to ourselves. Later on we passed by again and it was mobbed. This is a cell-phone photo, I didn't really get any of it with my camera. Bummer.


In Battery Park we had a little time before boarding the ferry, so we saw The Sphere. This was a sculpture that initially resided in the plaza between the World Trade Center towers. It was damaged on 9/11, of course, and in 2002 was relocated to Battery Park and later made into a monument with an eternal flame.


Nearby, the American Merchant Mariners' Memorial, which I thought was interesting. Apparently (and as you can see by the waterline stains) the sailor in the water is submerged at high tide, the poor guy.


Ferry to Liberty Island. We were a relatively early departure and the weather was still ugly, so it wasn't very crowded. Nice!


Looking back towards Manhattan.


Brrr!


The 1916 torch (designed by Gutzon Borglum, the man behind Mt. Rushmore) on display in the pedestal museum. The glass design was very leaky and replaced in the 1980s with the current torch.


The girls with a full-sized reproduction of Liberty's face.


Heading up to the crown! I was surprised by how steep and narrow the spiral stairs were. Not very accommodating to big or tall people, or small people for that matter!


In the crown. Pretty small up there, but the view was nice!


Impossible to get a good photo out of the windows, though.


Again, I have to imagine that this place is usually a lot more crowded than this! The ugly weather was a blessing in some ways.


I was quite impressed with Liberty Enlightening the World. Nice to finally see her up close.


On to Ellis Island! This was a fascinating place, and I wouldn't have minded spending more time here. The Registry Room was particularly impressive, of course.


I believe at least my paternal great-grandfather passed through here back in the day. Pretty sure someone on my wife's side did as well. So the girls and I definitely felt a connection to the place.














Back at Battery Park, I wanted to check out the Seaglass Carousel that just recently opened.




Pretty neat!


Dressed up for a night at the theater! I splurged a little on tickets to Phantom of the Opera, which the girls really like. It was awesome to see it in person, and I know the girls liked it too because no one fell asleep! :)


But before we headed towards the show, we went to the American Museum of Natural History. It was a pretty amazing place, and every bit as overwhelming as I expected. We went through fairly quickly, but there was lots of neat stuff to look at.


The Hall of Biodiversity was very cool.




I wish I'd brought my ultrawide lens, but I wanted to go light for this excursion so I only had my little 24mm. Ah well.


Over to Times Square, where we had to check out the huge Toys'R'Us store and ride the ferris wheel inside. Shame they're closing this place, and a shame FAO Schwarz already closed too! We also went around the corner looking for the Sanrio store, and that was gone too. wtf, NYC?








For dinner, I spotted the Times Square Hard Rock Cafe across the street, and figured what the heck--at least I knew what to expect from the place. :)


A little more time to kill before heading to the theater for Phantom, so we found Midtown Comics. Impressive place! The girls have recently gotten more into superheroes, and have noticed that we never see any Black Widow action figures. This one is more art than toy, of course--and was priced accordingly!--but I was very impressed. :)


Catching a subway back to the hotel after the show.


And passing by the Freedom Tower/One World Trade Center, which looked amazing in the mist.

And that was Thursday and Friday! I'll probably get through the rest this weekend, so look for more next week! And thanks for looking. :)

Comments

[stpdsxyflndrs.livejournal.com]

Aw, these are great photos! I'm glad that the weather worked in your favor as far as crowds went. I've never seen this view of the Statue of Liberty monument (nor have I seen it in person), so it was cool to experience it through your lens.

Also, that's so cool that you took the girls to see Phantom! I bet this trip is going to be very special to them for years to come. :)

[cp.livejournal.com]

Thanks! More to come shortly! :)

All things considered, it was a fine trip. I do hope we saw lots of things the girls will remember fondly. I'm sure the show was a highlight--it took me 40 years to make it to Broadway, after all! ;)

[nick-101.livejournal.com]

Glad you don't have to deal with much crowds. Great photos. I like the Freedom Tower.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Thank you sir! The tower was pretty impressive, in retrospect I should have splurged on the new observation deck there since it was so close to the hotel!

[audamy.livejournal.com]

It looks like you covered a fair amount of ground in a short time! I think every time I've gone to NYC, I've just gone shopping and eaten a lot of food :P

[cp.livejournal.com]

And this is just the beginning! More to come shortly. :)

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Sweet! Though I'd be very unhappy with just the 24, which is why I bought the 17-40. It was marvelous on our Europe trip with my Lumix covering 24-105.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Thank you sir! More to come shortly!

Yeah, for some excursions I schlepped the full kit: 7D with Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, and Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 (because I wasn't quite brave enough going in to bring the 70-200mm f/4L). Turns out I never once felt odd or unsafe carrying my camera gear around--the only concern in that respect was the rain, really! But some days I didn't want to deal with the bulk and weight, so I just put on the 24mm pancake so I could dispense with the camera bag entirely. It's not a bad walkaround lens, though I definitely missed the ultrawide when I didn't have it along!

[goblue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not disappointed.

[cp.livejournal.com]

I am glad to hear that. :) More to come!