Trip to Newyork

I was on a official visit to Boise, Idaho. I wanted to fly to New York on a short sight seeing trip. Well, I booked a Hotel on “WestsideRiver” in Manhattan via Hotelbook.com and got the tickets done in United Airlines. Before travel, I just collected as much info as possible aboutNew York including a colored map of city’s subway trains.

I reached in the morning at JFK airport in Long Island. New York is basically comprises of couple of Islands in the sea. As the plane landed, I could see the sea beaches in Long Island and also the skyscrapers in Manhattan far away. The JFK airport is very close to the sea. After landing, I washed my face and headed towards the Skytrain and reached the station “……”. There I took a one day suburban train pass ($7) and headed to Penn Station. My cousin who stays atConnecticut was already there waiting for me. One of the problems in Penn Station is that there are hardly any chairs etc to sit in that place. I can see many people sitting on the floor. We headed to a Pizza Hut and then started our city tour by walking.

We walked till Empire State building and waited couple of other friends who stay in long island to join in. New York is made of couple ofIslands which are connected by road, by tunners, by ferries. The long Island protrudes like a Rhino’s horn intoAtlantic. The Manhattan is between the mainland and the long Island. Manhattan is a rectangular stretch of land with width (west to east) of about 4 km (miles?) and with length (north to south) of about 21km. So, one can literally walk from Westside of Manhattan to East side. The skyscrapers in New York are in two clusters. The first cluster is in the lower half of Manhattan which comprises GE Building,EmpireStatesBuilding and UN etc. The second cluster is completely down south near Wall Street, WTC etc. So, most sky scrappers are in two clusters of about 15 sq km each.

New York

The best way to take a look at all the skyscrapers is to take a ticket to the 87th floor of Empire StateBuilding orRockefellerBuilding. You can also take a ticket at night to these buildings to see the city at night.
We took a train to WTC area and walked to the site. There is a PATH railway station below the WTC site which connects Manhattan with New Jersey. From WTC, we walked till Wall Street and New York Stock Exchange. Near the New York stock exchange towards the pier for ferry, you can see the famous bronze bull. I could see couple of Indian guys taking a picture of another Indian guy sitting on top of the bull as one guy exclaimed, “Bull on the Bull.”

I took a tour of New York and Statue of Liberty on a Helicopter at a Helipad at West Side. I got this tour details at Penn Station. I wanted to visit UN, but it was too late that day.

One can take a Ferry to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty. One can also buy a $75 bus tour of New York which includes tickets

EmpireStateBuilding and also Statue of Liberty. Some ferries to Statue of Liberty do not allow the passengers to land in theIsland. So, once must check before embarking on the ferry. In the evening one can walk in Time Square area or see a Musical in one of the many theaters in that area. One can also see Radio City and NBC and sit near Rockefeller center.