Brisbane, QLD


Tuesday, July 26, 2011

THE TRANS-AMERICAN ADVENTURE BEGINS

On 23 June we joined the tour group which we travelled with by coach from New York to Los Angeles.  

On the first day we had a tour of New York with a local guide, Mark, who was passionate about his city. 
He gave us history lessons and interesting anecdotes about all the places we visited.
Here are some of them.
St Patrick's Church is on the left and the Rockefeller Centre is on the right. St Patrick's Church was built in 1858-78. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church of New York.

The Rockefeller Center is made up of 19 buildings which covers an area of 22 acres. It was developed by John D Rockefeller in 1930-33.

One of the most popular Rockefeller buildings is the NBC NEWS building, where every morning crowds hug the windows to watch the recording of "The Today Show" because they are filmed as the background for the show. So everyone is trying for their minute of fame.

The Flatiron building was built in 1902 and was the first skyscraper north of 14th St. It is on the corner of Fifth Ave and Broadway. In NYC all the Avenues go from north to south, while the Streets go east to west but Broadway snakes diagonally across them all. It is a very easy city to find your way around, except when you forget whether you are going east or west, like we we did a few times.


We drove past Wall St which is now closed to traffic since the terrorist threat has heightened. There are no places to park. We saw the huge statue of the Bull  at the end of Wall St but it was surrounded by tourists and not good for pictures.
It was a dull, drizzly foggy morning and the towers were hidden. This is Ground Zero. Behind the fence is where the Twin Towers were and it is being developed into a memorial site. The two footprints of the buildings will become water features. The white tilted box structure with a few blue tiles is actually a museum about the disaster. The building under construction in the middle will replace the towers. It will be taller than the towers were, towering to a symbolic 1776 ft. (the year of independence) Six buildings were destroyed and they are going to be replaced by five.

After the bus tour we were dropped at the ferry terminal for a harbour cruise. The weather wasn't improving but it was still awe inspiring to pass under the Brooklyn Bridge and to view...
The Statue of Liberty. I was stunned at the size of her. See the little people at the bottom.

We had the evening to ourselves so we walked and walked to Times Square to try to buy a last minute ticket to a Broadway show. The crowds and queues were unbelievable. This is the place where millions watch the ball drop at midnight on New Year's Eve. Can you see the little red ball on the tower in the middle.

Bill loved the energy pumping through the square. The tourists in the background are looking at themselves being televised onto.........
this huge screen on the side of a building. Of course we had to look for ourselves and give a wave.
We were lucky to get discount tickets (without queuing) for Billy Elliot. We both enjoyed it very much.
The next day it was "bags out at 6:30 and leave for Philadelphia and Washington at 7:30"

While in New York I was hoping to meet a great blogger, Pat from Mille Fiori Favoriti but unfortunately she was not well enough to meet us. However I did get to hear her voice on the phone and that was nice.


17 comments:

  1. I love that you are getting the history of all these things. At the age of 20, I walked up all those stairs in the Statue of Liberty to her crown. They were working on the arm and the torch or I'd have gone up there. I don't think I could do it now. Maybe going slow for three days.

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  2. I would love to read all of your adventures in the US I started at Part 1 and will be back - thanks for sharing your wonderful trip with us!

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  3. It's been many years since I last visited New York City, but your pictures brought back many memories. I especially remember St. Patrick's Cathedral and the cruise around Manhattan.

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  4. i have seen that flat iron building in dozens of movies and would love to see St patricks. you had to back way way off to get those tall buildings in the photo. i love the foggy one

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  5. Hi There, You probably know more about our country now than I do... ha ha.. I've only been to NYC once and don't remember much. I am not much of a fan of cities and crowds...

    One little misprint (if it even matters)...NBC has the "Today Show" in the mornings. ABC has "Good Morning America".... Those two are in competition with each other. We don't watch either one. ha

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  6. You are so making me want to go!! Great great photos. xx

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  7. Wow, nice to see your photos. It's been over 10 years since I was in NY, but I will be going there again soonish.

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  8. Great reporting Diane. Has brought back memories of places that I managed to see in the snow, slush and freezing cold! I went to Sunday Mass at St. Patricks, the Cardinal-Archbishop was the celebrant, so I luckily got the whole works!
    I wonder was my "friendly" pick-pocker still operating in Broadway, he/she managed to relieve me of my US dollars,but left the Australian and Canadian dollars in my wallet and even put the wallet back! Incredible, but then it was so cold that night, I was incapable of feeling anything.
    Thankfully my theatre ticket was in my front pocket but when I went to have coffee at interval, well it was a bit of an embarrassment, but the theatre people took pity on my and gave me the coffee FREE!
    Cheers
    Colin (HB)

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  9. Your story captured the beat of NYC nicely! Pleased you got to see a show on Broadway - that is a signature part of the city. Looking forward to reading more!

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  10. Ah Diane, after seeing all these great photos, I really need to get up there. Brilliant post!

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  11. We spent 3 days in NY before going to Boston and the Niagara Falls. I liked it, there is a special atmosphere in this town.

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  12. Marvellous 'report', Diane! You certainly saw and took in an immense amount for the relatively limited time available. Some wonderful photographs, as always. I am LOVING being part of your great USA adventure! Thank you for sharing it all with us!

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  13. I hope my Brooklyn accent wasn't too hard to understand, Diane! ;) I am so sorry I couldn't meet you and Bill -- I was looking forward to it so much but the accident I had with my eye was still too painful at that point.

    I saw billy Elliot and really enjoyed it so i'm glad you were able to get tickets to see it!

    You did a wonderful job reporting about NYC! I'm so happy you both ahd a good time here despite the bad weather we had here that week!

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  14. I loved the tour of this magnificent city, Diane. Your report and photos are excellent. Thanks for sharing. Sorry you didn't meet your blogger friend. Ground Zero looks positively eerie.

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  15. A very interesting tour. Lots of features.

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