New York

We flew into LaGuardia domestic airport which is probably the closest airport to Manhattan. We caught the subway system to Jacob’s uncle Hank and his wife Judy. They are actually from Toorak but decided to pack up and live for 6 months in NYC just for a change in scenery. Hank runs his business back in Melbourne over the internet while he is in the US. They live in the best part of Manhattan, the upper east side, their apartment is in the same building as one of the Trump families and they have 3 doormen, who make you feel really important when you come in.

It was extremely difficult narrowing down what we wanted to do here, there is simply so, so much and we ended up not getting everything done we had hoped.

New York - Need I say more?

This is what we got around to doing:

Museum of Natural History

We were told this place is a must see. It appears everyone else in New York was told the same! The line to get into the museum was out the door down the steps and around the corner. The wait to get in was over an hour. I didn’t’ think I’d ever see a museum this popular!

Anyhow we weren’t prepared to wait this long to we went around the block to the Rose Center for Earth and Space. This place had lots on exhibits on geology, volcanoes and earthquakes etc, as well as heaps of information on the most accepted big bang theory and the formation of the current universe. They even had a display explaining the metric system of measurement for those silly Americans!

Rockefeller Center and NBC Studios

Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets in the middle of Manhattan. It is the largest privately held complex of its kind in the world, and an international symbol of commerce and capitalism. It is named after John D. Rockefeller Jr. the son of the world’s first Billionaire.

Within the main skyscraper at the center is the NBC Television Studios. It is home to the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Late Night with Conan Obrien and Saturday Night Live (SNL). I found it really interesting as I have never been in a TV studio before. The studios are currently undergoing revamping for High Definition, which is more involved than you may think. All the sets have to be replaced and made more authentic because in HD you can see things in more detail, the painted floor boards no longer cut it.

Helicopter Tour

Helicopter tours are offered cheap in NYC. We got one bundled with a bus tour for only $70. When I got to the helipad I was told I had to pay a service fee, a security fee and a locker hire fee all on top of the ticket. I was not impressed. Anyhow the flight lasted about 5 minutes, long enough to go up and come down – and not much else!

United Nations

If you didn’t already know, NYC is home to the UN headquarters. They offer tours frequently and cheaply. There is currently 192 member nations comprising of the UN, when you enter the UN complex you are entering the territory of each of those member countries. So you could say I visited 192 countries in one hit J. Montenegro it the newest member state, joining in June 2006. Pretty much every self governing country is a member. Vatican City and Taiwan are not members. The budget of the UN in 2006 was only $3.8 billion USD which is my opinion is not very much for highest decision making body in the world. I was there on NYE which was also the last day of the current Secretary General’s tenure (Kofi Anan). Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea took over on 1/1/07.

The building was built in the 1960s and it shows. The architecture is reminiscent of the Menzies Building at Monash. It is well worthwhile seeing though, we got to see the room where the Security Council meets as well as the General Assembly. To work at the UN you must know at least two languages fluently.

Empire State Building

Tragically yet again the tallest building in NYC, this is one of the grandest and most spectacular examples of Art-deco architecture I’ve seen. The building looks incredibly sturdy and it is! In 100MPH winds the building only sways ¾ of and inch! There is an observation deck on the top which we went to at 1AM simply because the lines were too long during the day. The spire on the top of the building was actually designed as a landing dock for airships such as the Hindenburg but never got used. The views of the city are great from here and are probably just as good as from the rip-off helicopter.

Central Park

The massive park in the centre of manhattan, many New Yorkers call it their backyard. It is relieving break in the hussle bussle of the rest of the city but is very well used. Most lawns are out of bounds, if they weren’t the grass would get too trodden. We had an encounter with the NYPD in this park one night, ask me and I’ll tell you about it.

Dinner with Clare

One night we went to dinner with some of Jacob’s mum’s friends. Their daughter Clare joined us. She is only 25 and was the Mayor of Dandenong in 2003, she now holds a Fulbright Scholarship at Harvard. Naturally it was fascinating and very inspirational talking to her.

Night Bus Tour

One thing to check for if you decide to do a night double-decker bus tour in Winter is if the bus actually has a lower indoor deck! This one didn’t and we absolutely froze. They cut the tour short it was so cold.

Broadway Musical

We missed out on buying cheap tickets to any Broadway shows. We found a scalper on the street selling tickets to Oprah’s Broadway show – The Color Purple. Oprah doesn’t appear in it, she just produced it. The scalper said the seats were really good. We later found out they were in the back most row on the side, if there were any worse seats they would have been outside the building. The show was in typical Oprah style – feel good and about the emancipation of a black woman from the south. What I found most surprising was the cross-section of the people that attended the show. There were blacks, whites, males and females of all ages, we definitely didn’t feel out of place being there.

Ground Zero

This would have easily been the most depressing places I went to on the entire trip. I almost cried here, which for me is pretty rare. Most of the site is fenced off and you can’t see in. There a few spots you can see in as well as two very tasteful memorials. What’s best about it is the selling of souvenirs is completely banned around the site. The site is now a construction site with the early stages of the foundations for Freedom Tower underway. Freedom Tower will be exactly the same height as that of the WTC buildings. Something you may not know is the WTC is leased by a guy named Larry Silverstein whose insurance payout has been a subject of public discourse, as he maintained that the two planes constituted two separate attacks and sued for an extra $3.5 billion after the 9/11 attacks.

Wall Street

This place should be called “Fortress” Wall Street. The epicenter of the world’s economy and capitalism in general this naturally makes it a terrorist target. The streets surrounding the building are permanently blocked off and there are now only two entrances. All the windows are fortified too. To get to one of the doors you have to pass through a security checkpoint first. Only staff are allowed in.

NYE

NYC for NYE is a very popular choice for people. Over a million pour onto the streets to watch the ball drop in Times Square.

This is the description of it:

“The lighted Ball descends 77 feet in sixty seconds. The Ball is a geodesic sphere, six feet in diameter, weighing approximately 1,070 pounds. The Ball is covered with 504 Waterford crystal triangles which this year have been engraved with the names of those lost in the World Trade Center attacks, 696 multicolored light bulbs, 96 high intensity strobe lights, and 90 rotating pyramid mirrors.”

It sounds amazing but really doesn’t look all that good, especially when you are looking at it from 8 blocks away. The ball hits the bottom at exactly midnight and then fireworks and confetti rains down from the buildings above. It is a great sight to see, but I most likely wont be doing it again anytime soon.

To get anywhere near the ball you have to get there at 3 in the afternoon and wait for 9 hrs. Not only that, there are no toilets available, so people don’t drink. Not to mention that you are outside in temperatures hovering around zero.

As unappealing as it may sound, I made lots of new friends that night and ended up having a really fun time waiting for the ball to drop. It was the first NYE where I have not had a single drop to drink in a very long time!

Closing

NYC is an absolutely amazing place. In my opinion it is a truly global city and functions as one so very well. Melbourne seems like a small town compared to New York. Their public transport is amazing even though most of it was developed a century ago. What you may not know is how safe this place is. It was recently distinguished as having the lowest crime rate of all major US cities. I never felt uncomfortable anywhere I went. People where friendly, helpful and talkative; something I’d never expect from a city with an extended population of 18 million people.