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November 25, 2005
Big City views
Visiting the Big Apple for the first time - and on one's own - can be a bit daunting, but I still enjoyed the opportunity. These pictures date from my first trip to the Big Apple in August 2003 and as you can see - it rained, frequently in torrents! It is certainly an interesting place, one I would like to explore further if opportunity serves. In the meantime here are some of the sights I did manage to catch in a two day visit.
Downtown from the ferry!
Interestingly the hotel I booked online looked absolutely nothing at all like the pictures they displayed on their website! At least I will know better for the future. New York cabbies turned out to be much better than their reputation (thanks, no doubt, to Hollywood!) suggests, but most shop keepers, hotel staff and the odd public official (Fire Fighters and Police apart) were every bit as surly and unhelpful as I had been told.
A fast RIB fire boat patrol on the East River above Brooklyn Bridge.
That said, I met some super people - ordinary New Yorkers - who made my stay interesting and showed a side to the city that was positive. It was very soon apparent that, despite TV and film images for the rest of the world, the Big Apple is about as typical of mainstream US as London is of the rest of the UK. Naturally a visitor wants to see as much as possible - I avoided the UN HQ - so I took in St Patrick's Cathedral, the site of the Twin Towers and 9/11, the Jewish Museum, Broadway, 5th Avenue and Times Square. I would have liked to take in a show, but didn't have time, so I did a "Round the Island" trip by boat instead and took in the USS Invincible and her consorts, a floating maritime museum on the piers at West 42nd Street.
USS Invincible and her preserved consorts, a "Fletcher" Class destroyer and an early missle carrying submarine.
As I said, too little time and too much to see and do. Another visit is definitely called for!
Posted by The Gray Monk at November 25, 2005 11:06 PM
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