NYC: Day One (Lower Manhattan)

Hey Folks!

I flew into JFK at 2:30pm on the 18Th of September. Excluding my short stay in England this is my first time in an English speaking country since I left. The culture shock is pretty huge. The diversity, the grime, the language, the air, the cars, and the buildings just blow you away.

Taking a cab with another couple I met on the plane we headed down into Brooklyn. Brooklyn is the new New York, with people running from the rates that Manhattan brings. The borough has started to gentrify with young couples and indie hipster's moving in.

The hostel I stayed in was really nice. They offered free Internet, free long distance calls (as many of you know), a nice LCD with a Nintendo Wii, and 3 large common areas.

New York is all about walking. The first day I stopped under the Brooklyn Bridge for the best pizza in NYC at Grimaldi's. Vince Vaughn enjoyed his slice as well.

My next stop was walking across the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge, a must for any trip. You get a great view of Lower Manhattan via the Gothic arches of the bridge. The walk takes about 30 min and you arrive smack into the city at City Hall.

The exterior of the Woolworth building was pretty special. This Gothic structure was once the largest in the world, way back in 1913.

Being on an emotional high from walking across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, I wasn't prepared for St. Paul's Chapel. St. Paul's served as a refuge for rescue workers on September 11Th and is linked forever to Ground Zero.

I could barely contain myself walking through this chapel. You can't help but become overcome with emotion in this special place. You can see in the pictures some of the reasons why.

Ground Zero is frightening. You can walk under, through, beside and even over some of the current construction. Walking around these sights you realize how immense these building were. Its just plain eerie. The vacant space is so powerful. The area the once was still is. Its hard to explain.

Here are the sketches of the Freedom Tower. The tower should be completely finished by 2010-2012. The memorial site will be finished in 2008.

I didn't realize that there was a Metro stop directly under the buildings linking NYC with Jersey. The new station is open and the train moves right through the site.

I continues my walk around Lower Manhattan with a trip down Broadway to Wall St.

You can visit the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall where George Washington was sworn in as the first President.

From Wall St. I walked down to Battery Park at the most southern tip of Manhattan.

There she is. My first glance. (Below)