On the first full day, Wall Street and NYSE was the main highlights. NYC is designed like a grid. So its easy to navigate. People in NYC rely a lot on walking and the subway. We took a morning exercise of walking from 32nd street all the way to downtown. Passing through TriBeCa, Soho and then to the Financial district. And I chanced upon "Gray's Papaya" while walking the streets. Gray's Papaya is actually one of Anthony Bourdain's favourite hangout whenever he's back in NYC.
Since 911, visitors are not allowed into the viewing gallery of the trading floor unless you are someone rich and famous. There were a lot of security officers throughout the street which makes the whole place feel so "uptight". The bull that used to be infront of NYSE was taken away. Both of us joked that the economy is getting worse that the bull is missing in action.
We ventured two blocks up to the Federal Reserve Building because it was also the FOMC day. Such coincidence. But I was told off by a lady officer when I wanted to take a picture of the building. She shouted across the road that I "cannot take a picture of the main entrance of the building. But I can take it few steps down the street". I thought to myself, "what kind of logic is that?" Pictures of the building will still be taken and a professional camera person can still shoot the main entrance even if he take the picture "few steps down the street". Anyway, this is one of the many incidences I had with these idiosyncractic Americans.
Of course, we visited Ground Zero where WTC once stood. Massive works are being done to reconstruct a new building to commerate the heros and the dead.
A trip to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty is a must if you're in the Financial District. Because the ferries to these islands are just across the street. One of our frustrations with Americans is their slowness in being efficient at things they do everyday. Imagine I had to queue for more than 1 hour to get the tickets to these islands. And when it was our turn at 2pm, the ticketing officer shouted across to us that ferries to Ellis Island had stopped because there "will be no time to visit both islands today." Crap, if they had just worked more efficiently, many of us can still get on the ferries to Ellis island. And mind you, the queue wasn't that long. It can't even compare with du Louvre's kind of long queue. 2pm and there won't be enough time? Well, they knocked off at 5pm. SHARP.
So onwards to Statue of Liberty Island. More will be shared in another entry with more idiosyncractic behaviours and rudeness I encounter.
The more exciting part of the day's trip, to me, was walking Brooklyn bridge. Nevermind that Victoria Beckham's son was named after this place. This bridge had been featured in so many movies, but somehow, Godzilla immortalized this bridge and etched deep into my memory. Maybe because it was the only movie I know that Brooklyn bridge crashes down.
The trick is to take a subway to Brooklyn and then start the walk on the bridge towards Manhattan. Because the skyline of Manattan is more beautiful as you walk on the bridge. And we planned it such that we walked in the evening to enjoy the sunset view of Manhattan as well as the night view.
That said, its still better just to skip my long post and go straight to see those pictures.
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