New York: Day 3

Statue of Liberty – Wall Street – Tiffany’s – Ground Zero – Chinatown –Little Italy – Bryant Park

We did quite a fair bit on Day 3. Itinerary looks choc a bloc if you refer to the above. We actually woke up really late that morning. We initially thought we had adjusted to the different time zone, patting ourselves on the back for doing such a good job overcoming jet lag. Little did we know our bodies would completely zone out on us the moment we slept.

Alex woke me up on Day 3 going, “Wake up honey! It’s 11.30!!”

Groggy me said, “That’s not possible. What is it....pm?

Needless to say we jumped out of bed and hurried out of the hotel as quickly as we could to make the most of the rest of the day. We decided to go see the Statue of Liberty. To do that, we had two options.

1. Take the Staten Island Ferry – It’s free and it goes past the statue. The only hitch was we had to run around the arrival and departure halls of the ferry terminal the moment the ferry docked to make the same ferry back to New York.

2. Take the ‘tourist’ boat ride to Ellis Island which also stops on the island where the statue stands. The cost of this ride was $20 per person.


We took option 1. Free-la! Also I wasn’t too keen on spending time up close to the statue when we could be doing other things. I have never been a big fan of national monuments. Not back in Malaysia, not in Australia and the same is said for the US.

Staten Island Ferry Logo

Seats on the ferry

The logo at the ferry terminal

See the ice blocks floating in the sea? Brrr..... cccooold

Staten Island Ferry going the opposing way

The view of Brooklyn Bridge from the ferry

View of the city from the ferry

Ellis Island

Another view of the city from the ferry

Statue of Liberty!

Statue of Liberty (2)

Statue of Liberty (3)

The ferry ride was really cold. There were 3 decks on the ferry and we took our time on each level, trying to get the best shots of everything. However each time we couldn’t last very long on the deck before having to run back in because our ears and nose were frozen to the point where they hurt. Alex had a beanie so he wasn’t running back and forth as much.

Alex on one of the decks on the side of the ferry

There were also sea gulls gliding above us which looked really pretty against the bright blue sky. I tried my hardest to capture photos of them flying above us.

Picture of the park benches covered in snow.

After that we took the sub to Wall Street. We saw the statue of George Washington, the New York Stock Exchange Building, Trinity Church and one of Donald Trump’s buildings. The Trinity Church was the location where National Treasure was filmed. Remember the clue in the movie, “Heere at the wall”? It was referring to the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway, which was initially called D’Heere Street.

Trinity Church

The photo speaks for itself

NYSE side entrance (New York Stock Exchange)

NYSE front entrance - love the lights depicting the US flag on the front columns

Statue of George Washington

One of Donald Trump's buildings. Not sure if those trimmings are solid gold?

Tiffany's!

Our next stop was World Trade Center - Ground Zero that was surprisingly only a short walk from Trinity Church. There wasn't much activity going on at the site. Everything was cordoned off.

Ground Zero

Chinatown was a buzz of activity and I love that we found a Chinese bakery where I could have my all time favourite – chi pow tan kow – in a direct translation says, egg cake wrapped in paper. I love, love, love it! Every time I walk into a Chinese bakery, I have to buy this. Good ones are not too sweet, light and fluffy. Back in Penang I remember asking my parents to drive around the island just looking for stalls that sell this. To this day, I only know of one stall that sells them. It’s the stall at Pulau Tikus Market at night. YUM!

We next walked into Little Italy. It was a very ‘Italian’ area, for lack of a better expression. Haha. Nice restaurants with al fresco sitting, lovely Italian men with the nice accent standing outside trying to bring customers into their restaurants. We enjoyed the atmosphere of the street but at the end of our walk, decided to not patronize any of the restaurants.

As we were walking back, we went by Bryant Park and the ice skating session for 2008-2009 was still ongoing! So we decided to ‘carpe diem’ and go for it. :) It was a big mistake to my bottom. I remembered the days when there was an ice skating ring at the Bukit Jambul shopping mall (that was like 12 years ago) and I thought I would probably still have the ability to move without falling as I did in the past. How wrong I was! Age adds to clumsiness, stiff knees and a drop in flexibility. I fell a total of 4 times! One time I fell on my bum and then slid on my side and nearly turned face over onto the ice. Hahaha! I really made a spectacle of myself on the ice.

The ring all lit up - It was beautiful

Ugly bright blue rental skates :)

It was good fun though. I would do it all over again if I could. I couldn’t be bothered with the embarrassment of falling. Some folks standing on the outside of the ring watching said, ‘I will never do this. It’s too humiliating.’ For me, it’s a case of if not now, then when? The later in life I choose to do this, the higher the risk of a fractured wrist, twisted ankle, busted tooth or even severed finger! Hahaha... Over dramatic. But really, did it occur to you that if you do fall, someone who could not stop in time could easily skate over your fingers? Especially since your arms would be spread out in attempt to soften your fall. Got you thinking there eh... Hehe.

Look at their grace, their movement....

My stiff clumsiness

Hehe...

This was our wrist band for entry into the park.

So thus ended Day 3. Although we started out late, we sure made up for it with all the spots we covered, all the walking and ice skating! I really enjoyed New York.

cheryl