Teeny Tiny Lady Liberty

I'd never been to New York prior to this year, but I've now been five times, all of them for work trips. I've seen some iconic things, such as the Empire State Building, the New York Stock Exchange, the Brooklyn Bridge, Radio City Music Hall, Times Square, the guy dressed as the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, the Freedom Tower, the 9/11 Memorial, the Wall Street Bull, and even some scuzzy Occupy Wall Street protesters.  I've even seen Citi Field from the plane, though not in person, but Yankee Stadium is still eluding me.  But there was one main thing missing: The Statue of Liberty.  Every time I take off or land, I look out the airplane window scanning the landscape, hoping to catch a glimpse of it, but to no avail.  Despite my efforts, I'd never even laid eyes on it.  Until today.  We had a business lunch at a nice restaurant by the water, and as I looked out, I saw it.  Barely.  Way off in the distance, I finally had my first view of the most iconic American landmark.  So here is a picture of me with the Statue of Liberty.  Yes, it's that tiny spire rising from the horizon to the left of me.  Hopefully I'll get a better view at some point on an future trip.  It wouldn't take much.

Freedom Dork

Today I'm in New York again, and one of my coworkers and I ate lunch at a restaurant that overlooks the Freedom Tower.  At the time, we thought it'd be cool to take pictures of each of us in our sunglasses with the tower behind us.  However, after looking at the pictures, we mostly look like dorks who are trying to look cooler than they are.  But whatever, it's the Freedom Tower.

A Room With a Historically Significant View

I mentioned yesterday that my hotel room looks out over the World Trade Center site and that several new skyscrapers are being built.  One of them is One World Trade Center, aka 1WTC or The Freedom Tower.  When completed, it will be 1,776 feet tall and will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.  You can see it on the left in the picture.  The building on the right is Four World Trade Center, which is also getting close to being finished.  It was pretty cool to get a chance to see everything while it's under construction, and I'm looking forward to seeing the entire complex when it's complete. 

The Bull and the Memorial

I've been in New York City twice before, and both times were this year and were trips for my job.  The first time I stayed near Times Square, so at least I got to see some things around there.  The second time I stayed in lower Manhattan, but it was a quick trip so there was no time for me to see anything extra.  Today I'm in NYC again, as I had meetings during the day today but actually had some free time in the late afternoon and evening, so I decided to use the time to see some sights.  

My last meeting of the day was in a building right by the famous Wall Street Bull.  Or at least I thought it was the Wall Street Bull.  It is a bull, but it's not on Wall Street.  Thanks to the fine ladies and gentlement of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the bull is now blocked off, and a cop is stationed there full-time to manage the long line of people to ensure only one person or small group at a time can be by the bull.  Being a tourist, I of course wanted a picture with the bull, but since I didn't have a burning desire to touch its nose, horns, or any other part of it, I settled for a quick picture from outside the fencing.

I then looked up where Wall Street actually was (a few blocks away), found it, and walked all the way down it, seeing the famous buildings along the way.  I also saw the last bastion of Occupy Wall Streeters, where five disheveled rebels were cordoned off into their own small designated area from which they were free to both yell and smell.

I stayed at the W New York Downtown, which overlooks the World Trade Center site.  They are still in the process of building the new WTC skyscrapers around the perimeter, but in the center is the 9/11 Memorial which is essentially complete, with the exception of the museum, so I went to see it.  In the footprint of each of the twin towers is a square pool with water flowing down the sides, across the base, and into a void in the center.  The names of all the victims are inscribed into the edges around both pools.  In the picture above you can see that part of what appears to be the skyline behind me is actually one of the new towers reflecting the skyline opposite from it.  The memorial was really nicely done, and I got to spend the remainder of the evening walking around and reflecting on the most significant world event of my lifetime.  I'm really glad I had the opportunity to see it.

Concrete Jungle

Today I'm in New York City.  Last time I was here, I got to stay in Times Square.  This time, our customer was in the Financial District, so we're staying in Soho to be closer to them.  Hotel prices were absolutely insane but I managed to secure a reservation at a decent Hampton Inn for a not-as-expensive-as-the-rest rate.  Fortunately for me, I got upgraded to a room on the top floor with a private balcony.  Here I am on my balcony.  Unfortunately it's a cloudy, rainy day here, so the view isn't all that great.

Empire State of Mind

Usually when my company has meetings for everyone in the US, we go somewhere in California, where we're based.  But this time, for whatever reason, they decided to have our meetings in New York.  We're staying in a hotel right on Times Square.  I've never been to New York City before, so I was excited to see the things I've heard of and seen on TV.  Unfortunately the trip is full of company stuff, so there won't be time for me to go much beyond Times Square to see things like the 9/11 Memorial, Wall St, and the Statue of Liberty.  But I did have a little time today after I landed to see Times Square itself as well as the outside of Radio City Music Hall (and an enterprising street performer).