New York City

My upcoming posts will be about my trip in the US last March of this year. My mom and I, together with Jairus on some of the cities we visited, explored key parts of the country in what we call a race to exploration.

Jairus went ahead of us a couple of weeks earlier and my mom and I just followed through and met with him in New York City. Our point of entry was in Detroit but where we really got off was in New York City.

Upon arrival in, we took the AirTrain JFK that connected us to New York City Transit subway trains that took us to Central Manhattan.


We stayed in Residence Inn Times Square, a couple of blocks from major broadway theaters and Times Square.


It was already late in the afternoon so we had dinner of pizza and pasta.


I had my brother take this picture with Chrysler Building at the background. At first we thought it was the Empire State Building because they look similar. Chrysler was the tallest building for a short time before Empire State surpassed its height. However, it still holds the world's tallest brick building title up to date. Because we thought it was the Empire State, we approached the building and thought it will be a great start of touring around the city but we were disappointed that we are looking at the wrong one.


On the way to the Chrysler Building, we passed by the Grand Central Terminal, considered the largest train station in reference to the number of platforms that it houses.


For this trip, we purchased New York Pass, a service that allowed us to visit numerous attractions for the price of one. All of the attractions we visited in New York are part of the said pass. It even included passes for CitySights NY, a company offering sightseeing hop-on, hop-off tours buses.

We decided to turn our back instead and headed to Broadway to visit Madame Tussauds New York, a wax museum featuring stars and celebrities in their life-like figures and stances. I'll have a separate blog about this visit.


We also went to Empire State Building after Madame Tussauds. I'll be blogging more about this later on.


This is what our home in New York City for a few days looked like, a Studio room with kitchen and dining amenities and a small living room.


View from room on a Sunday morning. Contrary to the previous days, the streets were almost empty.


We went out to hear a mass in a nearby church. On the way, we passed by a lot of places.

Park


Madison Square Garden


Church of St. John the Baptist. We heard mass Sunday morning and was surprised to see only about 6-8 people, including ourselves, who heard the mass.


After the mass, we walked across the street to wait for a CitySights NY tour bus. For that morning, we planned to visit the Statue of Liberty.


An enlargement of a Picasso sculpture, Bust of Sylvette, in front of New York University's Silver Towers.


World Trade Center site, fondly called as "Ground Zero". An area where the World Trade Twin Towers and other buildings once stood when the September 11, 2001 attack happened.


Trinity Church, one of the oldest churches in the US. On its courtyard is a cemetery.


We were dropped off in Battery Park. We walked towards Castle Clinton to claim our ticket for the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. I'll be writing more about this in another day.


Cruise


Statue of Liberty


After our trip to the Statue of Liberty, we hopped on a bus again on our way to the Rockefeller Center. There are a lots of things we passed by along the way. Manhattan Bridge, a suspension bridge connecting Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, carries 7 lanes for road traffic, 4 tracks for trains, and a dedicated path each for pedestrians and bicycles.


The largest Chinatown in the US.


East Village, including Pistahan, a Filipino Restaurant.


United Nations Headquarters.


We went down at the Rockefeller Center. We first planned to take the Rockefeller Center Tour but it was already full by that day. We instead got tickets for the next day and went to the NBC Studio Tour. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed inside the NBC Studios.


We walked from Rockefeller Center back to our hotel. We were surprised to passed by and see the Philippine Center right in New York City, located in 5th Ave.


New York Public Library, one of the largest public libraries in the world.


We stayed in our hotel for a couple of hours and then we left again to take the Circle Line Semi-Circle Night Cruise.


The next morning, we woke up early and went for the Rockefeller Center Tour.

In front of Rockefeller Center, the Rockefeller Plaza.


GE Building, formerly known as the RCA building, home of the headquarters of NBC.


Rockefeller Plaza and skating rink. In the middle is a statue of Prometheus.


We hopped-on another tour bus and went around the city to see more sights.

Cops


A wall of messages that served as a memorial for 9/11 victims.


An ad of DKNY that featured the World Trade Center Twin Towers, preserved.


Broadway


Times Square


Fashion Street


On our last night in the city, we went around Broadway to see if there's anything good we can do. We were too tired to watch a play but we instead went into stores in the area.


We left the city early next day. I'll be blogging more about other spots we've been in the city on the coming days.

More pictures are available in multiply. Just add me as a friend to view them.