NYC High Line

The HighLine was built by the New York City Railroad between 1929 and 1934 to eliminate the dangers of street level city rail traffic.  The elevated trains carried meats, produce and dairy to warehouses and factories at the third floor level and the route became known as the "Life Line of New York".

In 1999 a group of community residents rallied to safe the decaying structure. Today the HighLine is an urban oasis along Manhattan's West Side. The elevated track is now a city park winding its way through the trendy Chelsea and Meat Packing District where apartments go for between 2 and 20 million USD. It's tracks still remain but are now part of a mixed surface of wood, concrete and stone walk ways surrounded by lush green areas filled with grass, flowers, fountains, art installations and viewing platforms allowing visitors great views down many of the cities streets. 

We started at W 34th street. The path looped along the Henry Hudson Parkway until it went up W 30th St. We followed it all the way to the end at Gansevoort Street where we had a delicious lunch in the Gansevoort Market before making the track back to W 34th street.  Its a great venue to relax and enjoy on a summer day.

One Wold Observatory: See Forever

Located on the top floors of the newly finish One World Trade Center the multi level observation center offers panoramic views of NYC however the experience starts many floors below ground level at the Global Welcome Center. 

After buying your tickets or checking in you pass through security and enter a large hall where a world map is displayed. There we learned interesting statistics about visitors to the observatory. Today the most represented country was Germany. After leaving the lobby and ticket area we entered an area known as Voices and Foundations. In the dimly lite queue visitors can feel and touch a simulated stone representing the bedrock on which this structure is built and hear the personal stories told by those who built the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. 

As we emerge from the winding pathways we reach a bank of modern elevators known as Sky Pods which will shoot us to the 102nd floor in less then 60 seconds while riders enjoy a simulated view of New York from its beginning to present day. This was a cool experience watching as we climbed altitude the years and growth and development of the city occurred at an accelerated rate. 

After the short elevators ride we found ourselves squished into the Forever Theatre on the skyscrapers 102nd floor where a view of city life plays out. Then the wall opens vertically giving visitors their first glimpse of the city skyline. That glimpse is very brief as the wall lowers almost immediately. 

Like cattle we are then herded into a room and directed down a flight of stairs into a high pressure sales area where employees of the observatory swarmed like bees in a final push to up charge the visitors by encouraging them to rent iPads designed to help identify key locations as they view the skyline of the city. This pressure created a significant bottleneck preventing many people from reaching the next views of the city on the 101st floor easily. 

As if that push to pay more wasn't enough the next view of the city was along a small balcony which lead to their income generating cafe. Here visitors had the option to purchase overpriced pain au chocolate or artisan sandwiches with the hope to be lucky enough to find an available table on which to eat. It was a chaotic mess with many visitors unsure what to do ending up in the cafe only to discover that they needed to turn around to take the stairs down on more level to the 100th floor, known as the Discovery Level, where the first full panoramic view of the city were available. 

The Discovery Level allows visitors a full360-degree view in all directions. It also includes the sky portal, a 14-ft wide circular disc hat provides real time views of the streets below. It also offers an interactive skyline known as City Pulse which helps guests connect with and observe landmarks around the city. 

While the view were amazing and you truly could See Forever I have to agree with my father that the experience was no where near as dramatic and awe inspiring as the observation deck of the previous World Trade Center. 

While the sky pods were very cool the smooth and quick ride left you barely realizing that you had just shot up 102 floors. It lacked the experience that the old slower elevator with 102 lighted numbers that slowly counted up. 

The Forever Theatre was also a let down as you were so close to the wall it was hard to see much other then what was right in front of you. When the wall finally opened exposing the amazing view it was so short lived you barely had a chance to figure out what direction you were looking before the walls dropped back down and you were ushered like animals into the sales slaughter. 

The discovery floor certainly had awe inspiring views but it lacked that open air feel with the wind rushing by which helped give value to how high you really were. The visitors were so cocooned behind safety glass that it was hard to really appreciate what it was really like on the other side of the glass.  It's an amazing facility and a valuable venue but that intense experience the old observatory provided wasn't the same. 

Submitting our Chinese Visa Application

Knowing that the Consulate of the People's Republic of China visa office has a very narrow window of hours we got ourselves up early and braved Monday morning NYC commute. Thankfully our departure location was a tad closer then home and we managed to arrive a few minutes after they opened at 9:00am. Traffic was as expected but it moved along fairly quickly and it wasn't long before we pulled into the pier 83 parking garage. 

After crossing the busy Henry Hudson Parkway we made our way to the visa office entrance on the Sid of the consulate. A long series of two lines had already formed along West 42nd St. One line was the visa application line. The other was for completed and approved Visa pickup. The line moved in spurts and before we knew it the security guard was checking to make sure we had the correct application before letting us inside. Next we passed through airport style security with a metal detector and baggage scanner.  They temporarily confiscated my camera but since phones and pictures were strictly forbidden I wasn't bothered. I collected my claim check and proceeded to the next line to pick up a number for the visa applications. Our number was C166. They were currently on C130 when we all set down. 

The room reminded me of the DMV where they called numbers at a series of windows and you sat on chairs lined up in rows waiting for your number to finally be called. It took roughly an hour before our turn came. Thankfully the young lady processing our visa application was very efficient. After reviewing the documentation she issued us a receipt and advised us we could pick up our passports and visa's this Friday. 

With a busy day in the Big Apple planned we made our way to the door where I claimed my camera back before leaving. It was a painless process since we were prepared. So many people were obviously not prepared and slowing down the lines.  Now it's just a wait and see. 

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Flashing forward to Friday.  This return trip my parents decided to stay at the beach house and sent us to the city to retrieve all our visa's at the Consulate of the People's Republic of China. As we did earlier this week we braved the NYC morning commute once more.  After successfully parking at the Pier 83 Circle Line parking garage we made our way across the street to the consulate.

Immediately we noticed that the lines were significantly longer then they had been on Monday.  The pickup line was twice as long as the drop off which was the complete opposite. Thankfully the line moved along quickly and before we knew it we made it through security and got in line 9 to turn in our pickup ticket and exchange it for a number.  With a number now in hand we got in th second line. I assume this turn in your receipt and grab a number was a way for them to pull our passports instead of having us stand at the window waiting. 

On Monday we noticed a fair number of people cutting the lines delaying our turn at the window. Similarly this time a gentleman tried to cut us but annoyed enough from our previous visit I prevented him from succeeding and sent him to the back of the line. He was clearly irked that I called him out but went to the back of the line where he belonged. 

When we got to the window she already had our passports ready. After a quick swip of my credit card everything was paid and we left passports in hand. As a joke I called my parents and told them "we have a little problem. Everyone got their visa's but dad.  I immediately sensed their panic and quickly told them I was kidding" I'm not sure they found it as funny as I did. Now we just have to look forward to the trip and the exciting adventures that it will include.  
 

Empire State Building 86th and 102nd Floors

The 103 Story Iconic Empire State Building is more than one of the tallest buildings in New York City. When built it was the tallest and was surpassed by the once mighty Twin Towers and today by 1 World Trade Center. Built in the Art Deco style and named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World it is a New York City landmark. It is an example of the mighty building boom that hit NYC in the early 1900’s for the title of the world’s tallest building.

Costing nearly 41 million dollars to build at the time it has 6,500 windows and 73 elevators and 1,860 steps from street level to the 102nd floor. It has 2.77 million sq ft and encompasses 2 acres at its base. It construction was completed in just 410 days and it passed 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building not just in NYC but in the world.

Its completion marked the beginning of the great depression and early on much of the building remained empty. During these hard times it got the nickname Empty State Building as a result of that low rent rate. It has had many notable and newsworthy events during its long history. They include plane crashes and over 30 suicide attempts. Only two of those who attempted survived.

There are 103 floors total with 85 for commercial office space. There are two observation decks. The main deck is located on the 86th floor and is an indoor and open air observation deck surrounded by high fencing. The remaining floors are part of the Art Deco Tower with a final indoor observation deck on the 102nd floor at a height of 1250 ft.  Capping the tower is a 203ft pinnacle which brings the building to a total height of 1453ft.

Its reign as the tallest man-made structure in the world lasted 23 years and was surpassed by the Griffin TV Tower in Oklahoma and as the tallest free-standing structure in the world for 36 years before it was passed by the Ostankino Tower in 1967. It’s longest world record was as the tallest skyscraper which it held for 42 years until the North Tower of the World Trade Center passes it in 1972.

During our visit we stopped at both observations decks. The 86th floor includes both indoor and outdoor areas surrounded by a high fence to prevent jumpers.  This floor offers 360-degree views of the city and is an impressive way to really experience the height and grandeur of the building. Being up here reminded me of my visit to the World Trade Center in 1990 with my family and it was a great experience to look towards the new tower having recently been completed. Looking down on the city was surreal,  people and cars look like ant’s on the ground and you can watch the planes fly by at eye level.

After the 86th floor we again boarded the elevator for our next stop on the 102nd floor.  The 102nd floor is a small enclosed room with windows overlooking the city. It couldn’t have been more than 400sqft and had large steel beams chopping it up further. They were clearly the support for the super structure above. It was an interesting experience being so high up above the city and nearly on the same level of the World Trade Center observation deck.

I preferred the open air of the 86th floor over the more confined 102nd. There is only one level above and it was designed and planned as a loading dock for zeppelin’s but it was scrapped as a result of the extreme updrafts that shoot up the buildings sides. It is rarely visited and only usually be VIP’s.

We wrapped up our stay after taking many pictures and again boarded the elevator for our long ride back to the 86th floor where we changed elevators which took us back to the main level. The elevators were surprisingly fast and it wasn’t long before we were back down on street level looking up again at the iconic building.

 

 

 



9/11 Memorial

While the 9/11 Museum is not yet open the Memorial is and stands as a tribute of remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Architecturally it is an 8 acre park with 2 reflecting pools that are placed exactly in the foot prints of the  Twin Towers. Each person lost has their name inscribed on the bronze panels surrounding the two reflecting pools.  Every day white roses are placed along the names of those victims who would have been celebrating a birthday.

The park has been planted with more than 400 Swamp White Oaks which can reach heights of over 60 feet and live up to 300 years.  Among the Swamp White Oaks stands one special tree called the “Survivor Tree”.  This Callery Pear tree was planted on the original World Trade Center plaza in the 1970’s and was found buried in the rubble and severely damaged but still alive. Nursed back to health it has been returned to the WTC site standing just west of the South pool.

The reflecting pools are each 1 acre in size and have 30 foot deep black granite walls where 480,000 gallons of recycled water are pumped at a rate of 4 ft per second or 52,000 gallons per second. The flowing water creates a cascading waterfall which gives off a nice, peaceful background of sound that almost nearly eradicates the sounds of the city bustling around it. Together the two fountains make up the largest man made waterfalls in the nation and are called Reflecting Absence.

In addition to the trees and reflecting pools a new museum is being built. The museum stands today where the sphere once stood in the center of the WTC plaza. I saw the sphere in Battery Park during my visit to the Statue of Liberty. While not complete we were able to look through the windows of the museum and see iconic Survivor’s Staircase and the Twin Tower Tridents.

It was most inspiring to see the large crowds all stand in silence and look down deep into the reflecting pools as if they were looking deep into the soul of America. Each person there most definitely left with a tear in their eye and a sense of pride in their country. While I reflected on my visit I couldn’t help but remember all those years ago when my family and I visited the Twin Towers and rode the elevators to the observation deck on the 107th and 110th floors of the South Tower. I can remember feeling like were in the clouds and watched the planes fly by nearly at eye level. It makes me wonder what those visiting that day must have seen and experienced.

Later in the day I will visit the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building and I look forward to visiting the observation deck of One World Trade Center when it opens in 2015.