New York, Continued

I asked a policeman if he knew what building this was. He was directing traffic (or standing in the street doing nothing). He looked at the building and said he didn't know what it was. I thought it was so nice looking that everyone should know what it was. Turns out it's just a bunch of offices inside.
Nice.
Here's Saks. Can you guess what street it's on? Yes, 5th Avenue.
The Rockefeller Center. It's very tall.
The stuff in front of the Rock-
The flags next to the Rock-
The ice skaters at the base of the Rock-
And a quick peek at Central Park. More on that later.
Okay, not as impressive as the one I saw yesterday...
The Candy District?
Go Big Red.
I didn't even go inside. Too tempting.
Tourist trap. "One dallah, one dallah, one dallah." But, I thought my grandkids would get a kick out of it.
This was the inspiration for the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode.
Seriously. That's all they do in this city is honk. They must really rake in the bucks on this.

If I remember correctly, this is a tribute to Duke Ellington. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

And the end of another day in the Big Apple.
Not to worry, I'm almost done with the travelog.

Liberty Island, Ellis Island and Battery Park

We're on our way to the Statue. As we were driving there, this was our best view of Ground Zero. It was raining and I had to take the photo from a moving bus.

There she is... right through those posts.

We're on the boat now, and this is the view behind us. It's the financial district. Wall Street and such.

New York.

Ellis Island

New Jersey

Here we go. We are the first boat to arrive! Nobody's there to clutter up my photo!

We were the very first to come around on this side. Everyone else went to the back where the entrance to the stairs were. Thus, here's the lady and my man.

Majestic.

Inspiring. She fills me with patriotism.

Around the backside, there are these funky statues. Here's Alexandre Gustave Eiffel holding his Eiffel tower.

Here's Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor of the Statue of Liberty. Did you know that Eiffel helped with the framework for the Statue some 13 years before he started his Tower?

And have you ever seen her from the back?
On October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty.

Agnes, this photo was taken for you! Remember when I asked you if you knew why she was green? This is why.


In case you can't read that, it says:

"The New Colossus" Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Emma Lazarus, 1883

This is looking up on the inside of the Statue.

This was as close as we could get since we weren't fortunate to have tickets to her crown, but the elevators weren't working so you'd have to climb all the way. No, 156 steps were enough for me, thank you.

Bucket list? One less.

Back at Battery Park, we saw some interesting tributes to War Heros. This one is for the Korean War Veterans.

This next one is a little disturbing. I couldn't get to the other side of the gate to get the whole thing, but if you look closely (if you want) you'll see there's a guy in the water getting pulled into the boat. It's for the Merchant Marines. During World War II, a Nazi U-boat attacked a merchant marine vessel, and while the marines clung to their sinking vessel, the Germans photographed their victims. If you want to see another photo of it (not mine) click here.

This is the Sphere that stood at the site of the World Trade Center and was badly damaged on 9/11.

Click on this photo to enlarge it enough to read what it says.

Following the completion of the National September 11 Memorial, the Sphere will be returned to its original location.

This is the East Coast Memorial for WWII Soldiers.
Here are walls of names of people killed in battle. There were six or eight walls with names covered on both sides. War is a bad idea.
I love my country. I love the freedom we frequently take for granted. I feel grateful for those who serve our country to keep it free. I feel sad for those families who have had their loved ones taken from them because of war.

"As I have loved you, love one another."

New York City, Day 1

We pulled back into port earlier than expected. I guess they were anxious to get rid of us. Here's Manhattan Island a little before 7:00 AM.

While eating our last breakfast onboard, the sun started to rise. I liked the reflection from these buildings.

Although I had seen her at the start of the cruise, I was anxious to see her up close and personal. I would have to wait one more day.

You'd think people wouldn't leave the pumpkins just sitting there, but they did. Who says New York is full of crime?

Remind you of an upcoming parade?

This is the New Yorker Hotel. We did not stay there, unfortunately.

Our first destination, the Empire State Building!

Going up?

Interestingly enough, (to me anyway) was that the same day we went here, later that night they showed Sleepless In Seattle on the TV. I couldn't keep awake long enough to watch all of it though. Obviously, not Sleepless in NYC.
Did you know that the E.S.B. was built in only 410 days? That meant building 4 1/2 stories every week! Now that's fast work! (7 million man hours, 4,000 men per day). And it only cost 41 million dollars (back in 1930).

This is a mosaic on the floor. I debated about whether I should take this picture, and the girl working there noticed my hesitation. She said, "take the picture, you won't get back by this way again." I took the picture.

Finally, at the top. Check out the differences between this picture and the next. This one is the E.S.B. (bad hair...it was seriously windy! And I should quit wearing turtlenecks! )

This one is at the top of the Eiffel Tower one year ago (where it was also windy). In fact, this photo was taken on 11/16/08!

Looks like I was thinner a year ago! Better get back to the gym, quick!

Views from the E.S.B.

Below is the Chrysler Building (the one with the fancy top).

Close-up

And back there...those trees in the distance? Central Park. You'll see it later.
So much to see...so little time...unlike Sydney.