Day 29 - Sunday 6 January - New York Day 4

Next time we come to New York we need a week minimum... and that's just to do touristy stuff.. hrmm..

So didn't sleep well. Was restless and delirious for ages.

Woke up around 7:00 and got going. Based on the weather I flipped our day around, because it was set to maybe get sunnier a bit later, also the air/sea/space museum closed a lot earlier than the 9/11 museum.

So first up, oh, yeah, breakfast again at Starbucks across the road.

Next up, headed uptown. Took a C train from Jay St Metrotech to .. oh whoops, we've gone the wrong way. A station down at Hoyt-Schermerhorn. Took another C train back the other way to 42nd St Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Took our time walking down to the waterfront, and there was the USS Intrepid! Arrived a little after 10:00 when it opened. It became quickly apparent we weren't going to have enough time here.

Transform your sad, tiny apartment into an uncluttered sad, tiny apartment - Manhattan Mini Storage
Photo by Stu

USS Intrepid

Firstly we went through the USS Growler submarine which was very cool. But there were a group of people immediately behind us so I felt like we were being pushed through without getting a chance to look at anything. I took photos of everything, so I guess I can look at them later. The sub had been preserved pretty much in its original state. Dad would have loved the 50s/60s equipment, and probably could have told us what all the radio equipment was.

USS Growler

Cruise missile on USS Growler

Missile hangar

Stu in USS Growler

Officer's stateroom

Periscope of the USS Growler

Control room and attack centre

Corridor and crew sleeping compartments on USS Growler

Aft torpedo room

Outside on the pier they have a Concorde that I think anyone can walk up to and have a look at. But you can't go on it unless you're booked on a 60 minute tour. I've already been on a Concorde in Seattle, so was happy to forego that.

British Airways Concorde G-BOAD

Then we went onto the carrier. We started on the hangar deck, and went in to see a short film on the USS Intrepid and its service. Then wandered around the foredecks and forecastle and anchor deck, which reminded me somewhat of the Queen Mary 2 (ok so not really, but hey, big ship and anchors!). There were so many nooks and crannies you could go into and look at, but I was already stressing about the time.

1:40 scale replica of the USS Intrepid made out of Lego

Anchor chains

Wandered down the hangar deck looking at stuff. Again, really needed much much more time here.

Douglas (A4D-2) A-4B Skyhawk

Went up into the tower bit, and looked and some of the control rooms.

Radio station

Then out onto the flight deck. Sooo cool. Took photos of all the jets they had out on deck.

Grumman F-14D Super Tomcat

Lockheed A-12

General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

Flight deck of USS Intrepid

Did I mention there's a Space Shuttle here?? Right on deck! Although housed in a pavilion.

Space Shuttle Pavilion

Space Shuttle Enterprise

Soyuz capsule

Inside the Soyuz capsule

Lego mosaic of Space Shuttle over New York

Then the sun started to come out. Which is my curse. Take all the photos in the cloud, only to have the sun come out.

Island control structure of USS Intrepid

Went to the loo inside, to add to the collection of cool places I've been to the toilet.

USS Intrepid

Then we headed back up 42nd St to the station, past the hotel Stu stayed at two years ago, instead of past the hotel I stayed at on West 51st Street in 2000.

Took an A train from 42nd St to Chambers St, then wandered down to the World Trade Centre complex.

Eye mosaic at Chambers Street Station

As the sun was out, I thought we'd do the tower first, and come back to the memorial and museum later. So went straight to the entrance. Because we had a sightseeing pass we went to a fast track lane and got tickets straight away. Then it was through security (xray machines, and had to take belts off). And then through to the lifts. All quite painless.

South entrance of One World Trade Centre

Foyer of One World Trade Centre

One World Observatory plaque

You take a lift to the top and they line you up in front of a wall with a bit of a movie going on it. And I'm like, they're totally going to raise this wall to show the view. And they did! haha. You then go down to the main observation deck.

As observation decks go, this one is pretty decent. It's quite large with a lot of clear windows, so you can fit a lot of people in. It wasn't really good for doing a full 360 degree panorama, because it's eight different sides, and so big you'd get building overlap. But the view was amazing. I went round and took photos all round, even though it was mostly cloudy. Then we got a beer. Because we could!! Also, it was like 14:00 and we hadn't had any lunch yet. Then the sun came out. Got some amazing shots of Manhattan in the sunlight. Soooo cool! :)

View south over Governors Island to Verazzanno Narrows Bridge

View down to old South Tower waterfall

Liberty Island

Ellis Island

Jersey City

View north to Midtown

Enjoying a beer at One World Observatory - because we can!

View north over Manhattan

View north to Washington Square

View north to Hudson Yards

View north to Midtown

Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown and Woolworth Building

View northeast to East River and bridges

View north over Manhattan panorama

New Jersey railroad terminal

Eventually we headed down again.

One World Trade Center

Went across to the memorial pools. I was pretty emotional actually. I could see where I'd walked back in 2000. Right there. And there it was again. Just no more.

North Tower Memorial Pool

The Occulus and North Tower Memorial Pool

North Tower Memorial Pool

Karen J. at South Tower Memorial Pool

As a tribute, the 9/11 Memorial places roses upon victim's names on their birthdates

South Tower Memorial Pool

If the twin towers were still standing they'd be taking up this sky

So headed across to Fulton Centre for a Shake Shack lunch.

The Occulus and One World Trade Center

Entrance to the Fulton Centre - that's a lot of train lines!

One World Trade Centre

Zuccotti Park

Lights in Zuccotti Park

One World Trade Center

Then came back and got tickets for the National September 11 Museum. There was a queue for regular people and a queue for vouchers (that we went in) but I think our queue was longer heh. But didn't have to queue for very long.

The museum is pretty cool. It takes up the space under what used to be the Marriott hotel at World Trade Centre. So you can see the big cubes that hold the memorial fountains, and see the foundations of the buildings that the excavated down to. You can also see a piece of the "bath tub" wall that they built around the complex in the 60s to keep the Hudson River out. They had a few artefacts around, but all the cool artefacts were in displays under the cubes that you couldn't take photos of. The best display was the most museum-like display of the events of the day with a timeline, and then a section on before and after. There was stuff like pieces of the aeroplanes, seatbelts from the aeroplanes, paper from the offices in the towers, damaged helmets, pieces of the steel and broken glass from the building, the Ground Zero Cross, photos, stories etc.