Winter adventure: NYC

A little bit of background

If you've just come to this post, it's one of a four-part series on our 2016 winter adventure. You might like to read the LA prelude post first, as it gives some background to the trip and documents our stopover in the city on the way to Chicago from Australia. Check out my posts on Chicago and Washington DC to complete the winter adventure set.

Coming from a hot place in the Southern Hemisphere, I'd always wanted to experience a white Christmas and proper winter. Our (W= husband; E= 16-year-old daughter, the collective WE) winter adventure took us to Chicago the week prior to Christmas, where we were fortunate to have a full snow experience after a massive snowfall just before we arrived. We spent Christmas Day in Chicago, then flew to NYC, where we stayed until January 4. My desire to visit Chicago prompted the trip but who doesn't want to experience New York City? Read on for our Big Apple adventures!

I've put my reflections on our NYC wanderings at the end of this post and my reflections on what our whole winter adventure meant to me.

Jersey City loft

I usually write my posts as a journal of sorts, documenting my experiences of the places and spaces I visit as the trips unfold. This post on NYC will follow our 9-day itinerary, but I'll start with where we stayed: Jersey City. You might wonder why, when Manhattan is where most people would say it's at! Also, it's totally on brand for us to stay in less popular places. That said, it was a bit of a business getting to Jersey City initially. We flew from Chicago O'Hare into La Guardia with Delta and took an airport bus to Grand Central station then a train to Jersey City.

I found a super cool loft in Jersey City that was within our budget for accommodation. Here's the loft. Cute, right? You can see WE at the bottom of the stairs in the third photo. They are standing near the entrance to the building; the loft was at the top of the stairs.

The shot on the far right shows the distant view of Manhattan from the kitchen window.

We loved staying at the loft as it was an easy and inexpensive train trip on the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) into Manhattan. The Grove Street PATH Station was only a 10-minute walk from the loft. There was a supermarket close by and a shopping mall within walking distance. The loft was clean, warm, and cosy. Sure, it would be easy to step out of a Manhattan hotel to explore NYC. The PATH was super easy to use, though, and inexpensive, and the trip into Lower Manhattan only took around 15 minutes.

The PATH is a 22km rapid transit system that spans three New Jersey cities and Lower and Midtown Manhattan. It crosses the Hudson River via cast iron tunnels that rest on a bed of silt on the river floor.

Day 1

The PATH took us to Lower Manhattan on our first day, giving us the opportunity to experience the spectacular new World Trade Center station in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The original 1961 station was demolished as part of the 1971 World Trade Center construction and later closed after the September 11 attacks.

The fancy new station was opened in March 2016, only nine months before we were there. The main station house, the Oculus, cost USD$4 billion to build, and was designed by Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava. The Oculus has white ribs that interlock high above the ground. It's extremely WHITE, as my photos show.

The top two photos of the Oculus interior are mine, but the bottom one of the exterior is from the Oculus website.

We started our NYC wanderings with a visit to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. A memorial was planned in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center to remember the victims and those involved in rescue and recovery operations. The Memorial began construction in 2006 and was dedicated on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. The museum was opened in 2014.

Travel tip: We pre-purchased our tickets online months before. I strongly recommend pre-purchasing your tickets. We still had to wait around an hour to get in, even with tickets.

My impression of the memorial and museum is that they are both quite low-key for such a pivotal moment in America's modern history. I liked that about both places. The Memorial's design was selected from over 5000 entries in an open competition by a 13-member jury in 2003-2004.

Named Reflecting absence, Michael Arad and Peter Walker's design consists of a field of trees surrounding two recessed pools with waterfalls, to represent the footprints of the Twin Towers and the loss of life and physical void that resulted from the attacks. The swamp white oak trees you can see in my photos below are arranged in rows and the park is at street level, above the Memorial Museum. The names of the victims of the attacks are inscribed on the parapets surrounding the waterfalls (including those from the Pentagon, American Airlines Flight 77, United Airlines Flight 93, and the 1993 World Trade Centre bombings).

The Museum is a cavernous space that spans the footprint of the Twin Towers but sits some 21 feet below ground, containing over 40 000 images and 14 000 artifacts from the September 11 attacks. The main pavilion is deconstructivist in design, representing a partially collapsed building. The main hall contains the Last Column (bottom left-hand photo), the last piece of steel to leave Ground Zero in May 2022.

I found the Memorial and Museum to be moving tributes. The design of both spaces is thoughtful and the faithful exhibitions of relevant artifacts create both a sombre and interesting museum experience.

Two key artifacts are shown in my photo collage below. The Survivors' Staircase is shown in the bottom righthand photo. It was the first artifact to be moved into the museum in 2008. The staircase is made of granite and concrete and is the final visible remaining original structure above ground level at the World Trade Center site.

Later that day we stumbled across The Sphere in Battery Park (The Battery), a waterfront park in Lower Manhattan. The cast bronze sculpture by German artist, Fritz Koenig, was commissioned for the original World Trade Center in 1971. It is the only surviving sculpture from the attacks, although it was somewhat damaged. The year after our visit, The Sphere was relocated to Liberty Park, adjacent to the Memorial.

The tip of Manhattan, directly across from Brooklyn, is the Financial District, also where Wall Street is located. I liked the Financial District! of Manhattan. We spent most of our first day in the area, after our visit to the September 11 museum. It was bitterly cold at Battery Park, as I expect the geography of the land forms a funnel for the wind to whip through. Ferries leave for Ellis and Liberty Islands from Battery Park and there's a nice side perspective of the Statue of Liberty from there.

Being the Financial District, we had to walk down Wall Street! This was our first experience on the trip of a famous NYC street and it was kind of cool just to say to one another "we're on Wall Street!" My photo collage below has two shots of the New York Stock Exchange, a massive building that occupies most of the city block bounded by four different streets. The bit seen in my photos is actually on Broad Street, the main façade of the southern section of the building, designed in classic revival style and completed in 1903. The façade has impressive colonnades and fluted columns. The photo at the top righthand side of the collage is the northern annex at 11 Wall Street. It's a chamfered corner with a rectangular doorway with Doric columns each side.

I only have one shot (top lefthand photo above) of the Charging bull, the bronze sculpture that stands on Broadway just north of Bowling Green in the Financial District. The 3200kg, 3.5 metre tall and 5 metre wide sculpture is well...a bull..., supposedly the symbol of financial optimism and prosperity. It was created by Italian artist, Arturo Di Modica, in the aftermath of the 1987 stock market crash. The bull is very clearly a major tourist attraction as you can see from my photo how crowded it was. We had no chance of getting anywhere near the sculpture.

You can see W and me looking at a map in the above collage. Did you notice the church in the background? That's Trinity Church, located at Broadway and Wall Street. Here's a better shot of the church dwarfed by the surrounding buildings. I love the perspective on the church from Wall Street where we are standing.

Gothic revival-style Trinity Church is an active Episcopal church completed in 1846. It's the third church constructed for the parish, the first of which was built in 1698 and later destroyed by the Great New York City Fire of 1776. The current church was once the tallest building in the United States. The church seems completely out of place in the Financial District but I love the contrast of it with the modern skyscrapers.

Another notable building in the Financial District in the One World Trade Center, also knowns as the One WTC Freedom Tower. It's the tallest building in the United States and in the Western Hemisphere, and the seventh-tallest in the world, reaching 541 metres. (The tallest is the Burj Kahlifa in Dubai, at 828 metres.) One World Trade Center stands on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center, which I think was the smallest building in the World Trade Center complex. The original building was demolished in the aftermath of the 911 attacks due to damage sustained when the North Tower collapsed.

Interestingly, construction of the One World Trade Center took several years, starting in 2006. The building became the tallest structure in NYC in 2012 when it took that crown from the Empire State Building. The spire that you can see in my photos was added in 2013, giving it the final 541 metre height. The building opening in 2014 and the Observatory the following year. I love the photo on the top lefthand side of my collage above of the building next to Trinity Church.

The last place we checked out on our Financial District wanderings was Pier 15 East River Esplanade. It was cool and windy, but the sun was shining and the beautiful blue sky was a spectacular backdrop for the Pier and the views of Brooklyn and the East River. It's an easy 1km walk from Battery Park along the East River Greenway to the pier. The open space is lovely - two floors of observation decks, boardwalks, and plenty of seating.

The best bit is the view of the Brooklyn Bridge! Yes, it was windy and freezing cold, but we were so glad we'd discovered the Pier and had our first sighting of the famous bridge.

Day 2

Our second day in NYC saw us head to northern Manhattan and the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighbourhoods to Central Park. We came in on the PATH to 23rd Street which gave us the chance to walk the 3km to the Park. Along the way we walked through Times Square which is not really...a square. I remember slowing WE down and pointing out that we were at the Square. E said, "but where's the Square?"

It's not a square like you find in Europe and the United Kingdom. Times Square is an intersection, formed by the junction of Broadway, 7th Avenue, and 42nd Street. I've seen it described as a bowtie-shaped plaza, but it's hard to discern it as such when walking there. The billboards are clearly visible, but other than that, there's not much to see. It's kind of underwhelming, I think.

There is nothing underwhelming, however, about Central Park. We loved it there! I love big green spaces in large cities as there's something magical about them, I think. Surprisingly, Central Park is only the sixth largest park in New York at 341 hectares, but it's the most visited park in the United States (and one of the most filmed locations). The park's first areas were opened to the public in 1858. Even on a cold, bleak, Central Park is lovely.

We walked around for ages, but I know we only saw a fraction of it all. The park is split into three sections: North End, Mid Park, and South End. There's a lot of green space, but the park is rockier than I was expecting. Apparently there are four types of bedrock in the Manhattan area and there are many examples of exposed rock in the park.

These are some of my favourite photos. I loved the December experience of the park, despite the lack of snow, as the winter trees and foliage made for a pretty wandering. And yes, we had a giant, chewy, salty NY pretzel!

One of the stunning features of Central Park, I think, is its city-building framing. The below collection of shots show the pretty parts of Upper Manhattan where the elegant architecture is highlighted by the flora. This is some of the most expensive real estate in the city. It sure is pretty!

After our Central Park experience we walked south, stopping to have a proper look at Grand Central station. Besides being a functioning rail terminal, the station is one of the world's ten most-visited tourist attractions. I'm not sure how the visitor numbers are counted - excluding train and subway passengers - but I read somewhere that the annual visitors exceed 21 million people.

Grand Central covers 19 hectares and has 44 platforms. It was designed in the Beaux-Arts style, opening in 1913. We found it to be as busy as expected and beautifully decorated for the festive season. I know it's just a train station, but I am rather partial to them. Standing on the main concourse added to my excitement of seeing so many iconic places "for real" while we were in NYC.

Our last iconic sight for the day was the Flatiron Building, a 22-storey 87 metres tall steel-framed triangular building that sits on a triangular block formed by 5th Avenue, Broadway, and 22nd Street. The Flatiron was opened in 1902 and took its name from its shape, as in a cast-iron clothes iron. The building is designed as a vertical Renaissance palazzo with Beaux-Arts styling.

I love the various perspectives on the building that we captured in our photos, especially the third one, showing the narrowness of the structure.

Here's a collection of shots from our wanderings over the first two days in NYC, where we immersed ourselves in the city vibe and walked until we dropped!

There are some iconic places and spaces in the below collage, including a couple of very famous streets. The middle photos in the top and middle row are of the New York Public Library that we stumbled across during our wanderings. We also popped into M&Ms World near Times Square (middle left). The bottom righthand shot is of Federal Hall and the bottom lefthand one is Madison Square Garden. I'm not sure of the name of the building in the middle righthand photo, with the gold spire, but I love it!

I recall we went to the Rockefeller Centre for lunch and saw the famous Christmas tree and ice skating rink, but I don't seem to have taken any photos. I know we walked a lot but we also did take the subway a few times over the course of our time in the city.

Day 3

Our third full day in NYC was actually spent in Washington DC. You can read about our day trip here.

Day 4

We took another break from NYC on day 4, sticking to New Jersey, and taking the bus to Elizabeth to a giant shopping mall. I know New Jersey, and particularly Jersey City, gets a bit of a bum rap and is seen as the poor cousin to New York, but we were pleasantly surprised at how pretty it was there. Here are some shots that we took from our wanderings around where we were staying.

We also had a poke around Hoboken, ostensibly for Carlo's Bake Shop. We'd been huge fans of Cake boss and couldn't resist the opportunity to visit the bakery, founded in 1910 and later purchased by the Valastro family who made the cake decorating reality television show from 2009-2020.

You can see our happy faces outside the shop as it was kind of fun to be there after having watched the show for many years. There didn't seem to be a formed queue to buy bakery goods and we couldn't see what was in the bakery cases through all the people. In the end we gave up and found a bakery around the corner! The chocolate chip cookie in the below photo that we bought was absolutely decadent and delicious.

The bottom photo of the interior is from the Bakery's website. I didn't take any photos inside as it was VERY crowded.

Hoboken itself is rather nice near the waterfront. There's a massive boardwalk along the Hudson River that stretches over 5km from Hoboken to Weehawken. There are plenty of cafes, places to stop and sit and enjoy the views, and wide open green spaces. I highly recommend a visit if you are in NYC. Sure, there's loads to see and do in New York, but don't forget about New Jersey! The vibe is more relaxed, too, and we enjoyed the break from the crowds in New York.

The views from Hoboken across the Hudson River and the NYC skyline are stunning. My favourite shot is the top lefthand one below, showing the NYC buildings through the winter trees.

Day 5

Our fifth day in NYC was New Years Eve. We started the day with a trip to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It is possible to take the ferry to Ellis and Liberty Islands from Battery Park in Lower Manhattan or from Jersey City. We opted for the latter, given we were staying there. Our tickets were for the first service of the day and this allowed us to take a stunning early morning walk from the loft to the ferry terminal at Liberty State Park (bottom righthand shot). The first-thing winter light was just magic.

While we waited for the ferry we visited the New Jersey September 11 memorial, Empty sky. The memorial honours the 749 people who lived or had ties to New Jersey who lost their lives during the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. Empty sky has the 749 names placed randomly on twin brushed steel walls that are 64 metres long, the width of each side of the World Trade Center Towers. The walls sit parallel to each other and rise to 10 metres, with a 4-metre paved path of bluestone in between.

The most striking part of the memorial is the view between the two walls, that allows visitors to look straight towards Ground Zero and the "empty sky" where the Twin Towers once stood. Like the 911 memorial in Lower Manhattan, the design was chosen from an open international competition, this time by the Families and Survivors Memorial Committee. The memorial was dedicated on the 10-year anniversary of the attacks.

It was a moving experience for us that day, with only a few other visitors at Empty sky at the same time, coupled with the early morning winter light creating a reflective vibe.

We'd purchased the ticket for the Statue of Liberty that gave us access to the National immigration Museum on Ellis Island, access to Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty interior. The Museum on Ellis Island is super interesting, very much set out in the narrative style that I love, providing insight into the stories of the thousands of people who made their way to Ellis Island in search of a better life.

The museum is housed in the restored main building of the former immigration complex and is an immersive experience, including the Great Hall where new arrivals gathered to be processed, the baggage room, and dormitories. Learning about the immigration process and the journeys of the many immigrants who came to America was food for my soul as a history nerd.

The bottom righthand shot of the exterior of the museum is from the museum's website. 

The photos above give you an idea of the proximity of Ellis Island to Liberty Island and the nice perspective on the Statue from there. It was another cold, bleak day for our visit and I didn't get the chance to take a good exterior shot.

This is Liberty Island. The middle shot on the top row of the collage was taken from the pedestal.

And here's Lady Liberty in all her glory, standing as a symbol of freedom and independence on the NYC skyline since 1886. You probably know the origin story - the copper-clad neoclassical sculpture was a gift to the United States from France. The statue was designed by French sculptor, Frederic August Bartholdi, with its metal framework built by Gustave Eiffel.

We had to pinch ourselves that we were actually there! It was such an iconic experience to see the statue inspired by the Roman goddess of liberty up close, despite the freezing cold day. I hope my photos give a true sense of the scale of the structure, rising to 93 metres from the ground to the torch. We spent a lot of time just wandering around, taking in the magnificence of the statue from various perspectives.

As the bottom right photo shows, there are 215 steps up to the pedestal and 162 to the crown. We did both! I'm rather proud of myself as I was only six months out from major surgery at that time. If you can manage it physically, I'd highly recommend purchasing the crown and pedestal ticket as it's an experience you won't forget or regret. That said, this is how the National Park Service describes the climb:

The climb is strenuous. The National Park Service recommends that crown visitors have no significant physical or mental conditions which would impair their ability to complete the climb, such as (but not limited to):

• Heart conditions

• Respiratory conditions

• Mobility impairment

• Claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces)

• Acrophobia (fear of heights)

• Vertigo (dizziness)

Here are some shots of the climb inside the Statue.

Step 1: Make it to the pedestal. That's 215 steps! Here's a snapshot of the perspective from the pedestal.

Step 2: Make it to the crown. That's another 162 steps...

Our Statue of Liberty trip was taken on the day of New Years Eve. I'd gone to great pains to try to find a fun thing to do on New Year's Eve, even though NYE isn't usually our thing at all. We were in NYC, though, so I had to try for the ball drop experience. Now, if you're prepared to stand around in Times Square in the cold for hours on end with no facilities to save a good spot, go for it. Instead, I paid a HUGE amount for three tickets for Chevy's Times Square experience. This is the only time that I have booked something on an international trip that has left me bitterly disappointed.

Here's my review: We battled the crowds to push our way into the restaurant (Chevy's) only to realise that, despite the promotional material, there's no way we'd be able to see the ball drop from the venue. The website says that the restaurant is located "just feet away" from the Times Square ball drop, but that makes no difference. Standing outside with a bazillion other people is the only way to see it.

It was early evening when we got there and we quickly ran out of patience as, unless you are with a big, rowdy group (and drink and eat constantly), there's nothing to do at Chevy's. The food was ordinary and the lines were long for it. We got into the spirit for a couple of hours, then gave up and went back to the loft.

That's E and me asleep in the warmth of our cosy loft when the ball dropped at midnight. In hindsight, we should have just gone to the free fireworks display at Liberty Park in Jersey City. Rookie mistake.

Travel tip: As noted above, the only way to see the ball drop is to stand around in Times Square all day in the freezing weather to mark your spot. It's so crowded around where the ball drops that I felt completely overwhelmed. There was rubbish everywhere we we made our way past the crowds to return to the loft. My advice is not to bother unless you have a burning desire to see the ball drop.

Day 6

New Year's Eve was a bust, but we made up for it on New Year's Day. We'd booked tickets for the Empire State Building, deciding on one "views of NYC" activity from the many buildings from which to choose to experience the city sprawl from up high.

Here's a reminder of what the Empire State Building looks like. It's a 102-story art deco skyscraper in the Midtown South district. The building was completed in 1931, rising to a roof height of 380 metres but to a total of 445 metres with the antenna.

I recommend pre-purchasing tickets. Even though we did that, it was still a long wait. That said, I thought the system for pushing people through was super efficient. The art deco lobby is rather nice, and we had the added bonus of the Christmas decorations to look at while we lined up.

There is no doubt that the views are spectacular from the two observation decks. Here's a snapshot of our views on a beautiful winter's day.

I know we were there on a busy New Year's Day, but it was VERY crowded. We had to jostle for a view and find some breathing space to take it all in. It was still an incredible experience, though, and I'm so grateful for the sunny day.

After lunch we headed for the High Line, a public park built on a historic freight trail line elevated above the streets on the West Side of Manhattan. The freight rail line was in operation from 1934 to 1980. The cool thing is that the space was saved from demolition by residents in the area in 2009. The High Line is an eclectic mix of green spaces, open boardwalks, semi-enclosed passages, and spurs that connect streets and buildings.

The views from the High Line are fabulous. There's almost 2.5 km of walking paths giving walkers a range of views of the city and the Hudson River. Best of all, it's free!

Our final wandering on New Year's Day was to Washington Square Park, about a 20 minute walk south of the High Line. The 4-hectare park sits in posh Greenwich Village, dominated by the Washington Square Arch at the northern gateway to the park. New York University sits at the head of the park. Check out our pretty photos from our late afternoon visit.

Day 7

Sadly, our run of cold but mostly-sunny and rain-free weather came to an end for the last two days of our visit. Day 7 was taken up by our wanderings over Brooklyn Bridge. It was wet, bleak and freezing, but we were determined to make the trek over the iconic structure.

The Bridge connects Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn Heights. It's distinctive stone arches support five lanes of vehicular traffic. This website told me that as of 2022, over 107 000 vehicles, 32 000 pedestrians, and 4000 cyclists cross the bridge each day. Some other bridge facts: the total length including approaches comes to 1830 metres and the main span is 486 metres. The bridge was completed in 1883 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

We had our iconic moment despite the rubbish weather. We were planning to wander around Brooklyn - so I could go brownstone spotting - but the weather worsened when we got to the other side, so we ended up heading back to the loft for a rest.

Day 8

The weather was still terrible for our final full day in NYC. We were all pretty knackered by then as it had been a huge trip. E and I mustered up the strength to follow W on a Yankee Stadium tour. Baseball was his thing, but we both went along for the ride. Our son was playing baseball at the time so it was kind of cool to do the stadium tour, despite the inclement weather.

It's a bit of a trek to the Bronx to the stadium and it's not located in a very nice part of town (which surprised me, for some reason). Even if you're not into baseball, it's still an interesting tour and being somewhere so famous is a tiny bit thrilling, I'll have to admit.

Day 9

Day 9 was the start of our long trek home. We caught a very crowded bus to Newark International Airport on January 4 from the loft for our 2.45pm flight with Delta to Minneapolis St Paul, arriving at 4.50pm and departing at 5.45pm. And yes, it was freezing in Minneapolis!

We flew to LA, arriving at 7.55pm and leaving at 11.05pm for the long flight to Brisbane, arriving at 7.10am on January 6. What a massive journey!

Our NYC experience

Although my love affair with Chicago remains strong and I will never forget our winter snow experience of the city, we did have a pretty awesome time in NYC. It didn't snow and it was bitterly cold, but we had the chance to be there during the festive season and that was a bonus.

New York City has so much to offer and I know we only scratched the surface, even with the iconic experiences we managed to fit into our time there. Those iconic experiences will stay with me and I feel privileged to have experienced them. That said, I feel like NYC is just that, a series of iconic experiences that are to be crossed off a list. I've crossed a lot of that list but I don't feel connected to the city. I'm not sure I can put my finger on why. I'm sure it's a hugely unpopular opinion not to love NYC. There's something about it that makes me feel like I am "supposed to" love it, without thinking about whether I really do.

What I will say, though, is how pretty the city is in places, with the lamps and trees set against elegant architecture. The homes and the green spaces around Central Park really are beautiful. This is the part of NYC that does connect with me.

If you haven't already, check out my posts on our Chicago and Washington DC winter wanderings. There's also an LA prelude post that documents our day-ling stopover in the city on the way to Chicago from Australia. My reflections on what the whole winter experience that Christmas in 2016 meant to me are below. It was more than just an opportunity to experience proper winter and four incredible cities.