We struck it rich with the weather the whole time we were here -- sunny, pleasant, and 5-8C. We were a bit sad there was no snow, but it was no nice, we weren't complaining.
The views of the city from the apartment across the Hudson are pretty sweet, and the subway is about 100m away.
It's a cute little area in which to wander around.
We never did figure out what that giant block-y building was. I guessed some kind of energy thing ...
Mostly apartments and the like down here. This was the one we were staying in.
There's just something cool about a city built up this high. Tokyo is kind of like that too.
We hopped the PATH train into the city, getting off at the World Trade Centre station, which has been rebuilt, even though there's not much else there yet.
There's a tonne of construction going on, although I don't think they know what they're building here yet.
In the meantime, life goes on for commuters and others.
Escalator goodness.
There are always lots of people milling about near the site trying to decide what to make of it.
Lots of the nearby buildings are also damaged and getting some work done.
Cool thing to do in this city: Look up.
We decided to walk down to the southern tip of Manhattan and check out what was going on. Our first stop was the Holy Trinity Church, and rather pleasant Anglican building (sorry, Episcopal in the USA).
Spoooooky!
Cool inside!
There's just something about a bright blue sky that makes for awesome photography.
We next ended up at the southernmost park in the city, where you can catch the ferries to Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and ( a bit further down ), Staten Island.
Being the week between Christmas and New Years, the city was mobbed with tourists.
Given that the lines for anything were at least 3 hours, we decided that the time would be far better spent walking and people-watching.
There's the Statue of Liberty. w0000t! You still can't go inside the thing any more.
There's the ferry and Ellis Island behind it.
Chilling and Illing was the "in" thing to do today.
Soooooomebody accidentally overexposed the next 20 photos by one half stop. ARGH!
This park is pretty cool.
This funky metal thing on the ground makes bell noises when you step on the squares. There doesn't appear to be much rhyme or reason to it, so it's a bit hard to get a tune out of it.
Here are the local art vendors.
Statue of Liberty dude taking a break. Even statue's gotta rest.
We next started walking nortrh-eastwards, which would take us towards the Brooklyn Bridge and past the various heliports.
Man, the buildings here are freaky big.
Heliport, with Brooklyn behind it.
Squint hard and find the helichopter landing!
Oooh, the Brooklyn Bridge, methinks.
Where do tour buses go while the hordes go visit the lady Liberty? Here.
Arrrr! Thar be pirate ships!
We next worked our way up to Wall Street and the Financial District. It's shockingly dull.
Although there are a few key highlights that everybody goes to see.
Such as the NYSE, which is slightly more secure than Fort Knox (KY).
Dont' forget to look up!
We headed inland a bit and then started heading north. There's so much to see here it's kinda crazy.
Don't forget to stop for some cheap and delicious pizza slices. One of the cool things about this city is that despite the outrageous housing prices, there are tonnes of affordable places to eat and hang. Sweeet.
The only downside to all the tall buildings is that when the sun rays start to lengthen as the day fades, there are a lot more shadows than one might like. Such as here near city hall.
the start of the Brooklyn Bridge.
??? What's that ???
City Hall.
State Supreme Court, if I'm not mistaken.
Monument to firefighters lost in the WTC attacks.
Next, we headed to Little Italy, which has lots of Italian shops. With yummy Italian food. Awwww yeah.
And a Paul Frank store. How cool is that? I bought some awesome boxers.
Heading into SOHO, we had some fun here too.
We wandered into a Dean & Deluca store, which is supposed to be swanky and nice, but just seemed a bit pompous to me. I snapped a photo to look particuarly uncouth.
This was awesome: The Menorah Mobile. The city has a huge Jewish population, and there were all sorts of activities and services going on for Chanukah. Pimpin'.