Day 14: 23 May 2017, Tuesday
It was our last full day in NYC, and we were determined to make the most out of our remaining time to catch up on the sights that we had missed so far. Thankfully the weather was kind to us today. It was a pleasant 16 degrees Celsius, cloudy but no rain. Our first agenda was the most important one – the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island cruise ride. From our hotel at 45th Street, we walked to the subway station at Seventh Avenue 49th Street to take the train.
It was our first time riding the subway in NYC and it wasn’t as unpleasant as we expected. The station was clean, bright and odour-free. Even though it was 8:20am on a weekday, it wasn’t crowded at all. From here, we took the Local R train and alighted at Whitehall Street station.
Before we proceed further, here’s a crash course on how to take the subway in NYC. On the subway map, this train line that we took is marked yellow and it is officially called the Broadway line. There are about ten different lines plying NYC. However, the locals don’t refer to train lines by their colour or their names.
The reason is because within each line, there are a few services sharing a portion of common track, and each service goes to a different end point. Using the Broadway line as an example, there are four different services on the line – N and Q (Express services), R and W (Local services). Local services stop at every station while Express services skip certain stations (hence, they’re faster so they’re called express). [Confusingly, some services are both Local and Express – at different times!]
For the Broadway line, the N, Q, R and W services go to different end points but they happen to share a common portion of the railway track, so they’re grouped together as the Broadway line. Therefore, to avoid confusion, it is more useful to refer to the letter or number of the train instead of the colour or name of the line, e.g. the N train or the number 2 train.
This also means that different train services may stop at a particular station, so you must always check the information board to see which service the approaching train belongs to before you hop on the train. For example, at the 49th Street station, three services (N, R and W) are available. So don’t just blindly board the incoming train as it may take you to a different destination.
Another useful way to describe your direction of travel is to indicate whether you’re going uptown or downtown – uptown if you’re heading north; downtown if you’re heading south. Not so difficult to orientate yourself since Manhattan is a long strip of land and most of the addresses are named after their street numbers. In our case, we took the Local R train downtown to Whitehall Street station. In fact, both the R and W services run from the 49th Street station to Whitehall station, so we could take either the R train or the W train.
To use the subway, we bought a MetroCard because the fare is cheaper if you use one. With the MetroCard, a ride on the subway costs US$2.75 (S$3.85), regardless of the number of stops. If you choose to buy a SingleRide ticket instead, the fare is US$3.00.
For every MetroCard, there is a new card fee of US$1, which is not refundable. Another point to note is that if you top up US$5.50 or more on the card, you receive 5% bonus value, i.e. US$10 gives you US$10.50 value on your card.
A regular MetroCard is also known as a pay-per-ride card, and it can be shared by up to four people. Therefore, we only needed to buy one MetroCard, thereby saving on the new card fees if we were to buy three instead. To share the card, each person has to swipe the card at the gate individually, i.e. after the first person swipes the card and passes through the gantry, pass the card to the next person and repeat the process.
The train ride to Whitehall Street took less than 25 minutes. Upon exiting the station, we followed the signs to Castle Clinton at Battery Park, where the ticket office for Statue Cruises is located at. The cruise ride is included in our New York City Explorer Pass so we didn’t have to pay for it. Note that this is for the most basic Reserve ticket, which gives you access only to the grounds of Liberty Island and Ellis Island. If you wish to go up to the pedestal or the crown of the Statue of Liberty, you will need to buy the Pedestal Reserve Ticket or the Crown Reserve Ticket, and these are not available if you use the Explorer Pass.
When we arrived Castle Clinton at 9am, there were not many people yet so we got our tickets quickly. We then went through airport-style security checks before we were allowed to go on board the cruise ship. However, the lines were still short at this early hour so we breezed through it. By 9:10am, we were on board, and we departed Battery Park for Liberty Island.
In less than 10 minutes, we had our first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. Even from afar, the distinct green coloured statue was easily recognisable, standing out amidst the dull grey sky. As the cruise ship drew closer, everyone whipped out their handphones and cameras, eager to get the perfect shot. After a few minutes of cruising around the statue, the ship pulled up on Liberty Island and we disembarked.
The Statue of Liberty is a gift from France to the United States as a mark of friendship between the two nations. However, it was a joint effort, with France designing and building the statue and the United States building the pedestal to hold Lady Liberty. The statue was designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi but esteemed engineer Gustave Eiffel (who also engineered the Eiffel Tower) was roped in to provide assistance with getting the statue to stand upright.
The statue was designed like a giant puzzle, with over 300 thin sheets of copper used to form statue’s outer skin. The sheets were shaped in France and then shipped to the United States where they were assembled piece by piece. On 28 October 1886, the Statue of Liberty was officially opened with a dedication ceremony.
My first impression of the Statue of Liberty was that it wasn’t as tall as I imagined it to be. It is 93m from the ground level to the torch, but the actual height of the copper statue itself is only 46m. It appeared somewhat diminutive but more than made up for it in terms of history and grandeur. It is undoubtedly one of the world’s most famous icons and you can’t say that you’ve visited New York City if you have not seen the Statue of Liberty up close. Another item off the bucket list checked!
The island isn’t very big and there isn’t much to do if you’re not going up to the pedestal or the crown. After exhausting all the angles to photograph the statue, we walked around for a short while, admiring the great view of the Manhattan city skyline before hopping back onto the cruise ship. The ship then stopped briefly at nearby Ellis Island but we opted not to disembark.
A short bit about the history of Ellis Island: It was the inspection station for immigrants to the United States from 1892 to 1954. The immigrants had to pass medical and immigration regulations here before they could set foot on the promised land. Today, Ellis Island houses the Immigration Museum, where you can learn more about the island’s history.
At about 10:50am, we were back at Battery Park. By now, a long queue had formed for the cruise ride. We were lucky we came early and avoided the queue. We then walked to Bowling Green nearby to see the famous Charging Bull statue.
The 3,200kg bronze sculpture is 3.4m tall and 4.9m long. It was installed in 1989 as a symbol of Wall Street’s aggressive financial optimism and prosperity. It was meant to be a temporary sculpture but its popularity led it to become a permanent fixture and it is now one of New York City’s most popular statues. Indeed, the bull was surrounded by throngs of tourists and we had to seize the right moment to take a photo with it.
Standing about 10m away and directly facing Charging Bull is the Fearless Girl statue. The bronze sculpture was recently installed on 7 March 2017, one day before International Women’s Day. Fearless Girl was only supposed to be up for one week but its permit was later extended to 30 days. A petition then led the permit to be extended yet again, to a full year, so it will remain at its current position till at least February 2018.
Fearless Girl is only about 130cm tall, much smaller than Charging Bull. Yet, with both her arms on her hips and her chin slightly tilted up, she strikes a defiant pose, sending a message about gender equality in an industry dominated by men, right in the heart of the financial district here at Wall Street. The statue resonated with many people, me included, and I hope it will be a permanent fixture here.
Next up, we walked to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, about 800m away. The memorial is located at the site of the former World Trade Center.
I remember that fateful day on 11 September 2001 well. I was at home watching TV with my parents when a newsflash about the terrorist attack appeared on screen. At first, I thought that it referred to our World Trade Centre in Singapore (now called HarbourFront). However, it soon became clear that the attacks were taking place in New York, and all the TV channels switched to live coverage of the events unfolding more than 15,000km away.
At that time, the Internet was not so advanced yet so we were all glued to the TV set for the latest developments. I watched in horror as a second plane slammed into the South Tower, while the North Tower was already hit and plumes of smoke were issuing out of it. I then gasped as the first tower collapsed, followed by the second tower one hour and 42 minutes later. 9/11 was the day that the world changed forever. I have never witnessed anything of that magnitude and I hope it will never happen again.
It was a solemn experience visiting the 9/11 memorial site. Where the Twin Towers once stood, two square reflecting pools now take their place and a gaping hole is left in the middle of each pool. It is a reminder of the loss and the fact that the towers can never be replaced. On the bronze plates that are attached to the parapets of the walls at the perimeter of each pool, the names of 2,983 victims are elegantly etched onto the plates. Six of these victims were killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing incident. Roses are placed upon the victims’ names on their birthdates. I must say that the whole memorial site is very tastefully and thoughtfully done.
Directly beside the memorial is the One World Trade Center building. It occupies the site of the former Six World Trade Center, an 8-storey building that also perished when the Twin Towers collapsed. It carries a symbolic message that NYC will always rise from the ashes and overcome all adversity. The new One World Trade Center officially opened in 2014 and it is the sixth tallest building in the world at 541m. The design of the building is sleek and modern, a welcome addition to the Manhattan skyline.
Also in the vicinity is the ultra-modern and futuristic Oculus, a transport hub that houses the World Trade Center terminal station for the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) rail network. Above ground, the all-white structure is unmissable. Some have commented that it looks like a winged dove and a beached whale carcass. I am more inclined with the latter.
Apparently, the Oculus cost US$4 billion to build, igniting a storm of controversy over its hefty price tag. The hub connects the underground train station with the surrounding buildings, and also contains many high-end retail stores. I’m not sure how well it functions or whether it serves its intended purpose. Nevertheless, aesthetically speaking, it is a bold piece of architecture.
Upon entering the Oculus, an escalator takes you underground and you are immediately greeted by a sight that is really jaw-dropping. Beneath the “whale ribs” is a massive concourse, where everything is in white and it looks like a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie. A skylight panel runs through the middle of the “ribs”, allowing natural light to filter through. It just looks super cool and futuristic.
After being wowed by the Oculus, we went to the Century 21 department store (C21) at Cortlandt Street, just around the corner. We came here because we were each given a scratch-and-win gift card after taking THE RIDE yesterday, so we thought we’d swing by to check out the store and perhaps utilise the gift cards.
The Cortlandt Street C21 store is the flagship and it is very big. The store sells designer brands at great discounts and it carries a wide range of brands. It was quite a good place to shop and we managed to satisfy our shopping needs quite well.
After a late lunch of Chinese food, we walked for about 1km to the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade, the entrance of the walkway to Brooklyn Bridge. The walkway was filled with hawkers selling beautiful artwork of NYC’s iconic sights, souvenirs and other knick knacks.
The walkway was pretty narrow, with one side reserved for bicycles and the other side for pedestrians. When we were there at about 3:15pm, it was very crowded and we had to be careful not to encroach into the bicycle lane or risk being knocked over by the many cyclists. We kept pressing forward until we reached we reached the bridge proper.
Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883 and it has a main span of 486.3m. It is the first steel wire bridge constructed, connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. It is one of New York’s most popular and recognisable landmarks, with more than 4,000 pedestrians and 3,100 cyclists crossing the bridge each day.
Stepping onto Brooklyn Bridge, I could immediately see why it is so well loved. The bridge is painted in a unique shade of brown that resembles the colour of the wooden planks and brick structures. By all accounts, it is a dull colour but somehow it works beautifully here. The cables on the bridge form a spiderweb-like pattern, adding to its intrigue.
Brooklyn Bridge is best experienced during sunrise or sunset, but the beauty of the bridge was not diminished by the overcast skies during our visit. It was so crowded that it was difficult to get a nice shot without being photobombed by other people.
I originally wanted to walk across the bridge to the Brooklyn side, but it would take around 45 minutes to do so. I decided to turn back because we were quite tired. I will love to visit again in the future and cross over to the Brooklyn side at sunset, so that I can admire the view of the Manhattan skyline and watch the buildings light up as darkness falls. That will undoubtedly be magical.
At 4:40pm, we took the subway back to Times Square. I then went to the TKTS booth to buy a ticket for the 7pm School Of Rock musical. The only ticket available was priced at US$76.50, after a 50% discount. After adding the various ticketing fees, the final amount came up to US$81.00 (S$113.40). It was not that cheap but it was totally worth it because my seat was very good!
After a quick dinner at Melt Shop (the Truffle Melt sandwich was awesome, by the way), I walked over to Winter Garden Theatre at Broadway between 50th and 51st street, where the School Of Rock musical was playing. Like Palace Theatre, Winter Garden was very beautiful. The audience was a good mix of young and old and the vibe was more relaxed than that for Sunset Boulevard.
At about 7:10pm, the final bell rang and the curtains came up. It’s showtime! School Of Rock is a Broadway adaptation of the 2003 comedy starring Jack Black and Joan Cusack. Initially, I wasn’t convinced that the lead actor in the musical was very good because I had the image of Jack Black stuck in my head. However, as the show went on, the lead actor came into his own and I realised that he was actually very good.
Movie and theatre are two different mediums and the demands on a theatre actor are actually much higher – you have to project your voice, exaggerate your actions and expressions, remember your blocking and choreography, run and jump around continuously for two hours. Everything is live and there is no NG, so you have to be tip top, night after night. Much respect for all theatre actors!
Anyway, the sets, props, musicians and the huge cast of School Of Rock were exceptional. Of course, the kids played a pivotal role and they were all fantastic. The show also featured an original score composed by the legendary Andrew Lloyd Webber and several original songs not in the film as well. It was a highly entertaining musical and I enjoyed it thoroughly. What a great way to end my NYC trip!
Day 15: 24 May 2017, Wednesday
For our last day in NYC, we had a late breakfast at a diner at Eighth Avenue. We ordered three breakfast sets but probably should have just ordered two because the portions were so huge.
After that, we walked around the area nearby just to pass time because our flight was at 8:55pm. We didn’t dare to do any more shopping because our suitcases were already all packed and quite full.
At about 3:30pm, we bade farewell to our Hyatt Centric Times Square New York hotel and took a taxi to JFK Terminal 4. Thankfully, the air con in the taxi was working fine this time and the traffic was smooth. I had a Shake Shack frozen custard and milk shake at the airport for one last time before boarding the flight home. Yes, there’s Shake Shack at JFK airport too, so if you missed the chance to try it in the city, you can still have it at the airport before you fly off.
We had a short transit at Frankfurt before flying back to Singapore. About 22 hours after we departed from New York, we finally touched down at Changi Airport, on the morning of 26 May 2017, Friday. There’s simply no place like home.
What a trip it had been! I am grateful that everything went smoothly in terms of the logistics, planning and execution, with no major hiccups. We were blessed with good health and good weather as well. I really loved Algonquin Provincial Park, connecting with nature and being in the outdoors. I hope to visit the Canadian Rockies and Yosemite National Park one day.
New York City was also very enjoyable. So many iconic sights – Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty…seeing them in real life gave me goosebumps. New York is truly one of the world’s greatest cities and everyone should visit at least once if they can.
And that’s the end of our North American Sojourn. Here’s to more wanderlusting in 2018!