Gregor Swiderek travelled to New York City five years after his maiden visit, and while he didn’t fall in love with the Big Apple first time around, he found the city’s charms irresistible on his return.
I recently returned to New York almost exactly five years after my first visit. By coincidence I entered the city in precisely same way as the first, driving Interstate 95 from New Jersey across the George Washington Bridge and following Henry Hudson Parkway south towards Midtown Manhattan. It really gave me a strange feeling of deja vu.
The big difference from the first trip was that back then I didn’t really know what to do or see – despite so many things to do in NYC, I simply followed a random path across the city, while now I had a list of attractions I really wanted to visit.
The first was the Roosevelt Island Tramway, located just a few blocks from the parking lot where I left my car. It must be one of the most spectacular parts of the Big Apple’s transportation system and as a transportation enthusiast, I simply couldn’t skip it. As the name suggests, it’s an aerial tramway that spans the East River and connects Roosevelt Island to Manhattan. It travels 940 metres in three minutes and at the highest point reaches 76 metres above the water, offering great views of the East Side of Manhattan including the United Nations Building. It’s really great fun to ride and I would recommend it to anyone regardless of whether they are interested in strange modes of transport or not.
The next attraction on my list was much more mainstream – the Rockefeller Center; to be precise the viewing deck located on the 70th floor of its tallest building. I chose it over the more famous and taller Empire State Building as it’s much quieter. In fact, even on a busy Saturday it took me less than 20 minutes from entering the building to getting to the top, including lines to the ticket desk and the security check. It is much better than the legendary lines to enter the viewing deck of the Empire State Building.
Now, the view. In short: breathtaking. You can see for miles and miles, the entire island of Manhattan is visible with its regular grid pattern. Not far to the north you can see the green rectangular patch of Central Park before Harlem, then even further north the George Washington Bridge. To the south you can see the beautiful shape of the Empire State Building (another advantage of choosing the Rockefeller Center) and then all the way to Lower Manhattan with the rising towers of the new World Trade Center. The weather was glorious and I spent good hour or so on top, taking plenty of pictures and simply admiring the views. It is by far one of the best viewing points I have ever visited anywhere in the world. Only from such a high vantage point is it possible to comprehend the size and vastness of New York City.
There is a lot to see at the Rockefeller Center apart from the panorama from the top. For example, in winter there is the iconic ice skating ring that’s featured in so many movies and TV dramas. It had just opened for the season during my visit in late October. Then of course there are all the Art Deco details including murals and statues. The two most famous are the bronze-gilded statue of Prometheus (located at the sunken plaza where the ice rink is) and the statue of Atlas on Fifth Avenue.
From the Rockefeller Center I headed towards Times Square. There is no other way of describing it other than spectacular: a sea of humanity surrounded by a cornucopia of neon and LED signs.
But I wasn’t lingering there for long as I was on my way to the next stop on my list, the High Line: a 1.6km linear park built on a section of the former elevated New York Central Railroad spur – the West Side Line. It opened in 2009 (with an extension in 2011) and as soon as I heard about it I knew I had to pay a visit.
So here I was, finally walking along it, and I wasn’t disappointed. It is a really cleverly designed and meticulously planted and maintained park. To be honest, ‘park’ might not be the best description – it’s more of a footpath or urban trail. However you refer to it, it’s a great place to stroll away from the city traffic but at the same time one can still admire the heavily urban environment and some great architecture along the way. Apart from being a nice place, the park has changed the surrounding neighbourhood, which has gentrified very quickly. For anyone interested in architecture, design or urbanistics it is a must visit.
From the south end of the High Line it was only a short subway ride to Whitehall Terminal at the southern tip of Manhattan. Here you can experience one of the best bargains of NYC, the Staten Island Ferry. It is a 24-hours, 365-days-a-year commuter service to the borough of Staten Island, offering great views and – best of all – it’s absolutely free.
I boarded one of the afternoon services and started taking photos as soon as the ferry departed the terminal. From the open decks you can admire the amazing skyline of Manhattan getting more and more distant with every minute. You won’t have much time to reflect on it before you notice the Statue of Liberty on the starboard side. Before arriving at Staten Island terminal you can also see the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on the port side – once the longest suspension bridge in the world, it is still the longest in the Americas and a magnificent site indeed. In general during the 25-minute journey you can admire the vast New York Harbour from many different angles.
I was lucky in a way that my outbound journey let me experience sunset over the harbour while on my way back I was able to admire New York’s skyline after dark: a view you won’t forget for a while. By the time I got back to Manhattan it was getting rather late so I had to abandon my plan of visiting Brooklyn and headed straight back to Midtown where I left my car. Before departing NYC I wandered around Times Square which after dark is an absolutely mind-blowing experience. To fulfil my experience I ended the day with a slice of New York pizza and buying some gadgets in one of the countless gift shops surrounding the square.
I have to admit that I had fallen in love with New York. Somehow it didn’t happen during my first visit but this time it got me. I will definitely visit the Big Apple again and this time I promise myself to finally make it to Brooklyn which annoyingly has eluded me so far.
