Day 2 – My Day in NYC

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After breakfast I did some sit-ups(100) and pushups(100) and got a shower. I was out the door by 10am.
I started through Central Park, the North end. It is beautiful! Now what expected at all in a really big city. The maps were easy to navigate and I made me way South to the Conservatory Garden. I got some great pics. Beautiful flowers, fountains, and butterflies. Also, the weather was great, I think it got into the 90s, low humidity. I went South further to the Resevoir and got some great pics of the NY skyline and a turtle. Saw ~20 cop cars lined up with their lights flashing. I think it was for a drill of some kind.
From there I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met). My God! What an eye feast! I got pics of the really cool stuff, but there was so much! I was there for like 4 or 5 hours (lost track of time) and I still didn’t see everything. I did check out the Rooftop Deck, they had some cool Modern pieces up there, one looked like a balloon animal dog. I ate lunch there, it was a little overpriced, but damn tasty. Salmon, broccoli, cantaloupe and a banana. The Museum itself was great. My favorite area was the Impressionist painters, I had seen many of the pieces at an exhibit in Portland when I was in HS French class. Monet is fantastic. The armor section was cool, too. Actually, everything was amazing.
From the Met I caught a subway downtown to Wall St. and walked to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. For the sake of time, I didn’t take a ferry to Ellis, I just snapped a few shots from the shore. Some other time.
From Battery I walked up to Ground Zero. They’re already laying the foundation for the new WTC. It was just a big hole in the ground. The memorial to the heroes who died was printed on canvas. I was less then moved. So, I moved on to Fulton in search of the Brooklyn Bridge foot path.
After ~1 hour I found it and made the trek across to Brooklyn. New York is truly an international city. I heard every language imaginable going across that bridge. At the Met, too. It’s amazing how big things can bring people together. I got amazing pics of the NY skyline and surrounding areas. But it was only 5pm. I wanted pics at sunset. So I trekked into Brooklyn in search of Grimaldi’s pizza (supposedly the best). Found it, also found out that it was cash only, and they didn’t sell pizza by the slice (how chic), and the line went down around the block. Next time I will come with friends and call ahead, do it right, you know? I found the next best thing two blocks over, a local establishment that was full of cops and families, not tourists. Street Front Pizza. I had a slice of cheese pizza and a slice of taco (I was hungry from all the walking!) and it was excellent. I also had an orange that I had snagged from breakfast at the hostel. There are lots of Italians in Brooklyn, at least what I saw of it. Nice people, if a little crude. I went and read next the Hudson River, killing time until sunset. Made my way back to the B Bridge and got my great NY skyline pics at sunset. Went back into Manhattan and caught a great live performance in City Hall Park. It was Rock/Samba/???, really great stuff. Then I caught the E train to back to Queens and the AirTrain to JFK. I’ve pulled out money for tomorrow and I’m waiting to check in and be settled.
11:59pm - I am going to take a nap on the floor of terminal 4 in JFK.

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