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Start spreading the news; I'm leaving today; I want to be a part of it…..
You guessed it! Last night we arrived in chilly New York and it was a bit of a shock after balmy Mexico! Our friends Simon and Vanessa very kindly offered to put us up while we were in New York, so our first stop was Simon's office. After a slight mix-up (who would've thought there'd be two companies with very similar names on opposite sides of the street!) we found Simon and our way home to Brooklyn.
We spent last night catching up over some tasty thai. Simon and Vanessa live in a fantastic part of New York, just over Brooklyn Bridge, with some great restaurants, cafes and bars right on their doorstep. Its much cheaper than Manhattan (a bonus!) and has a very cool vibe.
After a bit of a sleep in this morning we decided to head into New York proper (read Manhattan) on foot, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a great introduction to New York and I would highly recommend it. (Thanks again to S & V for the tip). From across the river, there are plenty of photo opportunities of the city skyline that New York is famous for, plus there are views of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan Bridge.
Brooklyn Bridge itself is beautiful; and I'm not just saying that from an Engineering perspective! The old stone pylons and steel cables provide a great contrast to the modern glass and steel over the river. I must admit I went a little snap happy!
The bridge was built in 1883 and was the first steel suspension bridge in the world. It links the once separate cities of Brooklyn and New York. It was designed by a Prussian-born engineer by the name of John Roebling, who died before construction even commenced. The project was taken over by his son, Washington Roebling. Washington fell ill to the bends early on in the project while helping to excavate the riverbed for one of the bridge towers; construction was then supervised by his wife Emily. Not an easy task for a woman in the late 1800s!
We spent the rest of the day wandering around lower Manhattan, checking out such icons as Wall St, the New York Stock Exchange and Tiffany's. We're flooded with so many images of American life on TV shows and movies, that it was quite surreal walking through the city. There were so many things that I recognized but couldn't remember where from.
Lower Manhattan is also home to the World Trade Centre site. It was a sobering view; a huge gaping hole in the city skyline. The city is still working on a memorial for the site in combination with a new building. The area where the twin towers stood will be replaced with two huge square waterfalls. Water will cascade into where the foundations of the buildings once stood. It's a controversial memorial. But any memorial at the site will always be controversial. It's difficult.
During our walk around town we accidentally discovered a very interesting exhibition in the Smithsonian Native American Museum. It charted the rise of skateboarding in Native American communities and its importance within the community. There were lots of skateboard decks with different artworks, stories of skateboarding competitions and stars and some great footage of skateboarders at work. It's such a pleasure to come across these things accidentally. A wonderful side-track in a happy day.
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