Trip to the States - Day 3

The excellent weather carried on on my third day in the USA.

10:30 United Nations, New York
The first thing after we woke up on our 2nd day in New York, was to go to the United Nations head quarter on the 1st Avenue. We had the guided tour, which brought us into many conference rooms inside the building, and gave some history of UN and its role in the current world. There was also a photo exhibition in its lobby, in which you can find some astonishing pictures about natural disasters, wars, poverty etc.

From top left, clockwise: the UN main building behind bars, a picture donated by the Guggenheim inside, a piece of pottery melted by the nuclear bomb dropped on Japan in 1945, two sculptures found in the UN.

15:00 Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn is one of the 4 main districts of New York (as far as I know, others are Manhattan, Queens and Bronx). It's a very nice residential area. WJ brought us there by subway. We bought some sandwiches and sat by the river side to enjoy the view of Manhattan skyline across the river.

Manhattan skyline, walkway by the river, a boy, first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty

17:00 Wall Street, New York
We went back to Manhattan after lunch. First stop was Wall Street, the financial centre. There we saw some influential buildings. After we took the Staten Island Ferry (free) to Staten Island. Well, the point was not Staten Island. On the way to the island, this ferry goes by the Statue of Liberty, so that we could get a closer look to this landmark, as well as enjoying a nice ferry trip. Therefore, we only stayed on the island for about 2 mins, as we took the same boat back!

New York Stock Exchange (with a enormous flag), Statue of Liberty, people rushing to the ferry, Manhattan skyline

We visited the site where the World Trade centres (Twin Towers) used to be. It was sad, of course. I couldn't imagine that the streets near there were full of bodies, officers, people screaming, dust from the collapsed building...

After, I insisted to take a yellow cabbie to Central Park to meet Jay's friends. We met up at the Apple store. Its entrance is a glass house outside a skyscraper. As WJ quoted, how can you make it classy but cheap?

We met up and go to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. They do excellent grill. The dinner was really nice, with beer, nice chats and good food. We finished our evening at a very famous Jazz club called Blue Note. It was definitely the best live Jazz performance I've ever seen, even though I was asleep for a bit becuase of jet-lag.

The famous bull near Wall Street, closed American Stock Exchange, me in the Blue Note Jazz club, Apple store, World Trade Centre site.