New York

I've once again neglected to document a trip. I'm going to rectify this now. I have to promise myself in the future to post immediately to avoid forgetting details.

In January of 2011 I flew to Long Island (Nassau County) to spend a week with my girlfriend Betsy. Having not flown since about 2001 I was a little confused as to how airports work these days. Security isn't as bad as they make it out to be and it's actually less of a pain to check in now than it used to be since the internet has steamlined the process. The flight up from ATL took about 2 hours. As were were flying in over the water to LaGuardia airport I was met with an awesome view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan. It was very strange, I haven't been to New York in well over a decade yet the landmarks are so familiar to me. They were easy to pick due to NYC being one of America's most prominent cities; it is the backdrop for the majority of our movies and television shows and is so full of history that every American should be at least a little familiar with it.

The thing I first noticed was the diversity. So many languages could be heard at once it was astounding. Many people complain about that sort of thing but to me it is interesting. Betsy's friend Maria picked us up from the airport and I got a taste of New York traffic; it's insane. We settled in for the night at her house and rested up.

Long Island is a friendly place for the most part. Most of it is suburban and very densely populated. It's impossible to tell where one city or town ends and the next begins. In fact they have a strange government structure there that has divisions such as city, town, village and hamlet. I don't even want to attempt to figure out how that works with NYC, being divided into five burroughs, each of which is it's own county but are all one city. I don't think I could ever remember all the details.

The first day we went to the city we hopped the train and switched to the subway at Penn Station. We took the Staten Island Ferry, which is free to ride, across the water. From the ferry you can get a great view of the Statue of Liberty as well as the Financial District of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge.

After we returned to the port we walked north to see Federal Hall and the NYSE. By this point the sun had set and people were heading home. NYC's streets are full of lights and activity. There are delicious smells much of the time; every so often there is a foul one.

We walked to the WTC site but really couldn't see much due to the construction. There is a temporary museum set up until the permanent 9/11 memorial is finished. I'll get some pictures in the daytime on the next visit. We also went to China Town to eat at Wo Hop and had desert in Little Italy.

We took the subway to Rockafeller Center and got to see the Christmas tree before it came down. The skating rink is really pretty and the seasonal decorations add a neat touch of beauty to the area. There is a Lego store there with lots of large sculptures. Around the corner is St Patrick's Cathedral; across from that you can see the statue of Atlas, holding up the world.

We walked through Times Square on the way back to Penn Station. Times Square is full of lights and stores, a monument to consumerism, but it's all very pretty. Mounted police were present. There is no shortage of stuff to see and do in this part if you like to shop. After arriving at Penn Station we headed back to Long Island.

On our second day in the city we checked out the Museum of Natural History. The museum has exhibits showing fossils and recreations of extinct animals as well as animals alive today. The exhibits often displayed an explanation of evolutionary lineage. Other floors have exhibits on astronomy, ancient cultures with artifacts and geological studies. It takes a whole day to fully explore this place and I'm not sure I really saw everything.

We walked through Central Park from the museum and headed to the southeast corner. Central Park is a welcome contrast to the city. It's well maintained and full of very old trees. There's several ponds and pagodas to sit in. We saw the park amphitheater. The lakes were frozen over so thick you could walk out onto them.

Overall NYC is a really neat place that could take a lifetime to explore. I'm definitely psyched to go back and see more of the city and take in it's culture.