We’re going to take a walk through the Financial District, at the southern tip of Manhattan
visiting the new World Trade Center and going up the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere,
and into the Memorial Museum.
Starting out at the oldest park in New York City, Bowling Green, which opened in 1733
and the grand Customs House behind it, in the Beaux-Arts style.
A left turn on Broad Street into the canyons of the financial district with the New York
Stock Exchange, originally founded in 1792.
Across the street is Federal Hall that was built in the 1830s on the site of America's
first capital building, and the statue of George Washington out front marks the spot
where he was sworn in as our first president.
Around the corner you'll find Trinity Church built in 1846 in the neo-Gothic style, with
a tall steeple.
Alexander Hamilton and other notables are buried here.
It's the oldest neighborhood of the city so you'll find some narrow alleys, and this is
where Broadway begins.
The Wall Street bull has become one of the most popular statues to photograph in New
York.
It's an iconic symbol of the aggressiveness and power of Wall Street.
The sculptor is Arturo Di Modica, who made the bull with his own money, 360,000 dollars,
and without permission installed it in the site.
It was an act of guerrilla art.
At first it was impounded and taken away, but by popular demand, it's here to stay.
The fearless girl statue was created by a different artist and added later.
Isamo Noguchi’s red cube, on Broadway, sits right across the street from Zucatti Park,
which was the site of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Walking along Liberty Street, passing Eataly, a major food market, soon brings us to one
of the most unusual buildings in New York, it's the Oculus.
This vast soaring space has been compared to a cathedral, or being inside a whale, or
big dinosaur bones, but whatever it is, it's astonishing and inspiring.
This is the most significant public building constructed in Manhattan in several decades.
It's a train station and a shopping mall and a public gathering place, representing a kind
of postmodern architecture and sculpture.
It took twice as long and cost twice as much as expected to build it.
Over ten years and four billion dollars for the Oculus and the transportation hub the
goes with it.
And so it has been criticized by many people, including some who call it sterile and empty
and loaded with overpriced, high-end shops.
But it has become a popular tourist attraction.
It's a destination in itself, of course, being right next to the new Trade Center and the
museum brings in the crowds automatically and those who come do seem to be impressed.
This space is Instagram-ready, highly photogenic, no matter where you point your camera you'll
get interesting shot, although it helps to have a wide-angle lens.
The functional purpose of the Oculus is to provide a train station for the commuter line
from New Jersey, the PATH trains, with connections into the New York City subway system.
It also provides an underground connection to One World Trade Center through this long
hallway, which has been called the most expensive hallway in the world, estimated cost of about
two hundred million dollars.
From the outside the building is equally impressive with those long ribs that reach up to 160
feet high, intended to look like a big bird taking off, a kind of Phoenix rising from
the ashes.
Next door you'll find the September 11 Memorial fountains on the site of the original World
Trade Towers.
And beneath these fountains is the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, which you'll
find to be one of the most somber and profound experiences of your New York visit.
Upon entry.
You look down into a large space where the slurry wall still stands on the left side,
and in the center is the Last Column standing from the ruins.
The slurry wall had groundwater away from the tower's foundations and somehow it survived.
Many visitors experience intense feelings of sorrow.
While the museum honestly documents and preserves the history of this painful event, it is designed
to promote healing.
It gives you a chance to honor the victims and pay your respects.
This deceptively large museum enables you to walk all the way around the perimeters
of both towers.
Volunteer guides describe some of the exhibits.
“It is the largest loss of life for the department.
Responding to a single event.
The damage that you see to the front cab of the vehicle was a direct result of the collapse
of the North Tower.”
Although usually busy, the crowd remains eerily quiet out of respect.
Opens at 9 AM every day.
Be a good idea to get there just before opening.
From the plaza you can't miss the tallest building in the Americas, One World Trade.
And you enter in, follow the signs up the escalators to the lobby.
We visited on a January weekday afternoon, so it was amazingly uncrowded.
The elevator takes you up 100 floors in 47 seconds with what looks like a view but actually
it's a very clever video screen all around you as you go up, a prelude of the real thing.
“ Welcome to One World Observatory.”
The observation platform is wonderfully designed with the dark floor and ceiling and vast picture
windows to give you the view, especially nice on a day when the weather is clear and the
facility was not very crowded – easy to get right up to the window and gaze out all
you want in all directions.
The main vista is looking down at Lower Manhattan, Tribeca, the Village and then up to the band
of skyscrapers in Midtown.
You can easily walk all the way around the building, especially on a day like this when
it is not crowded, and it's so easy, and you can stop at the various windows looking out
the east side, the south side, and it's fun to watch the other visitors taking their pictures
too.
And you can see the Statue of Liberty.
The city Municipal Building, circled in red, looking down, looks pretty small, but it's
40 stories high and holds 2000 workers.
In the distance you can make out the Empire State Building, which also has an excellent
observation deck.
You can also go up to the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center, where you're standing
in the middle of the skyscrapers of Midtown.
That's really excellent, too.
There is a large gift shop, of course, with related souvenirs.
There's a snack shop, a restaurant and a bar.
The information talk is worth listening to.
And you can sit down.
“We have the East River on the side, the Hudson’s on the other, and in between the
two, here we are on the island of Manhattan, probably the coolest island there is.
Now some of you out there might be wondering about this big beautiful area over here on
the other side of the Hudson River.
Now that’s not part of the city.
It’s not even part of the state.
That is New Jersey out there, and let me tell you it is a beautiful place.
They also share practical tips on sightseeing and nearby dining.
Visitors spend an average of about 1/2 hour up top, 1200 feet above the city.
And then it's a lot quicker getting down than it was going up.
You'll go down escalators, back down the elevator, and you're back at street level before you
know it.
Returning to the plaza you'll pass by the Memorial Pools again and you could go back
into the Oculus to the subway lines to continue your journey.
Another excellent reason to have a metro pass so you don't hesitate about hopping on for
a short ride like this.
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