June 19, 2006 Day 9 - Our travel to Manhattan, New York City, The Empire State Building, Long Island, and the Financial District.

WARNING!  PICTURE INTENSIVE PAGE!

We started our day by returning our rental car at Newark Airport.  This is a picture of me looking out the window of the “Air Train”, elevated transport from terminals to everywhere else.  What a goof I am!   
  

Once we actually got into New York City, we decided to make our first stop the Empire State Building.  It’s only a couple blocks away from Penn Station.  But the line there is LONG.  We knew we would have to wait, but we didn’t know we’d have to stand in line for over 2 hours and be marketed everything under the sun at the same time.  Really, it's unfortunate, but it seems an additional unfortunate side effect of the collapse of the twin towers was the Empire State Building Tourism Bureau seizing the opportunity. 
You could easily spend more than $50/person while waiting in line.
     

As I was waiting in one line, to pay, the security guard said that yesterday was dead.  There were hardly any people there.  It was Father’s Day, so he thought that was why.
   

This is a cool mosaic in the floor.  Jonathan thought it was pretty.

So are the doors of the elevator.  Just what you see in the movies.
  

Tip: go to the Empire State Building on Father’s Day.  Apparently no one else does.

This is the Chrysler Building, from the top of the Empire State Building.
I love the Chrysler Building.  It’s so pretty.

If you look at the rooftop here, you can see people sunbathing on it.
PS – they’re in Speedos! 

 

Here you see the skyline of New York City’s Financial District.
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center used to stand here.
 

I guess we liked the view from the top of the Empire State Building, because that’s what all these pictures are.
  

     

        

       

        

    

Once we left the Empire State Building, we went to B&H, a camera and digital "toys" store to buy more digital media, and extra batteries for the cameras (for our Kili climb).  That place is huge, and very efficiently run.
It is also run by Orthodox Jews, and most of the people in the store speak Yiddish!  It's very cool.
You should check it out if you need something under the category of "digital toys" while in the city.

Then we got to meet up with Jonathan’s friend, Jonathan (boy, this could get confusing.  We'll just call Jonathan's friend Jonathan, Jonathan P.  That way you'll know who I'm talking about).  We were going to go for a private airplane tour of Manhattan (Jonathan P. has his pilot’s license), but we couldn’t because the President was in town.   Dang President thinking he can close off all airspace just because he’s in town (catch the sarcasm)…

Jonathan P., Jonathan, and I had a great time touring the city.  Jonathan P. makes an excellent tour guide.  I would highly recommend him.  Here we all are in Time Square (daylight this time).
  

        

 

While we were in Times Square, we did a little redecorating.
We told our sponsors we'd get them good placement in New York City.
How's this for good placement?
     

Next we went over to Bryant Park.  They have free wi-fi there, but we didn’t use it.
        
Tip: When using Wi-Fi in public places, remember that there are smart people who know how to get into your computer if they're nearby.  This probably isn't a problem in your local coffee shop, but in a crowded place like Bryant Park, it's definitely something to consider.

           
Our next stop was to take the subway under the East River, over to Long Island.
Jonathan lives there, and he has a great view of the city from this dock, just a block from his apartment.
Jonathan said that people fish off this dock.  That means that they fish in the East River. 

           
A park ranger there told us that the EPA said that it is safe for humans to eat one fish a month from the East River.  YIKES.  I don’t think I’d be eating anything out of there ever, way too much mercury and other junk in there.
I don’t want that in my body.  Ewww.

        
This guy went fishing and caught a sea spider.
Not something I’d be interested in eating.
But, to each his own I guess.  (He threw it back.)

This is what we see if we look back towards Jonathan’s apartment.
Jonathan P. told us that this sign is pretty famous, and in a lot of movies. 

            
We all thought it would be fun to take the water Taxi across the river and into the city.
It was amazing. 

         

            

        

There’s another view of the Empire State Building. 
        

 We got to see so much.  They skyline is just amazing in NYC.  (As if you didn’t already know that.)
These tall buildings on the left (In the picture with Jonathan P.) are owned by Donald Trump.
The pictures on the right are of the United Nations building.
       

  
I love this picture.  It’s a picture of Jonathan actually reading the manual before doing something.
Now, how often does a man do that?  Well, here’s proof that it can happen.

        

        
We got off the water taxi at the financial district.

         

 
Jonathan and I were pretty used to being on our feet all day by this point, but we sure tired Jonathan P. out.
He needed a rest and a foot rub.  He made an excellent tour guide!

  
Here’s a picture of the Staten Island Ferry and the new building that it leaves from.
It looks like a nice building.  We didn’t ride the ferry though.

  
And here’s the view of the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park. 

  
Our next stop was to see Jonathan P's and Jonathan’s friend, Brittany.
This is the view of the financial district from her place.  Thanks for the wonderful dinner Brittany!
We had a great time visiting you.

                                

When we got back to New Jersey, our friend took us by this house.
It used to belong to our friends Patrick and Julie,
so we thought it would be fun to surprise them with pictures of us in front of it. 

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