New York - Saturday

It's a beautiful spring morning in New York today, starting at only about 10 degrees but clear blue skies and a light breeze, it warmed up to nearly 20. I walked to and around Central Park, amongst the dog walkers, joggers, roller bladers and cyclists. The weather forecast was for rain but it looks like the meteorologists are no better in the USA than Australia.

After breakfast and a barely drinkable latte (despite asking for an extra shot) I walked from 49th Street (Theatre District) to Battery Park which is the southern tip of Manhattan. The queues were too long for the Statue of Liberty ferry so I walked back up via Wall Street to see the 911 memorial (photo of reflection pool). Construction continues on the single WTC building to replace the two originals as well as other buildings that had to be condemned after 911. Security is very tight and on par with airport screening to ensure gets a chance for a follow up message.

From there I caught the subway to Flushing in Queens. On the map its on the top right of the mauve section, near 295. Flushing was the site of the World Trade Fair in 1964 when they built the Unisphere (see photo). It's been used in films such as Men In Black and New Years Eve. This area is also where the New York Mets home ground, Shea Stadium is and where the US Open tennis is played. Also there is the Queens Museum of Art which has a unique exhibit called The Panorama (see photo) which is a very large 'scaled down' model of New York's 5 boroughs. On the way back on the train back to Manhattan I was conscious of being the token white guy as everyone else was either Chinese, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Columbian, Cuban, or even Peruvian. Actually that's not quite correct, there was another white guy but they got him before they got to me...just kidding.