Suitcase Souvenirs: New York City (Part 1 - Manhattan Attractions)

New York City
June 17-26, 2012

For the first half of our trip, we stayed in Lower Manhattan at the World Center Hotel, located next to the 9/11 Memorial. While the memorial opened on September 11, 2011, the museum is still under construction and is scheduled to open on the same day in 2012. There is no admission fee to the memorial site, but tickets do have to be reserved in advance for a specific date and time. Currently it houses 2 waterfalls in square pits where the twin towers used to be. The names of those killed in the terrorist attacks surround each pool. Security is high at this site - we saw police officers on site at pretty much all hours, and prior to entry to the memorial there is security screening through a metal detector.

Left: South Memorial Pool with the One World Financial Center in the background;
Right: Reconstruction of the World Trade Center

South Memorial Pool with the 9/11 Museum in the background

We also visited the United Nations Headquarters. Here they also screened everyone before going in. We took an audio tour and got to see the General Assembly Hall and the Security Council Chamber.

Left: General Assembly Hall
Right: Security Council Chamber

Chagall Stained Glass with symbols of peace on display

Andrew purchasing postcards of his hero, Ban Ki-moon

New York's Grand Central Terminal is the closest subway station to the UN Headquarters and of course we had to spend some time there and take in the magnificent architecture. Andrew was most excited about the Apple store - definitely the classiest looking Apple store I've ever seen!

Grand Central Terminal

View of the Apple Store at Grand Central Terminal

The two museums we visited were the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the American Museum of Natural History. While I enjoyed walking through MoMA, nothing really blew my mind away. We actually enjoyed checking out the MoMA Store much more. We also used our ticket stub to visit MoMA PS1 in Long Island. It houses ultra contemporary, experimental art. I didn't find PS1 to be that interesting and there were many sections closed for installation at the time.

I wanted to go to the AMNH because I saw an ad for one of their special exhibitions called "Creatures of Light - Nature's Bioluminescence". A jellyfish was in the illustration and being a fan of watching jellyfish, I thought there would be live jellyfish on display. Unfortunately, there wasn't and I was left slightly disappointed. The exhibit focused on models, text, and ipad displays. The only live organisms we saw were fish that ingested bioluminescent food. I did have a good time walking through permanent displays though. The museum was so big that we weren't able to walk through the entire thing before needing to head to our next desination.

Bridge in Central Park

We went to two Broadway performances this trip: The Phantom of the Opera and The Columnist. We decided to purchase our tickets on the day of the performances at the TKTS booth. There, tickets for many shows are up to 50% off. We chose the Phantom because we both had never seen it before, and The Columnist because John Lithgow was the lead in this play. I didn't care too much for the play itself, as it was based on events from the Cold War era, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the Vietnam war. I thought the acting was to be applauded though.

Times Square at night

We were initially planning on going to the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Centre to take some pictures of the Manhattan skyline (including the Empire State Building), but Andrew's friend Daniel lives right by the ESB and offered to take us to his rooftop to get some pictures from there instead.

View from Daniel's roof at night

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we explore the other boroughs of New York City!