New York
Author: Karthik Mruthyunjayan, Editor: Pranav Karthik
I started to Chicago airport to pick up my family. The actual plan was to pick up Geetu and Pranav and we were supposed to go to Tennessee and cover some of the southern cities, but once I picked them up from the Chicago airport, I suggested that we, having come so far and considering the duration of the drive and other factors we can cover NY and NJ instead which were in our bucket list for quite some time.
Niagara Falls
So we started our unplanned 8 hours journey around noon towards Niagara passing through the state of Ohio and briefly touching the state of Pennsylvania and reached Boston around dinner time. We decided to halt for the night with around 30 miles left to Niagara and to go there the next morning. During our route we also took a short break en-route in one of the Ohio beaches.
The next day we started early and drove down to Niagara, and it was filled to the brim with people as it was the 4th of July holiday rush. We found a public parking spot and went down to the see the rainbow bridge where they were selling a package tour which included a trip in the Maid of the Mist ferry which took us very close to the falls. Since we were running out of time, we packed some lunch and drinks and started our guided bus tour which will take us to 3-4 most visited spots there.
The main points of interests covered were the Cave of the Winds Trail, American falls, Horseshoe falls, Bridal Veil falls and the Niagara falls observation tower. After we packed supplies we hurried to the spot where we had to board the bus. The bus driver/tour guide was a very friendly guy who was a native and was every informative and knew a lot about the history and stories attached to all the places we visited.
Towards the end of the tour, we took the Maid of the Mist ride which took us for a closer view of the falls for which we all had to wear ponchos. As it was the holiday season there was a long and winding queue for it. The boat ride was awesome and true to their name they took as so close to the falls that we could feel the mist and might of the Niagara and we were all drenched to the fullest many times when our captain took us closer to the falls. It was a spectacular sight to see the massive Niagara and that too in such close proximity.
After a tiring day we started back to stay with one of our relatives called Ram uncle in Orange county NJ. The next day we took the bus form NJ to NY and visited the Empire state building and the Hindu temple at East Flushing. The queue to entry and ticket stall was long but the wait was definitely worth it. In the elevator we were treated to the history of the building along with the narrative of the same. It took approximately 6 mins to reach the top at 110 floors and the feeling and view once we reached the deck was breath taking. We could see the whole city and get a wonderful view of the Hudson river.
After that we took the subway to Chinatown, and then we took a bus to East Flushing to visit a famous Hindu temple. We had coconut water outside the temple at a street shop.Then we took the subway back to Westlake station and took the bus back to NJ. The next day we woke up early and took a drive into NY towards the ferry point from were we took the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We landed at Ellis Island and explored the whole building. The tour was both enjoyable as well as very informative on the immigration laws of the earlier days as well as to understand the procedures and ways of how immigrants were allowed and accounted for in the those days.
We boarded the ferry again and to the Statue of Liberty Island which houses the world famous Statue of Liberty monument. "The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World" was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States and is recognized as a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886. It was designated as a National Monument in 1924.
We spent almost 2-3 hours there, and took lots of photos of the statue as well as the new your skyline for which we had a great view. We had lunch at the cafeteria there where we were presented with some live music. We also brought a small souvenir of the statue with us as a memory. That day in the evening along with Ram uncle we visited the "VISA" Balaji temple at Bridgewater county and had dinner at an Indian restaurant there. The next day we started from Ram Uncle's house to stay with one of our family friend at Springfield county. We had lunch there .Evening once Arun was back from office we started toward NJ via train from NJ to NY. The station we landed in a very attarctive and morden building and mall call Oculus mall
This is really something to see. The Oculus Mall is an architectural stunner, offering several subway options, various dining choices, an entire shopping mall, and grand views of the Freedom Tower through the rooftop windows. It's sort of like a sleek, modern Grand Central. There's no charge to walk around and gawk. We didn't spend any time investigating the shopping opportunities but there appeared to be many higher-end shops. One could easily spend a few hours here for shopping purposes. The mall was quite full when we passed through in the busy evening on Wednesday and all the shops were open. While coming back several hours later, it was deserted. The contrast was striking, but it demonstrates the vibrancy of New York's recovery.
After alighting from the train we took a short walk to the new world trade center building and saw two massive water falls at the spot where the old buildings once stood.The compound walls had the names of the people who lost there lives during the incident of 9/11.Even after 10 years people place flowers and roses on their loved ones names in remembrance on days like their birthday for example.There is a museum about the tragic incident which we covered on the subsequent day's visit.
By that time the sun had set and the city lights were up, we took a walk on the famous Brooklyn bridge to end the day.
The next day morning myself and Pranav came and visited the 9/11 museum at the world trade center and my wife decided to stay back and give company to her friend who was working from home. Went back to NJ for lunch,picked up sangeetha again and came up to visit The Met. It was aroung 2.30 -3 Pm when we entered and the museum closes at 5.30 on weekdays. We saw some of the great artifacts they have and the only regret being that we were not able to spend more time there.Once outside we even got a caricature of Pranav done with one of the artist outside the MET.
That was the last day of our vacation and went back to NJ