Another late start today, and we were aiming to get back to Cortlandt Manor by 4 pm, so that M can catch his Giants game, and we can have dinner at his place (I can’t resist steak!)

After arriving at Grand Central, at my behest, we took a subway (M is confused by the subway despite growing up in New York) to the southern tip of Manhattan, emerging at Wall Street, to see the financial center of the US. He also pointed out some old administrative buildings, and told me that New York was also the administrative capital before it moved to Washington D.C. For that reason, there are old administrative buildings to be found in New York.

We headed further south towards Battery Park, as I wanted to take a look at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Thankfully, I didn’t feel particularly compelled to take the boat trip out – there sure as hell was a long queue for that! We walked past several other landmarks/memorials, like the Korean War Memorial, and Fort Clinton.

Then, we headed north towards the Ground Zero Memorial site. It is a shame that it was covered, but M did tell me about what happened to some of the buildings around it.

Next stop, we went to Chinatown, and Little Italy (which was really little). I thought it was quite interesting that some of the shops have both Chinese and Vietnamese signs. I do wonder why. Hopefully I will find out some day. We also stopped for lunch in one of the restaurants, which was ok, and had a massive portion. Neither of us could finish our food. Along the way, we also saw the NYU campus, which was kinda scattered across town.

After some three hours of walking, we did finally managed to cover the forty blocks from Grand Central to the southern tip of Manhattan. With some time to spare for our train back to Peekskill, we ventured into the New York Public Library. It was a shame we never quite managed to find the reading room. Would have been cool to take a cook at the collection!

(The Giants lost that game)

Endless Skyscrapers of New York City

Chinese restaurant with Vietnamese signs in Chinatown, NYC

Old trade of clothes mending still available in Chinatown, NYC

Chinatown

Skybridge

New York Public Library

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