5 days in The Big Apple July 22, 2018 A return to the Greatest City on Earth, after over 10 years! My, how it's changed. View fullsize Farmland in Thailand vs. Taiwan. View fullsize I must be in Taipei! View fullsize My room in Battery Park! But wait: what's this for? View fullsize I see! Lovely Lady Liberty! View fullsize Quick tour of down town on a scenic run. View fullsize The famous Woolworth Building. View fullsize A quick peek into surprisingly colorful Chinatown. View fullsize And up the Brooklyn Bridge. View fullsize Great views this morning! View fullsize Our very international group, with people from as far away as Sydney and Bangkok :) (We lost the guy from Delhi.) View fullsize View from the hotel: the Whitehall Building - built in 1902! View fullsize A Tuesday evening boat tour, under foreboding skies. View fullsize Some still dare to sail. View fullsize Lady Liberty, up close and personal. View fullsize Lower Manhattan, buried in clouds. View fullsize Gehry's IAC building at night. View fullsize Strolling through Battery Park on Wednesday evening. View fullsize Pier A Harbor House. View fullsize Looking north, up West St. View fullsize Evening picnickers in The Battery. View fullsize Enthusiastic street performers; they garnered quite a crowd. View fullsize Governors Island Ferry terminal - nicely restored. View fullsize Reflections. View fullsize This place looks familiar. Brooks Brothers are still there. View fullsize The Oculus by Santiago Calatrava. View fullsize From the inside, it feels massive! View fullsize Tiny commuters down below. View fullsize Photos do not do justice to the space. View fullsize Looking uptown from the 60th floor of 28 Liberty St., where a the new Manhatta had opened the day before. View fullsize Whizzing by the Brooklyn Bridge on our way to dinner. View fullsize Sunny morning on the Hudson. View fullsize Walking over the Holland Tunnel. View fullsize Downtown skyline. View fullsize New Jersey! View fullsize Beach Volleyball in the middle of the city, on Pier 25. View fullsize The Jenga Tower (aka 56 Leonard) by Herzog & de Meuron. View fullsize The fountain in Silverstein Family Park, dedicated to those who survived 9/11. View fullsize One WTC. View fullsize 9/11 Memorial. View fullsize 9/11 Memorial. View fullsize 9/11 Memorial. View fullsize Now we move uptown, for some adventures in a more bustling part of the city. View fullsize Fruit sellers taking cues from Thailand! View fullsize Penn Station and Madison Square Gardens have created some picnic space in the streets. View fullsize Bustling Broadway. View fullsize Lunch time at Madison Square Park. View fullsize The famous Flatiron Building... View fullsize ... which was surrounded by chaos, due to a steam pipe that had exploded earlier that morning. View fullsize Continuing along Broadway, to Union Square Park. View fullsize A health & wellness fair - with lots of freebies and activities for kids. View fullsize A colorful mural on 14th St. View fullsize The new Google Chelsea Markets -- just opposite Durr Mechanical's building! View fullsize Into the new Chelsea Markets! I don't remember them being so posh when I used to work nearby. View fullsize A bustling tourist hub inside - barely any room to walk. View fullsize At long last, the High Line. How much hype we've heard since it opened almost 10 years ago. View fullsize It was crowded, but not impassable -- as I've heard it can be on weekends. View fullsize Nice fun mural for the passers-by. View fullsize London Terrace - formerly the largest apartment building in the world. View fullsize 26th Street scenic overlook. View fullsize Zaha Hadid residence - her first (and last) in NYC. View fullsize Interesting reflections on the street. View fullsize 10 Hudson Yards (incl. our office) straight ahead! View fullsize View from my Times Square hotel room! View fullsize Times Square at night - even busier than I remember it to be! View fullsize Time for some Rockettes? View fullsize Did Rodin find his way to 6th Ave and 52nd St? View fullsize An evening Nike runner's club gets ready to depart in Central Park. View fullsize Balto is still there. View fullsize Looking north on Park Ave. View fullsize Dinner with Duncan at The Union Club. View fullsize A very cool, impressively life-like mosaic at the entrance to the Second Ave Subway at 72nd St. View fullsize Appropriately modern entrance. View fullsize Rode north for 1 stop. Nice, clean, and spacious at 86th St. View fullsize Friday morning: a long-awaited visit to our famed NYC office. View fullsize We were one of the first tenants of 10 Hudson Yards. View fullsize Crazy construction going on down there. The cocoon-shaped thing will be the "Vessel" a vertical garden and public space. View fullsize Looking south to Chelsea and NJ. View fullsize View south, toward down town. View fullsize Looking east, to Penn Station and Madison Square Gardens. View fullsize With Rachel, in front of a brilliant backdrop! View fullsize A very colorful bridge on 37th St. View fullsize Feels like NYC! View fullsize Grand Central! View fullsize Apparently there's now an Apple store in the middle of Grand Central! View fullsize Spying on the commuters. View fullsize An empty Upper East Side. View fullsize I've always wanted to go to Roosevelt Island. Or actually, just ride the tram! View fullsize Really great views of the Avenues below! View fullsize 2 cabins operate, each with its own set of cables. View fullsize Beautiful East River. View fullsize Lots of development on Roosevelt Island itself. View fullsize The island station, just below the Queensboro Bridge. View fullsize Looking back at Manhattan. And 2 recumbent cyclists. View fullsize Beautiful views! View fullsize Nicely restored (kept?) river walks. View fullsize I was indeed there, too! View fullsize Smallpox Memorial Hospital. View fullsize The hospital was built on the island (in the mid-1800s) in attempt to quarantine Smallpox patients, esp. immigrants. View fullsize View of Manhattan from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park. View fullsize Shadows on the Park's stairs. View fullsize Although originally conceived in 1972, the park only opened in 2012! View fullsize A much-larger-than-life hovering head of FDR. View fullsize Great place for a fashion photo shoot. View fullsize Queens. View fullsize Heading back to the mainland. Or, the larger island. View fullsize Friday night traffic. View fullsize 1st Ave. View fullsize The original Bloomingdales. View fullsize Spotted a dragon, hiding in plain sight. View fullsize Dinner with the Kenselaars and Kevin! View fullsize And all too soon, I'm back in Taiwan. View fullsize Low-lying clouds (spot the mountain range?) View fullsize For those flyers who carry component video cables in their carry-on... View fullsize They made it back, straight from NYC. View fullsize My steal from Nordstrom Rack. I'd say it was a productive trip! :)
