"I wanna wake up, in a city that doesn’t sleep And find I’m king of the hill Top of the heap"
Frank Sinatra - New York, New York.
The center of the world economy.
The pinnacle of entertainment.
New York, the city that never sleeps.
New York has everything.
It may be a bit of an exaggeration, but every time I try to enjoy New York, there is never enough time.
My first visit to New York was in January 2010. It was very cold.
During my 11-day stay, it snowed and the temperature was minus 5 degrees Celsius.
I was wearing only denim pants, so I was constantly shivering from the cold air coming from the ground. My hands were cold, so I would breathe warmly into my leather gloves, and then stick my hands in to keep them warm.
At first, I thought that it was rare for me to take such a long vacation and travel abroad, so I thought I would visit all the museums I wanted to visit and conquer all the tourist attractions in these 11 days, but I underestimated the city of New York.
There was no way I could visit all of New York’s attractions in just 11 days. I had to give up several places in tears.
(Although I had no idea at the time that I would soon be revisiting New York two years later, as I would always take two long vacations a year for more than 10 years.)
This trip to New York was different from the one I took once when I was a university student.
It was probably because I started to use English at work, unlike when I was a student.
I was able to interact with local foreigners, something I had not been able to do in London. Suddenly, I was approached, became friends, and enjoyed sightseeing together.
When you interact with foreigners in a place, traveling (especially when traveling alone) becomes a lot more fun.
To be honest, you don’t need to speak English to enjoy traveling abroad.
When I traveled to London for the first time, I could not speak English at all, but I managed and was able to enjoy myself.
However, although many people spoke to me and offered a helping hand, my inability to speak English sometimes became a barrier.
I was just beginning to get acquainted with English when I traveled to New York, And This trip made me realize how much more interesting travel can be when the barrier of English in one’s mind is broken down.
My encounter with her was also sudden.
On the way back from Liberty Island.
I was walking around Wall Street and heading north on Broadway to see Ground Zero, which was still under construction at the time and surrounded by a fence.
I was looking at Isamu Noguchi’s public artwork, “Red Cube,” when she suddenly approached me.
She said, “Hey, YOU Do you know which way is Ground Zero?”
“No, I don’t know, but it’s probably that way. I’m on my way there myself”
When I answered, she naturally said, “Well, OK Let’s go together”
She was very pushy, but she doesn’t seem like a bad person,
and I welcome meeting people on these trips (I had also had a sudden encounter with Lim at Battery Park just a few hours earlier.)
I started walking around and talking to her.
“Where are you from? How long will you stay in New York?”
She would ask me a in succession questions.
And then, when I was taking pictures on the street, she would say, “Give me your camera. I’ll take your picture for you.”
We walked around “Ground Zero”, which was surrounded by a fence under construction.
and before We knew it, We were on the pathway to “Brookfield Place” across the street.
So she asked the security man, “I want to get a better look at ground zero, is there anywhere good?”
I learned a lot from her great communication skill of talking to the man, getting along with him, and then asking him a question.
She was such a fast-paced woman, even when we parted ways. She said, “It was nice to see you. Then, bye-bye”, she said simply.
New York, the city that never gets old.
I have visited New York three times now, and I never get tired of it.
In fact, the more I get to know about it, the more I want to know more about it.
There are so many things to see and do.
It has the best entertainment in the world, numerous museums, high-end department stores, and so many Luxury brand stores.
This city has a wide variety of attractions that attract people.
Not only that, but the subway, which operates 24 hours a day, is convenient and easy to understand to get anywhere in the city.
Combined with buses, you can move around the city in any direction.
The city is clearly divided into a grid pattern, with streets divided vertically by avenues (Av) and horizontally by streets (St), and if you remember this, you will be able to move around perfectly and easily.
A city with a well-developed public transportation system is very convenient.
That is why I would like to make this NewYork one of the recommended cities for beginner travelers.
Such a recommended spot in this city.
If you are going to NY for the first time, go to these places
This symbol of New York City, completed in 1931, is a beautiful building with the Art Deco style that was popular at the time in its low-rise and top portions.
Like the Tokyo Tower, which also symbolizes the metropolis of Tokyo, it is also used as a radio tower for television and radio.
The observation deck of the Empire State Building is world famous and always crowded with visitors.
However, the view of New York from there is truly beautiful, and is the best place to experience the city.
Incidentally, I visited there on my second night in NY.
I wore a vintage Kiss T-shirt (with a panda wearing Kiss makeup) on that day.
And when I got on the elevator to the observation deck, the elevator boy said to me,
“That T-shirt is cool. Do you like Kiss, too? What’s your favorite song?”
I couldn’t think at that moment and said
“I can’t think of the name of the song”,
so I’ll answer later,” and I went to the observation deck.
When I got on the elevator to go downstairs after watching the nice view from the Observatory, I went to his elevator again.
I finally answered, “I Was Made For Lovin’ You,” to which he replied,
“I love that song, too”.
It was a moment that made me feel like I had come to America, as this kind of communication is never like this in Japan.
Anyway. This building is not only tall, but the admission fee is also very expensive.
Admission to the main deck on the 86th floor costs $42 per adult, or about 5,600 yen.
In addition, a ticket to the top deck on the 108th floor costs $75, or about 10,090 yen.
(The exchange rate is 134 yen to the dollar.)
Frankly speaking, the price is so high that I hesitate to go…
This makes me think that the admission fee to the Tokyo Sky Tree Observation Deck (corridor of skyline + observation deck set ticket: 3,100 yen(about $23) for the day), which I have yet to visit because I think it is too expensive, is extremely economical.
However, here in New York, there is a very reasonable ticket.
City Pass Ticket
Empire State Building
American Museum of Natural History
Top of the Rock Observation Deck or Guggenheim Museum
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Ferry Transfer or Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise
9/11 Memorial and Museum or Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
Admission to all five of these recommended locations is $129 per adult!
The validity period is nine days from the date of your first visit to the facilities.
Nine days is enough time to visit all the facilities.
We recommend that you purchase a City Pass before exploring New York.
American Museum of Natural History a.k.a. Night Museum
It’s just like the Night Museum!
It would be wild to end with a single word,“The Night Museum,”
so please bear with me for a bit of explanation.
The American Museum of Natural History is a historic museum that opened in 1877, located on the west side of Central Park, a civic recreation area in the heart of Manhattan.
It is one of the world’s leading museums of natural science, and has also been a research institution that has contributed greatly to the study of natural history.
(Incidentally, the first Tyrannosaurus fossil was discovered by the staff of the American Museum of Natural History.)
And despite its name, the Museum of Natural History also has an exhibit on space.
This is the Rose Center for Earth and Space, which is located on the north side of the Natural History Museum.
Of course, I love the exhibits in the main building of the Natural History Museum,
but the planetarium in the Rose Center was so wonderful the first time I visited there that I wanted to visit the planetarium the second time I came here.
The planetarium here at the Rose Center is top-notch! Of course there are great planetariums in Japan, but this one is so immersive and engrossing that you feel as if you are actually floating in space.
By the way, I have loved science museums since I was a child.
When I was a university student, I chose the museum curator course and did my practical training at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno.
The other day, when I took my nephew to the National Museum of Nature and Science, he left the museum as soon as we entered, saying he was “tired” and “thirsty”.
I was sad coz it was too early for him lol
Now, when talking about the American Museum of Natural History, the movie “Night Museum” cannot be missed.
Of course, various exhibits from the movie are actually on display.
There’s a skeletal specimen of a Tyrannosaurus that played with bones like a dog in the dinosaur section on the fourth floor.
The Hall of Pacific Peoples, located at the end of the third floor, has a moai statue.
In the Hall of Primates, where monkeys from all over the world gather, there is a monkey that slaps the main character.
Incidentally, the exhibit I particularly wanted to see was the stuffed animal exhibit.
My own favorite contemporary artist, Hiroshi Sugimoto,
took black and white photographs of stuffed animals and models of apes here when he was young.
His retrospective exhibition was held at the Mori Art Museum from 2005 to 2006.
I was so fascinated by his work, which I saw for the first time, that I wanted to visit the Natural History Museum.
(By the way, it was so wonderful that I visited the museum twice during the exhibition period. Incidentally, it was so wonderful that I visited the museum twice during the exhibition, and on the last day of the second visit, Mr. Sugimoto himself was there and gave me his autograph, which is a good memory).
It’s No need explanation.
The Statue of Liberty is one of the most famous landmarks in New York City.
The statue, a gift from France to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the United States’ independence, has become a symbol of freedom and democracy in the United States and a tourist destination for visitors from all over the world.
It is 93 meters including the pedestal, which is not as big as it seems in numbers, but it is actually huge when you see it in front of your eyes, and the view from the observation platform at the crown of the head is good.
As such a landmark symbolic of the United States, it has appeared in numerous films.
“Planet of the Apes”
“Independence Day”
“The Secret of My Success”
“Ghostbusters 2”
“Titanic”
“X-Men”
“Cloverfield”
Most recently, he was in “Spider-Man NWH”.
All of them are very famous movies.
Also, personally, Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty stands, appears as the location of the final battle in the game “Parasite Eve”.
Incidentally, Since this work is set in New York, not only the aforementioned Museum of Natural History, but also Carnegie Hall, Central Park, Chinatown, and the Chrysler Building.
New York has long been a place I have longed to visit.
And Manhattan, which also appears in “Metal Gear Solid 2”, although the Statue of Liberty does not appear.
In the Tanker Incident part, it is by a tanker sailing on the Hudson River.
In the Plant part, Federal Hall, the Old Capitol of the United States Congress, is used as the site of the final battle with Solidus. It is very close to Battery Park, the landing place of the Statue of Liberty cruise ship, so we recommend that you visit there together with the Statue of Liberty if you like.
Furthermore, The MIB headquarters, which appears in “Men in Black”,
is also located near here.
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel Ventilator Building is it.
Now, the Statue of Liberty can also be reached by a City Pass as a set with Ellis Island.
The southernmost tip of Manhattan Island.
Take a ferry from Statue Cruises in Battery Park to Liberty Island.
It was here that I met Lim-kun.
It takes about 20 minutes by boat to get to Liberty Island.
Once on the island, we were free to move around, so we could go to the museum inside the Statue of Liberty or take a leisurely stroll around the island.
After that, I also recommend going to Ellis Island because it is a great place to visit.
The U.S. is a country of immigrants;
from the late 19th century to a little over 60 years, immigrants from Europe always entered the U.S. through this island.
The island served as an immigration checkpoint.
Jack of “Titanic” would have sailed to Ellis Island if his ship had not sunk.
There is a museum on the island that shows how the immigrants of that time traveled to the United States.
It also shows the sadness of those who were segregated and treated badly here.
This is why the island is also known as the “Island of Sorrows”.
I hope you will visit this island together with the Statue of Liberty to learn more about the United States of America.
Get in touch through the contact page or leave a comment if you have questions about a specific post.
