Frank's Christian Thoughts: Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza

Saturday, 18 October 2025

Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza - Part 44.

Comparing New York with my childhood hometown, London.

As one who loves to travel, whether I'm drawn to cities depends on their location, fame, character, and the surrounding environment. I was born in London, and for the first eleven years, I grew up in London, in Pimlico, to be more precise. Hence, I see London as my home city, even to this day.

In visiting New York, which I did in 1978, 1995, and this time in 1998, I saw some similarities between the infrastructure of the two cities. Even New York's rapid transit has lines which are very similar to the London Underground system, both in its tube structure, as well as Lines 1 and 2 resembling London's Metropolitan, District, and Circle Lines, except that in New York's version, four tracks run alongside. The inner two were used by non-stop trains (Line 1) while the outer two were used by stopping trains, that is, all stations between 103rd Street, where our hostel was, and 42nd Street, which passes through Times Square. Hence, by boarding a Line 1 train at 103rd Street Station, I was at 42nd Street within minutes.

In 1858, Fredrick Law Olmsted designed New York Central Park after he was inspired to create open green spaces in city centres. London's Hyde Park offered such inspiration, although it was not intended directly after it. While Hyde Park is basically a large lawn crossed by a network of footpaths and features the Serpentine, Central Park is more varied, almost divided in two by the Onassis Reservoir, along with several other ponds, and it also has the Great Lawn featuring baseball diamonds and a forested area. Also featured at Central Park is Belvedere Castle, a fancy structure overlooking Turtle Pond, and offering views of the Great Lawn, an area which was once underwater, covered by the Onassis Reservoir.

However, on the geological foundation, London, as with Paris, is built on a bed of clay. Hence, their original buildings weren't that high. In turn, the geological bedrock of Manhattan consists of three hard, metamorphic rocks: Schist, Gneiss, and Granite. Therefore, tall skyscrapers make up the character of Manhattan, which sets this city apart from London or Paris. Only in recent years that the construction of tall structures, such as the Shard, been possible by driving piles deep into the ground.

However, even though, to some degree, I felt at home in New York, there are differences between Manhattan and my former hometown of Central London. Apart from the forest of tall, cubic skyscrapers, the street pattern between the two cities is quite different. New York streets, like most American cities, have a symmetrical grid layout, an idea borrowed from many ancient Roman townships, even if the Lower Town area is more like the streets of London, forming an irregular pattern. Within this symmetrical grid layout, Central Park appears from a pilot's eye view as a perfect rectangle.

Also, unlike London, which is bisected by the River Thames, Manhattan is an elongated island, with the Hudson River to the west and the East River on the other side. North of Manhattan, the Harlem River joins the East River to the Hudson River, separating Manhattan from the Bronx, where I visited the New York Botanical Gardens. South of Manhattan, the two rivers merge. Through this area of water opening out to the Atlantic Ocean, the border between New York and New Jersey runs, with the Statue of Liberty in New Jersey.

The 1978 pic below shows me inside the statue's head after a stiff climb. As it was Summer, the interior was as hot as a sauna, and here I was, soaked in sweat. In the years to follow, some visitors passed out while inside the head. By 1998, the statue was closed to admissions during the summer months. Therefore, in July 1998, although I stood on Liberty Island, the Statue was closed to the public.

Inside the head of the Statue of Liberty, 1978.

This week's collection includes pics of the World Trade Center, taken in 1998, before the 9/11 disaster in 2001. And here remains one regret: In 1998, I didn't ascend to the rooftop observation gallery. My only visit there was in 1978, as pictured last week. As I glanced up at those twin towers in admiration from the Liberty Island ferry, it had never crossed my mind that, just over three years later, these towers would be no more. Instead, I stood on the observation gallery at the Empire State Building, looking across the length of Manhattan at the World Trade Center, two fingers sticking up from the horizon, three miles away. The opening pics of this week's album are taken from the Empire State Building, including one taken at night during my second visit, to include some night photos.

Anyone standing at the lookout at the Empire State Building at present would see a different skyline from the one I have seen. And so, I refer to a photo taken in August 2018 of one of our MPs, Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Tory relic from the Victorian Era, and dressed appropriately in a business suit and tie, in 30 degrees Celsius (86 deg F). And what did he see with his family? Where the Twin Towers once stood, in their place, the Freedom Tower reaches a height of 541 metres (1,776 feet), which is 124 metres higher than the taller of the Twin Towers, which was 417 metres (1,638 feet) high.

Click here for the Index link to the main Biography covering New York 1998, Weeks 108-122.

Photos of New York.

View of the East River from the Empire State Bdg.