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. 

Zoomed in view of the Chrysler Building. 

Zoomed in view of Midtown Manhattan.

Penn Station and the Hudson River.

Zoomed in view of Lower Manhattan.

Actual view of Lower Manhattan.

The United Nations Bdg is centre-right.

Looking towards the East River.

Pier 17 shopping mall and restaurant.

Piers 15 and 16.

Brooklyn Bridge taken from Pier 17.

The World Trade Center taken from a ferry.

The boat approaches Liberty Island.

The ferry sails from Lower Manhattan.

The ferry passes the statue before docking in.

Manhattan skyline as seen from Liberty Island.

I look up to the Statue of Liberty.

This is Greenwich Village.

Jefferton Market Courthouse, Greenwich Village.

Here, I called out, Who won? Answered back, France!

Natural History Museum, 8th Avenue.

A stranger posed as I snapped these Dinosaurs.

I walk through Central Park. This is North Woods.

Harlem Meer Pond.

Onassis Reservoir.

Turtle Pond.

Belvedere Castle looks over Turtle Pond.

Meditating at Belvedere Castle lookout.

Once underwater, the Great Lawn, Central Park.

With woods like this, it's easy to forget the city.

The forested wonder of The Ramble.

Sheep Meadow, South Central Park.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Week, the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn town, and the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.

Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza - Part 43.

Why New York in 1998?

By the time the 1997 Round-the-World backpacking adventure ended, I had become addicted to travel. Even while on the final flight back to London from Los Angeles, I already had in mind the next adventure, another Round-the-World, this time, to Cape Town, then surface travel to Johannesburg, fly to Perth in Western Australia, travel across Australia to Sydney, before the Trans-Pacific flight to California. Such was my plan for 2000 or thereabouts.

Sounds far-fetched, doesn't it? But during the late 1990s, into the 21st Century, such a worldwide trip on a budget was still possible, with the Kensington travel agent Trailfinders being the main gateway to such an experience. So successful was their London centre that new branches began to open in provincial cities around the country. 

And so, I return to work five days after landing at London Heathrow. After landing on a Wednesday, the five-day readjustment break was necessary before resuming work on the following Monday. This way, I was able to resume business easily, while my post-holiday blues began to fade as I looked to the future.

However, totally unknown to me, in a house about a mile away from my apartment, a fiery teenage girl already had her eyes on me. Apparently, she had already made up her mind even before I took off to Singapore in 1997.

Blissfully ignorant, I carried on as normally each day. However, as 1997 gave way to 1998, the FIFA World Cup tournament in France was approaching, and most of my church friends anticipated England to win and bring the trophy home. This created some issues that needed to be addressed.

My travel experiences have created a level of envy among my associates. As one who favoured Italy over England to win the cup, I knew that I would be the target of teasing should England win, or just beat Italy during the tournament, especially during the knockout stages.

However, by the summer of 1998, I was financially healthy enough to afford a trip to New York City, not only to escape from the World Cup fiasco, but this time to explore the city properly. True enough, I first set foot in New York in 1978, and I spent just the one night in a dingy hotel on 8th Avenue. Then, in 1995, I returned, and once again, I spent a single night at the same cockroach-infested room after failing to find better accommodation on a budget. The pic below shows me on the roof of the World Trade Center taken in 1978.

On the rooftop of the World Trade Center, 1978.

This time, I was able to reserve a bed at HI-AYH New York City with the purchase of the airline ticket. With as many as 624 beds in one building, this was the largest youth hostel in the world, although, like all the others, the term "youth" is a misnomer, as all those residing were adults. However, its members' kitchen was incredibly small, with just four cookers, no dishes or crockery, or cutlery, and I literally had to eat both breakfast and dinner out of the same frying pan. And coffee? I drank from a discarded chocolate spread jar. Thus, the catering facilities, or lack of them, belied the size of the hostel. Furthermore, I sat alone in the kitchen to eat. But at least the dormitory was good.

Getting to the hostel from JFK Airport wasn't difficult. An excellent rapid transit system, very similar to the London Underground, meant a rather long subterranean train journey from the airport to West 103rd Street. But with Line 1 (now Line A), I was able to complete the journey without the need to change trains. It took over an hour to complete the subway journey.

New York is 40.7 degrees North. This makes New York City roughly the same latitude as Madrid, Spain, at 40.2 degrees North. However, as Spain is the sunshine retreat for sun-starved Brits, while walking the streets of New York City, there was rain, with passersby holding up umbrellas. The very stereotypical image of London!

This week's album concentrates on Central Manhattan. The city is a vivid contrast to the natural sites I visited, especially in Australia. For example, New York couldn't be more contrasting than the Great Barrier Reef or hiking through a tropical forest. But this series of albums is very precious to me, as they will feature the twin towers of the World Trade Center before the 9/11 disaster. These pics of the World Trade Center should appear next week.

So, is New York just a forest of cubic buildings scraping the sky? In many cases, yes. But on the Broadway hike from West 103rd Street to the Clinton National Monument, I passed buildings that were other than cubic, but had an architectural uniqueness of their own, which gave delight to the skyline. Mingled with the urbanisation are areas of greenery which give the city its own beauty as well as some air to breathe.

After nine days spent in New York, I boarded a Greyhound Bus to Boston, Massachusetts, my final American stop ever. A very different city from New York, at least the HI-AYH Boston City was a smaller but far better hostel with a decent-sized members' kitchen with all the necessary equipment.

Click here for the Index link to the main Biography, Weeks 108-112.

Photos of Central Manhattan, 1998.

The view out of our dormitory window.

At the start of the Broadway hike.

The Broadway crosses West 72nd Street.

Columbus Circle intersects with 59th St and 8th Ave.

Looking back down 8th Ave, west of Central Park.

Nearing Times Square.

Times Square, Bway, 45th St, 7th Ave.

Flatiron Bdg, Bway, 23rd St, 5th Ave. 

The Consolidation Edition Bdg overlooks Union Square Pk.

Independence Flagstaff, Union Park.

New York City Hall, City Hall Park.

Battery Park, near the end of the hike.

Approaching Castle Clinton National Monument.

Castle Clinton Memorial, interior. The hike ends here.

The rest of Manhattan.

The New York Stock Exchange. I went inside.

Federal Hall houses a museum of the city's history.

Trinity Church at Wall Street.

Wall Street seen from near Trinity Church.

It rains on 5th Avenue. And it's July.

Yellow taxis ply 5th Avenue in the rain.

Rockefeller Center, 5th Avenue, 50th Street. 

Statue of Padmetheus, Rockefeller Center.

A taxi cuts across 42nd Street.

The Empire State Bdg in the mist.

The Flatiron Bdg was once the city's tallest structure.

The Metropolitan Life Bdg.

Looking north along Broadway. 

Another look at Times Square.

Bryant Park, 42nd St, New York Library is behind.

New York indoor Mall.

View of the Mall from the opposite end.

View of Madison Park from the Empire State Bdg.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Week, Photos of New York centred around the East River.