The 8th September is an important day in British history with regard to New York, because it was on this day in 1664 that the former Dutch colony of New Amsterdam became New York. And the rest as they say is history.
Today I joined around 20 other people on an all day (6 hour) walking tour of Lower Manhattan organised through "Free Tours By Foot". They operate walking tours in several US and European cities (including London) as well is Dubai and the system is simple - you book a tour and no payment is made but at the end of the tour you tip the guide whatever you think it's worth. I think it is a great approach because it means the guide has got to be good - and he was!
We started off in Wall Street by the New York Stock Exchange but did you know that Wall Street is called Wall Street because there used to be a wall running down it? The foundations are marked out in the street and it was built by the Dutch in New Amsterdam to keep the British out - so now we know where the great man got his idea from.
Later we went to the 9/11 memorial site, as the guide said, it is a difficult topic to deal with but it is now an integral part of New York. The memorial consists of two square pools which are the footprints of the twin towers, water cascades down the sides and then flows into a smaller square pool in the centre and cascades further down. The two squares are designed so that you cannot see the bottom of the second pool from any point to create the impression of never ending i.e. continuous remembrance. The names of the victims are on the metal plates surrounding the pools and a white rose is inserted into the name on the victims birthday each year. I'm glad I went as part of a group with a guide as he explained it very well and it meant more.
The whole site is surrounded by many trees, including one that survived the devastation of the attack and is over looked by the new One World Trade Centre building.
Nearby is Santiago Calatrava's stunning Oculus transport hub and shopping complex the roof of which is aligned so that on September 11th the sun will shine through.
We also visited Little Italy, Chinatown, SoHo and Greenwich Village (making some subway journeys in the process) before finishing the tour at the High Line. The High Line is an old elevated railway running through the old Meatpacking District. Scheduled for demolition it has been transformed instead into a linear park, become very popular and is proving to be an example to other cities on how to achieve effective inner city regeneration.
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| The High Line |
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| A View from the High Line |
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