NEW YORK city has for several centuries been the main gateway to the United States of America for travellers crossing the Atlantic. Seen as the gateway to the land of opportunity having left the stuffy constructions of the United Kingdom and Europe, New York has continued to expand into one of the major cities of the world. It is therefore a very fitting place for me to begin this adventure of the North American seaboard.
This journey begins in New York's Central Park, as tranquil expanse of what this now frenetic city would have been before settlement. I spend the first day exploring upper Manhattan, primarily Central Park and the Natural History Museum, before heading into upper Manhattan to the insane chaos of Times Square. The second day is spent exploring middle Manhattan roughly following Broadway through its spectacular high rises before watching the sunset from the most magnificent of them all - the Empire State Building. Day 3 brings me into Lower Mahattan, the sparkly commercial centre of New York, with its centrepiece the newly resurrected World Trade Centre. New York isn't just Manhattan Island, it is an entire state, so I spend day 4 exploring upstate until reaching the magnificent Niagara Falls for the sunset. |
