Visiting the 911 Memorial Preview Site

Coincidentally, on the morning I decided to visit the 9/11 site it was in the local news that a generous benefactor had made a big cash donation to the Memorial Preview Site.

I caught a bus down town, taking in all the streets scenes that passed me by, and got off at the World Financial Centre. This distracted me somewhat from my route to the 911 site and I decided to explore the area a little.

There were lots of business-type people and office workers and stepping inside I was greeted by an array of restaurants. I walked through the lobby and out the other side which brought me to an open area which over looks the North Cove Marina.




It seemed like a tourist free area, apart from myself, and the tourist helicopter passing by periodically, which broke the peace and quiet.


I gathered my bearings on my map and back tracked out of the World Financial Centre, took a right and walked over a bridge that led the the 9/11 building site. I stopped at a gateway of the construction site and got chatting to a construction worker. He told me he had his own business, but had put that on hold to work on the new site. He seemed genuinely happy to be working there and excited about the plans. Telling me that the new tower he was working on was going up at the rate of one floor a week (at least), he compared the building work to a jigsaw puzzle; once you have the initial pieces in place, it's easy to just slot in the rest.

There was some police presence around the site, but having said that, Manhattan seems to be pretty well policed all over. There had recently been some furore about the 'Ground Zero Mosque' and community centre, with opposers creating quite an ugly scene about it. I'm with Mayor Bloomberg on this one.






I made my way to the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site, and made a (rather emotional) video of that experience.



You can view photos from the book I refer to, Here Is New York, on their website.

I'll leave you with some of the images from my time at Ground Zero.

St Columbus Day Parade, 5th Avenue, New York City

It was an official holiday yesterday as the country celebrated St Columbus day.



New York City has been host to the annual St Columbus day parade since 1929. It's a huge event with 35,000 people taking part in the parade itself with countless spectators lining 5th Avenue.



It was a beautiful 80 degree day, and I took a walk from Hell's Kitchen to 5th Avenue to catch some of the action. My walk there gave me my first view of Times Square (where I am hosting the 4am Project photo walk this Sunday) and the Rockerfeller centre.

I found a break in the crowds and took my place. I hope you enjoy the video!


view embeded video here

And here are some photographs of the parade too.





From 80 degrees during the day, to the most magnificent thunder, lightning and hailstorm at night! I captured some video from my apartment window.

view embeded video here

As featured in the Birmingham Mail!

The Big Apple Unpeeled blog is now featured on the Birmingham Mail's website! On the Lifestyle blogs page specifically. Take a lookie!




Though the cleverness of feeds, whenever I update this blog, the Birmingham Mail page will update with the latest post too. I've worked the with Birmingham Mail on something similiar for their Your Communities page for my hyperlocal blog.

I have worked with the Birmingham Mail and the Birmingham Post serveral times over the years and first cut my teeth as a photographer with them during 6 months work experience as a photojounalist, and it's great to be teamed up with them again!

These feet ain't made for walking......(New York City)

I have realised the biggest challenge I will face during my stay New York City.

Keeping my tender feet blister free!

Now for a woman who owns a lot of shoes, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with them. They lure me in with their good looks, their shiny newness and their tempting colours. I bring them home and I cherish them. I keep them in colour and style co-ordinated box. I give them a really good home. But the sad thing is....they just don't love me back! *sniff*

Once placed upon my feet these beautiful foot adornments turn into creatures of torture. My delicate feet protest and the result is blisters. It doesn't matter the style or make (I've enough bought Clarkes!)

Of all the shoes I own, I have 2 or three pairs that I can safely wear without any repercussions, so naturally I am predicting a problem when I hit the streets of New York City!

I want to do a LOT of walking whilst there, to soak in the atmosphere, to see everything the city has to offer and to meet people and there is no way I'm going to let my shoes slow me down! It's a city that needs to be seen on foot.

I'm going prepared. Armed with a pharmacy sized supply of plasters and tape, my feet will be protected and blister free whilst I hop, skip and jump around the streets of Manhattan ;)

Using Google City Tours for New York City

I discovered Google City Tours the other day and got quite excited about the possibilities!

You just put in your location, with the option of adding in dates as well. Great!

Hmm. Well, perhaps not so great. I lost patience with it very quickly.....

My first search under 'Manhattan' delivered a walk around and through central park with an approximate length of time along each part of the route, and with the option of removing some of the choices.

Okay, not bad for the first try. I could do that on one of my days in NYC. But upon refreshing the screen to find another selection I was disappointed to find the same map presented to me. I guess in some ways I shouldn't have been surprised as I used the same search term, but in a city the size of Manhattan, I would have thought that it would be churning out 'tour' after tour covering the width and length of the city.

So, I went a bit more general with my next search term, 'New York City'. Ah now it was covering a bit more ground, with a walk lasting approximately 4.5 hours starting at the centre of the Brooklyn Bridge.

















Okay, time to get a bit more specific on my next search, 'Financial District, Manhattan'.

Well, this walk does include the financial district, but also takes me quite a way away from it too. Hmmm.....


















As I mentioned, you can put in how many days you are staying in the area, but the maximum number of days is 5. I clicked on day 2 for Financial District. Now this is more like it. Much closer to the area. Things are looking up!


















Until....Day 3. Where Google City Tours had run out of suggestions altogether.

So, my initial excitement about Google's City Tours waned very quickly. It just isn't good enough. Lack of choice. Restriction on days. And although you can put in exact dates, the information doesn't seem to change. For example, I would have liked up to date events and seasonal suggestions included. I don't really know how they pull the information together, but overall it was a disappointing experience.

I think I'll stick to planning my own walks, maybe selecting one from a guide book, or more likely just go where the wind blow me! :)

Travelling Solo, but I won't be alone

I will be travelling solo in New York City, however, I don't plan on being alone.

Thanks to all the social media tools we have available I will still have my friends and followers with me on the journey - virtually at least.

Given the speed of communication we now have access to through the internet, there is no reason not to be able to keep in touch. As well as sharing my Big Apple adventure, my friends and followers can comment and quickly interact making it more of a participatory experience.

Contrast this to about 8 years ago when I first got online. I bought my first computer with the aim of using it to plan a 2 month solo trip around the USA. Researching my trip I found that not every venue or hotel had a website. I made many long distant calls to the U.S. I didn't book my multiple flights (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, Orland, New York) online, but went into a travel agents. Scanning my old guidebooks now, there is a distinct lack of website addresses attached to the 'must see' and 'don't miss' recommendations.

I think a few people may have been blogging 8 years ago, but the word hadn't registered on my radar. Facebook hadn't been invented. Or Youtube. And certainly not twitter. My main avenues of keeping in touch with a few friends and family then was by postcard/letters, the occasional email when I could find an internet cafe and the odd long distance phone call. As for photographs, I had my old film camera and waited patiently until I got home to develop my pictures.

That two month trip was amazing and I loved every minute of it. But there was something missing. I'd see these incredible sights, have experiences I wanted to share, have the odd moment of doubt, take part in an amazing event, but there was no one there I could immediately turn to and say, "Hey! Did you see that?!" There was a delay between the experience and being able to share it.

NOW? Wow!

We have every means available to keep connected and share sights and sounds. Broadband, Wifi, laptops, net books, mobile phones that can have us online in seconds. We are embracing, sharing, consuming media like never before and with free live video streaming we can broadcast our news within seconds.

My two month trip was a good practice run, but this time around things are going to be so much different, and I'll have my friends, family and followers viturally by my side.

Welcome to the Big Apple Unpeeled!

Hello!

A very warm welcome to the Big Apple Unpeeled blog.

Exactly one month ago I spontaneously booked my flights to New York City. Even though I have been planning this trip for some time, I wasn't quite sure when it would happen, but last month the opportunity presented itself and now it's all go, go, go!

I have chosen to stay in New York for a whole month. Though I am already wondering if this will be long enough given all the things I would like to do!

Immersing myself in the city, my aim is to bring you a 'pips n all' view of the Big Apple. This will be a participatory event too - throughout my trip I will be asking you 'Where would you like to visit today?'

Using social media tools such as this blog, youtube, twitter, flickr, bambuser, qik, and facebook, I will be bringing you photography, interviews and reviews of the Big Apple.

Take a moment to read more about the Big Apple Unpeeled. As a way of an introduction you can read a bit more about me, and there is even a press release, and sponsorship opportunities.

Don't forget to signed up the Big Apple Unpeeled blog too! :)