NYC sights pt 1

I had planned to visit the reading room in the NY Public Library but it was still closed due to the pandemic; when the building was opened in 1911 (with President Taft presiding) it was the largest marble building in the country

I've visited the 9/11 Memorial a couple of times so skipped it on this trip; One World Trade Center (ie Freedom Tower) is still jaw-dropping as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere (the same architect designed Willis Tower and Burj Khalifa)

The 57-story Jenga Building, completed in 2017, was designed by Anish Kapoor (famous for Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago); the building has 145 condos priced between US$3.5 million and US$50 million for 2 to 5 bedroom units

The Whitney, which focuses on 20th- and 21st-century American art, moved into this Renzo Piano-designed building in 2015; unlike the Met and MOMA which are huge, the Whitney can be enjoyed in a couple of hours

Little Island has an amphitheater and lots of pocket parks and playgrounds set on pillars designed to look like tulips; the park is further transforming the once-derelict West Side of Manhattan

The Edge opened on the 100th floor of the 30 Hudson Yards skyscraper last year, officially making it the highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere at 1,131 ft with the cheapest ticket being $36

I wanted to see the views from atop the Vessel which opened in 2019 but, due to a string of suicides, individual visitors are no longer allowed; group tickets must be bought online and you have to arrive with your party

Since opening in June 2009, the 1.5 mile long High Line has become an icon of contemporary landscape architecture; I was amazed at how much the trees have grown and the surrounding neighborhoods gentrified between my visits

The National Museum of the American Indian NY is located in the historic Alexander Hamilton US Custom House; the other main branch of the museum is on the National Mall in DC

Bowling Green (1733) is the oldest public park in NYC and is surrounded by its original 18th-century fence (the oldest fence in NYC); it included an equestrian statue of King George III prior to the Revolutionary War

The East Coast Memorial (1961) is located at the southern end of Battery Park and honors the 4,601 missing American servicemen who lost their lives in the Atlantic Ocean while engaged in combat during World War II; I happened to visit on Memorial Day

Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection station in the United States; from 1892 to 1924, nearly 12 million immigrants arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey were processed here

The Verrazzano-Narrows bridge, connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn, was the longest suspension bridge in the world from its opening in 1964 until 1981

The Haupt Conservatory at the NY Botanical Garden opened in 1902 after costing $177,000; the Garden sees millions of visitors annually to its 250 acres in the Bronx which feature more than a million living plants