We got off the subway at Christopher Street and emerged pretty much right at Christopher Street Park and the Stonewall Inn,
After taking the ferry from Brooklyn back into Manhattan, Noelle, Sierra and I made a short walk over to African Burial Ground National Monument.
The visitor center is inside a federal building, and so we went through security before exploring the exhibits. It's the type of site that I feel like the current administration is not completely thrilled about but a story that I feel is important to tell.
From the site we made our way to the subway which we took north up to Christopher Street and our next stop.
This morning awoke excited to do some exploring of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. We took the 1 Train down to the World Trade Center. The memorial was right outside the train station and so we stopped to pay our respects.
From there, it was a short walk to what was my favorite breakfast spot in New York, Apollo Bagels. After bagels and coffee we were ready for our walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Noelle and I had walked across it before, on a foggy day in December of 2009. This would be Sierra's first time though. Not only is it fun to walk across the bridge, but there are great views of some wonderful architecture along the way.
Once we had made our way across into the Dumbo section of the borough, we headed over to the iconic view of the Empire State Building framed by the Manhattan Bridge.
From there, its a short walk to Pebble Beach and a spectacular view of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan.
We stopped in the Time Out Market to use the bathroom and found some interesting interactive art.
We left the market,
and headed through Brooklyn Bridge Park
Squibb Park Bridge led us up to the pleasant Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Cantilevered over the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, the promenade offered wonderful views over to Manhattan.
From the end of the promenade, we walked through the lovely Brooklyn Heights neighborhood to the Ferry Landing where we took the NYC Ferry back across the East River to Manhattan.
The train from Philadelphia to New York was quick and painless. Before we knew it we had arrived at Moynihan Trail Hall in Midtown. It was just a short few blocks to our hotel on 28th Street surrounded by stores selling cut flowers and other plants. It made for a pleasant scene in the bustling city.
After checking in and ditching our luggage, we made the short walk over to the famous High Line, an elevated park built on an abandoned rail line. Once up on the park, we made our way north towards Hudson Yards. There's a lot of great public art along the path, including this strange yellow man.
Once at Hudson Yards, we admired the Vessel,
and sat down for a bit to ponder who could afford to shop at the fancy, expensive stores there.
Then we started to make our way south on the path, towards the terminus in the Meatpacking District. Along the way we passed much more interesting public art.
Besides the public art, there was plenty of interesting architecture to admire,
along with plenty of plants,
and even some wildlife.
There were places to sit and relax as well.
When we made it to the end of the park, we opted to head west to the Hudson River and another park, the Little Island. It's an interesting man-made island constructed of tulip-shaped pilings with earth on top.
We climbed a hill to a great view of the river and the Financial District to the south.
After a bit of relaxing, we made our way back towards the High Line. By this time we were pretty hungry though, so we stopped at an interesting little pizza place called Simo Pizza and got a few small pies and Italian sodas. Then we got back to the High Line just as the sun was setting.
