Since I came to US one dream was to visit NYC. For people outside United State NYC is the reflection of US. The first image that comes to mind when someone mentions is Statue of Liberty or those high risers from where Spider Man keeps jumping around. Finally this dream came true last Saturday. When my friend asked what all places you want to see and the only thing I came up with were Statue of Liberty and Times Square. If I had time I had a list of places to visit but time has been the constraint for some time now.
If anyone asks me what is the best way to see the city I always say, use public transport. 
We started from Bedford in the train bound to Grand Central Station, the journey takes around 90 minutes. On the way, I was told how NYC is structured in Streets and Avenues and the best ways to navigate the city. Grand Central Station suits the name grand perfectly. It is a lovely train station spanning multiple levels. This station looks very impressive from outside and inside, even though with all modern facilities it has maintained its historical touch.
From there we took the subway to go to Wall Street. We were in search for the Wall Street Bull, but could not see in directly. In our search we saw other landmarks such as Trinity Church, New York Stock Exchange, and many famous buildings that we keep hearing about. One surprise was the presence of hawkers on the street, I have not seen them any where else in US. Finally we found the bull, took some pictures and took a cab.
Cab was to the 83 Pier, where we were supposed to go take a city cruise. Inside the cab 
was a typical scene portrayed by television. Only difference was presence of a television that play local news and one could browse maps on it. On the way we passed Ground Zero. I was told, that the memorial has been shifted into a building nearby and at that location construction for One World Trade Center was in progress. We could see that first 2o floors were completed and work was in full flow.
We then took a 3 hour boat tour of New York from Circle Line Sightseeing. This was an 
excellent choice, not just because we could cover a lot of landmarks in three hours but because of tour guide. The guide on boat has excellent knowledge of the city, he went on to explain everything we saw in depth. And NYC is a place where we see a lot of things. He has knowledge of all the buildings that we saw, he could tell which famous celebrity lives where, what is the rent in specific area, which celebrity went to which school, what is significance of a particular building, when/why were they constructed, history and other relevant information of bridges and obviously about Statue of Liberty.
It was a very cold windy day, so we were shifting between inside of the boat and deck 
based on importance of landmark. It was great to see the most recognized landmark of US, Statue of Liberty. I was a bit surprised that it does not look as big as it looks in photographs. Passing under the bridges was another good view, we could see the underside of bridges and listen to the historic significance. NYC has both elevator bridges and swing bridges. There was a place where one bridge has to change its position to let us go.
By the time this tour was over, it was evening, so best idea was to go directly to Times Square. We followed the crowd and walked to Time Square. We had dinner at a Mexican Place and were surprised to find out calorie count of the food. NY states has law to mark all the calories and the high value of calories came as surprise to us. I believe the law succeeded in what it was meant for.
We were at broadway at this point. We could see the number of shows going on (which 
are always the same) and building of New York Times. Moving ahead we went to Hard Rock Cafe, the main one where the chain started. It has a lot of original equipments from Beatles and other famous bands. Times Square is the biggest advertisement area I have seen in my life. Of course there were shops of higher grade but the amount of light/neon on billboards was breathtaking. No amount of photographs or videos can capture what one sees in real. Other stores we visited were Toys R Us, M&M and few more. It was astounding to see the amount of effort and money put into those places. Everything was bigger and better then the normal shops we see all around world. Even McDonalds was so shiny, bright and filled with neon that it was hard to believe that it is owned by same chain.
It was pretty late by this time but how could one come to NY and not see Empire State 
building. We walked to Empire State Building, one architecture marvel from the 20s that was highest standing free structure for almost 40 years. We then walked on to Park Avenue, we could see the Chrysler Building, which New Yorkers take pride in. It looks wonderful at night, the radiator grill styling on top looks beautiful in lights. We reached back Grand Central Station, it looked completely different at night. Lights have added to the beauty. It was time to take the train back, we were tired but a day well spent.
Thank you friend for showing me such beautiful city! One thing that has been common in my visits all across east coast is the cold weather, wherever I go, whenever I go, it does not leave me alone. I wish next time wherever I go, I will find a better climate.
