Changing Face of the New York City Skyline

I was really happy to see the New York City Skyline this morning.  Finally, I got to see the work of reconstructing the tall buildings that will replace the old twin towers.  It represents to me moving on from the tragic events of 9/11.  Somehow, I wanted to see the old skyline brought back and even though I knew that the plans didn't include that happening. I would have been happy if they did.  So, I'm not sure how I feel about the new face.  I don't live in NY anymore so this new face does not give me the same old warm and fuzzies like the old skyline did.

My first flight in a general aviation airplane was down the Hudson River literally next to the Trade Center Towers.   I say literally because you actually looked up from the airplane at the top of the buildings.  It is an incredible flight.  You get to look through the rows of buildings when you are lined straight up with the streets.  NY Harbor is always a flurry of activity.  The Staten Island ferries drag racing across the water much faster than you think they should be able to travel.  You look down on aircraft carrier USS Intrepid as you fly by.  We would circle the Statue of Liberty then head back to Ramapo Valley Airport (RVA).

I got to fly this a few times myself years later after I got my license.  I have not flown this route since 2001.  Maybe some day I'll fly it again.  Maybe not.  I wouldn't want to spoil my original fascination with this flight.  The magic has lasted this long, why mess with it.

My Kind of Town, New York City

You know that you’re a New Yorker when you don’t really care about the tourist stuff. I grew up in the New York City area and certainly spent a lot of time in the city. I spent my senior year in college literally next to the Brooklyn Bridge at Pace University on Park Row across from City Hall. We used to sometimes hang out at a bar called Jeremy’s which was almost under the bridge between the school and the East River. But, it never occurred to me to walk out onto the bridge to check it out or just to admire the scene of Manhattan from it.

I haven’t lived in the Northeast for over 14 years but, I had to travel there recently for a job in Brooklyn. I decided to treat part of my stay in Brooklyn like a tourist. I did check out the sights of the city and I did walk out across the Brooklyn Bridge a few times. There were some locals running and biking but, for the most part the crowd consisted of tourists from all over the world.

That area of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan are probably some of the most photographed scenes in the world. It is easy to see why. In addition of NYC having a high concentration of the best photographers in the world, there are just a lot of stunning scenes everywhere you look. The landscapes of the skyline and architecture especially of lower Manhattan set in New York Harbor are really impressive. The bridge itself is both a piece of art and a piece of American History all at the same time. There are all kinds of people and all kinds of things happening all in a very concentrated area. I think that I took much of NYC for granted when I lived there. I suppose that I had to step away in order to see what was in front of me the whole time.