America 2013: Day Thirty - December 21 | New York City

The cold wind is blowin' and the streets are getting dark, I'm writing you a letter and I don't know where to start. The bells will be ringing Saint John the Divine. I get a little lonely every year around this time. The music plays all night in Little Italy, the lights will be going up on old Rockefeller’s tree, people window shopping on Fifth Avenue. All I want for Christmas is you!

- Darlene Love

Day thirty of thirty one, and our almost vacation is over and I can honestly say that it’s been the best month of my life. Every time I come over here, it’s better than the time before. No wonder it’s so hard to not come back. For all it’s faults, America is a fantastic country, full of so many wonderful people whom I am privileged to call friends, and who will always hold a special place in my heart.

American Flag on Liberty Island

Our final full day in America has really crept up on me, and I’m not ready to go home just yet. With Christmas coming, just around the corner now, it seems a shame to be packing up and heading home. That said, I’m also looking forward to spending Christmas with my family. That’s what it’s all about, after all.

Four hours sleep was all I got after the train delay, and we were back at it again, this time taking the PATH (Port Authority Trans Hudson) service from Newark-Penn Station to the World Trade Center stop, down at the southern tip of Manhattan. The PATH stop is very close to Ground Zero, where so many innocent people lost their lives in the 9/11/2011 terrorist attacks, and it’s a very sombre place as a result. 

Lady Liberty

The new building, 1 World Trade Center, is well on it’s way to completion, towering above street level, and it will be a wonderful monument to everyone who lost their lives when terrorists flew planes into the twin World Trade Centre towers thirteen years ago. For New Yorkers who were there on that terrible day when Manhattan became the most hellish landscape that most of us have ever seen – and will probably ever see – it must feel like yesterday.

Manhattan from Liberty Island

I can’t help but think not only of the victims on the planes – and also those who perished on the terrorist-commandeered planes which crashed into the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside – but the first responders from the Fire Department, New York (FDNY) and the New York Police Department (NYPD) who risked their own lives and, in too many circumstances, lost them trying to save people from the rubble of the destroyed World Trade Center towers. Their bravery should never be forgotten, and I’ve got no doubt that it never will, at least not in this city. The 9/11 Memorial will see to that. One thing is for sure: lower Manhattan will never be the same again. Nor will the rest of the world, for that matter.

First stop for the day was the Statue of Liberty, which is perhaps the most iconic structure anywhere in America. You are subjected to multiple security checks, to get onto the ferry and then to get into the Statue itself, and it’s a steep and cramped 188 step one-way journey from the base of Lady Liberty to the crown, from where the views of lower Manhattan are extraordinary. We were blessed with good weather and visibility when we were up there, and I got some amazing photos. 

9/11 Flag of Honor at World Trade Center PATH Station

The Crown had been closed since 9/11 and was only reopened on Independence Day this year, so our timing was perfect. Yeah, it’s a bit rough on the knees, and there isn’t that much headroom for anyone taller than 6 feet, but the view makes it all worthwhile. If you’re in New York City and you don’t mind a few steps, I highly recommend making the trek.

Continuing our Statue of Liberty theme, in the evening we went on a New York Water Taxi cruise which took us around the entirety of Liberty Island and up the East River, underneath the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. You haven’t seen New York City until you’ve seen it’s vastness from the water, and at night. Sydney is but a village in comparison to Manhattan’s crowded skyline, and the similarly busy cityscapes of Brooklyn and Jersey City. It’s an immense place, and you only get an idea of just how big when you’re on a boat making your way along in front of those giant skyscrapers. We had an awesome guide, who was funny and informative, and the champagne toast hit the spot, too.

1 World Trade Center

To close things out, we went to a restaurant that Matt and Thao found a few nights before, and had an awesome meal. Erol and Arbena came as well. Good food, beer and good company – no, the best company – and it was over far too quickly. I don’t want to leave. Getting messages from so many American friends wishing me a safe flight and a merry Christmas really rams it home that we’re leaving tomorrow. I wish I was like Matt and Thao, spending an extra week or so here. All good things must come to an end, I suppose. I don’t doubt that I’ll be back. With so many great friends in so many great cities, it’s hard to not come back.

Macy's Flagship store on 34th at Herald Square - world's largest!

So I’m just about all packed, and there’s only about three hours before our early wake-up call to get to the airport. We’re flying United Airlines from Newark-Liberty to Los Angeles, and will have a few hours to go shopping before we get on a Qantas Airbus A380 for the fourteen-hour slog back to Sydney. If everything goes to plan, we’ll get in early on Christmas Eve morning, which is perfect timing, because I love Christmas and I’m looking forward to spending it with family from both sides.

Macy's Madness

 What a trip – it’s fair to say we finished it with a BANG!