Now if there's one thing America knows how to do damn well, it is building beautiful bridges! The Brooklyn Bridge is definitely no exception to this. One afternoon we found ourselves with a few hours spare before our night time activities, so decided to head on out to pay it a visit.
Now I must warn you, actually trying to find the damn thing is not for the faint hearted! You see, we could find the bridge no problem, however finding the entrance to it is a lot harder than it sounds! It is like something from the Krypton Factor i swear! We were in DUMBO and ready to stroll across the magnificent bridge, however it took us about half an hour to find the walkway which led onto it. Every time we thought we had found it, nope the bridge carried on! About 84 years and a treck through Jumanji's jungle later, we actually managed to find it.
Walking across the bridge and taking in the beautiful harbor around us was truly amazing. We were surrounded by many different people from all walks of life, which shows just how powerful a landmark can be in bringing people together!
The bridge it's self had a walkway which was suspended above the road used by the traffic. To my amazement the pedestrian walkway was constructed entirely out of wooden slats, which was something I was not expecting at all! However, it gave it a pretty unique edge, as I had never seen a bridge of such a grand scale ever use that feature. The initial walk across is a little lengthy but is one I highly recommend and is a must if your in the area. We even decided to celebrate our success at finally finding it, with a cheeky bevvy at a quaint little Irish bar afterwards.
When you envision popular tourist attractions in New York, what comes to mind? Would I be right in saying The Statue Of Liberty? She is one of the most popular ladies in all of America, I just couldn't come all this way and not visit her!
Lady Liberty stands grandly on her pedestal upon her home of Liberty Island, New York Harbor, she was an amazing gift from the good people of France. As she was constructed out of copper, her original colour was actually that of light brown. However, over the years the natural oxidation process of the Copper, has caused her to become the beautiful greeny/blue colour we see her as today. She stands at an impressive 93 meters tall with her pedestal, or 46 meters on her own.Whilst in America we hopped on board a guided ferry tour of the sights in and around New York Harbor, of course Lady Liberty was one of them.
I'll be honest with you I was a little underwhelmed at her size, as when close to her she seems rather small without her pedestal. She is actually nowhere near as large as she is usually depicted in movies, however 46 meters tall is still pretty magnificent for any statue! Despite her size it was amazing to finally see her with my own eyes and is a once in a lifetime experience I shall never forget. Oh.. and of course we decided to take a selfie with our beautiful lady!
The Empire State Building... You all probably know it from back in the 1930's when an over-sized ape decided to climb it am i right? King Kong aside this building is truly iconic and beautifully designed! Before we'd even touched down in the U.S. we knew visiting was a priority, so much so that we rose bright and early to head out and tick it off our bucket list... just minus the monkey's this time!
The iconic Empire State building was built 88 years ago on 17th March 1930, and is known for being the most famous observatory in the world! Both the lobby and the entire interior of the building has an Art Deco design complete with grand gold detailing, making it feel like walking into to Willky Wonka's chocolate factory and was truly breathtaking.
Empire State has two viewing decks, the main deck being on the 86th floor and the top deck being on the 102nd. To reach the platforms you have to take one of the stunning elevators to the 80th floor, and either take another or the stairs to the 86th floor. I'd highly recommend the lift, as trust me those 6 flights of stairs are a lot longer than you think! I think i managed to complete my exercise for the whole month just in that staircase.
From the platforms a full 360 degree view of the iconic New York skyline can be seen in all it's glory! It truly was stunning to be able to look down at this beautiful city and take it all in, I still couldn't quite believe I was there. From one angle Central Park could be seen, and from another the statue of liberty could be seen standing upon her island extremely small but still very proud!
Thankfully the weather decided to be on our side the entire time, and amazing memories were made. There is no way we could go all the way to New York City and not visit Empire State!
