New views of Manhattan

My thoughts about New York City are not a secret. You can see a bit of them by clicking here. I will openly admit that last year I left Manhattan and I stated that I wouldn’t care if I ever went there again. It had stressed me out, and I was living at the beach in California at the time, so I was not too used to being stressed out. A few opportunities came up recently that allowed me to view Manhattan in a different way, literally. First of all my new pilot friend Bruce called me one morning and asked if I was available to take over Manhattan and back, and obviously, I was all over that! Seeing the city from the above and seeing the amazing layout from that view was really interesting, and I started really becoming infatuated with the “1 World Trade Center” building, which recently became the tallest building in New York. I also was fascinated by seeing all the water surrounding the city from that perspective.

A few days later, coincidentally, I had made plans to visit my friends Mike and Jess who live in New Jersey, and they asked if I wanted to come with them to see the 9/11 Memorial, so I did that, and was able to get some up close views of 1 World Trade Center. I love that you can literally watch an iconic building of the world be built. It is no stretch to say that this would be like having been able to watch the Roman Coliseum being built. It’s a big deal. Then we went to Battery Park City, which I had never really checked out before, and I was amazed at how peaceful that was. Parks and greenways and families hanging out by the water – seems good enough to me!

I went back into the city the next day to work a conference for a few days and was also able to quickly pop off a shot of Grand Central Station. It was nice to be witnessing the hustle, but not feeling part of it.

So, for now, I like Manhattan. Hopefully I will feel the same next time!