New York - Day 2 - Downtown and Empire State Building

Due to the jet lag (6 hours ahead), we woke up several times in our huge room from 4 am onwards until we headed downtown at 8 am. Taking the subway turned out to be not that complicated. The first stop was Brooklyn Bridge, which we crossed on foot to get a view of the magnificent skyline. After that, we went to Ground Zero. First, we went to the Oculus Shopping Center, which was still partly under construction. This is a new, huge, and futuristic mall that is directly adjacent to the monuments of the two towers, which we then visited. It must be said that the place is very nicely prepared. The One World Trade Center, with its whopping 541 meters, stands out next to it.

Then we went to Wall Street, of course, there was a lot going on. However, Wall Street was not that impressive, as there are only skyscrapers lined up here and a bunch of suit-wearers walking around. Unfortunately, we couldn't take a decent photo of the Charging Bull because there were too many tourists crowded around it. In between, we visited Trinity Church, which almost gets lost in the midst of skyscrapers but is still beautiful to look at.

Then we took the Staten Island Ferry. During the ferry ride, we passed Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is smaller than expected, but it creates a wonderful picture with the skyscrapers in the background. In Staten Island, we had some ice cream and then went back to Downtown. Since the sun was shining, there were almost no clouds in the sky and we knew the weather forecast for the next days, we spontaneously decided to go to the Empire State Building on the 2nd day. Done deal, for about €29, we took the elevator to the 80th floor, where background information about the construction of the Empire State Building was presented and where the elevator to the 86th floor was located. The view from the observation deck on the 86th floor was truly breathtaking, especially because the weather was really good. Mega! It was a successful end to the 2nd day.

End of Day 2.