TOP 10 What I Did In New York This Summer #5

5. Grand Central Terminal New York

I have always thought it was not a deal to go sightseeing on a train station. But that definitely wasn’t that case! Not only we saw it in many films and pictures (now I could recognize the place!) but about the history of the station.

Many films also did location shooting in Grand Central Terminal. Films featuring Grand Central include:

  • Amateur
  • Around the World in 80 Days
  • Arthur
  • The Avengers
  • The Bone Collector
  • Broad City
  • By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
  • Carlito’s Way
  • Cloverfield
  • Conspiracy Theory
  • The Cotton Club
  • Duplicity
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  • Falling in Love
  • The Fisher King
  • The Following
  • The Freshman
  • Friends with Benefits
  • Gossip Girl
  • Hackers
  • The House on Carroll Street
  • Hugo
  • I Am Legend
  • K-PAX
  • Little Nicky
  • Loser
  • Madagascar
  • Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
  • Men In Black
  • Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days
  • Midnight Run
  • North By Northwest
  • One Fine Day
  • The Out-of-Towners
  • The Perfect Score
  • The Prince of Tides
  • Revolutionary Road
  • Superman: The Movie
  • Step Up 3
  • The Taking of Pelham 123
  • Unbreakable
  • Winter’s Tale

Built by and named for the New York Central Railroad in the heyday of American long-distance passenger rail travel, it covers 48 acres (19 ha) and has 44 platforms, more than any other railroad station in the world. Its platforms, all below ground, serve 41 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower, though the total number of tracks along platforms and in rail yards exceeds 100.

The Main Concourse is the center of Grand Central. The space is cavernous – 275 ft (84 m) long, 120 ft (37 m) wide and 125 ft (38 m) high – and usually filled with bustling crowds. The ticket booths are in the Concourse, although many now stand unused or have been re purposed since the introduction of ticket vending machines.

A lot of weddings make their photo shooting in the main concourse of the station. An even though we didn’t have a wedding, we did too.

It is full of events as well.

We spent more than two hours having fun and making pictures along Just married couples.

It is said that the Terminal had a secret 45th platform, which was used for president Roosevelt to get him to Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

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Dinner at Oysters bar wasn’t so impressive. Some articles say that The Oysters Bar is the best fish restaurant in NY. If so, poor you, I would say. But the place is worth visiting. I feel sad I ignored it before.


And that was a place when I wished my children were there with me.

I would recommend those books. I love old pictures of modern places.
     

  

TOP 10 What I Did In New York This Summer #3

3. One World Observatory (opened 29th of May 2015)

While I was planning my trip, I hadn’t been even opened yet.

One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the USA, and for that matter, the entire western hemisphere. The skyscraper ranks third tallest in the world, behind Mecca’s Makkah Royal Clock Tower, which measures some 1,972 ft (601 m) tall, and Dubai’s mammoth 2,717 ft (828 m) Burj Khalifa.

Building Facts

  • Opened October 2014
  • Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (David M. Childs)
  • Tallest of new WTC Complex
  • 104 Stories / 1776 feet high
  • 3 million rentable square feet of space
  • 55 foot high office lobby
  • 54 High-speed destination dispatch passenger elevators
  • Life-safety systems far exceed NYC building code
  • Bound by West, Fulton, Washington and Vesey Streets
  • 55% leased to tenants including Condé Nast


One World Trade Center is the new icon of New York’s skyline and the most recognized and desirable office address in the world.

There are places available

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Watch this amazing video. According to EarthCam’s YouTube page, the team cut together hundreds of thousands of high-definition images captured between October 2004 and Memorial Day 2015 to produce the stunning two-minute video of the building rising into the sky.

One World Observatory on the upper floors of New York City’s new One World Trade Center building opened to visitors May 29. There are absolutely new views to Manhattan from the top floors. Visitors can walk around the floors to see different views – from the southern Battery to uptown and beyond.

I was afraid of huge lines as to Empire State building but there was almost no line at all.

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The Main Observatory on the building’s 100th floor offers an “interactive skyline concierge” that helps to explain what landmarks and neighborhoods you’re seeing from on high. Here you can step onto a 14-foot-wide disc called the Sky Portal to look directly down and see what’s 1,250 feet below.

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Even the elevators (called Sky Pods) that whisk you up to the top are decked out with high-tech walls that re-create the city’s skyline from the 1600s to today. So interesting but very very fast just 60 seconds. I felt ear pressure when we were lifting up and down.

I found elevator video on YouTube and was happy to watch it again without a mess.

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The See Forever Theater on the 102nd floor shows a two-minute video of aerial views of the city.

What was really new – The Statue of Liberty and all those small and big ships.

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A view of New York City from over 381 m (1,250 ft) high

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#2 TOP 10 What I Did In New York This SummerExploring The High Line  – most original urban park in America
#1 of TOP 10 What I Did in New York This Summer – sunrise on Manhattan’s fire escapes stairs

I would recommend this book about how it was built.

One World Trade Center (How Did They Build That?)