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The Travelogue
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Travelogue :
2005 |
2004 |
1996
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Travelogue, 2005 March and April
The Third Times to NYC
I decided to open my homepage after back from the trip in 2004. If my photograph or reports and information can be usuful for all visitors, it would be my pleasure. And after I started my NYC homepage, my motivation to visit here has been grown and grown. Fortunately, I found that the ice skating show will be held again in Nassau, I asked my wife to have a plan to visit New York again. Thus, my 3rd-time-trip to New York was planned on the very same day as last year. Until the last visit, it was fortune for me to have a chance to visit San Francisco, Columbus, Florida, Charleston and Asian Cities and my contents could be bigger and bigger, but still I was not satisfied because I lost my New York photos. So, for this time, besides the ice skating show, I decided to walk around as wide as possible.
Arrival - Nassau
We arrived at terminal 4 and got on the Air Train to Jamaica Station. Air Train is the easies way to move from the terminal to terminal or to junctions (Jamaica or Howard Beach). At the Jamaica Station, you need to pay $5.00 for the section between terminal C and D and it can be done by purchasing Metro Card. We transferre to LIRR toward Hempstead, the same destination as that of last year. Even the date is same, the climate was much colder and 40% filled with snow. The train came without any delay and we could arrived at the destination on time. The fare for the taxi from Hempstead Station to the hotel was so reasonable (less than $10.00) and even the flight delayed more than 2 hours, we could reach the hotel before the ice show started. The hotel we reserved was Marriot, standing next to the coliseum because we had an experience of the difficulty to catch a cab late at night (after the show finish)... Marriot was quite comfortable and we could really enjoyed the show and stay at the hotel here.
From Longisland to Manhattan
Until I heard that Westbury is much easier to access, I believed that Hempstead is the nearest. Actually, Hempstead is the branch line and frequency of the train is inconvenient. We picked a cab from Hotel to Westbury station, less than 10 minutes drive from the Hotel, and catched the train bound for Penn Station. It was Saturday and the train was not crowded, I guess during the weekdays, it might be so crowded with a lot of comuters. After about 45 minutes train ride, we arrived at Penn Station, located under Madison Square Garedn on bet 7-8th Ave, 33-34th St. We transferred to the MTA subway line 1 and got to 23rd Street/7th Avenue, where our hotel located on.
Chelsea Hotel
This time we bookded Chelsea Hotel for three nights stay where is so famous for a lot of episode and its history. The room we stayed was quite old and classic. It looked like not a hotel room but an apartment because the hotel was reconstructed from the apartment. Even the facilities were all old but its mood was really enjoyable and it made us satisfied a lot. The rate is quite reasonable but if you want a luxurious room, it is not recommended. The location is quite convenient to walk around, MTA bus on 23rd Street and Subway on 7th Avenue. Historic District is only 1 block west.
59th/Columbus Circle to 72nd Street - Broadway, Columbus Avenue
The first day in Manhattan was planned for Uptown sightseeing and we got on the subway toward 59th Street, just the south-west corner of Central Park. In 2004, Time Warnar bldg was built and it changed its atmosphere. We started walking on the Broadway toward north and enjoyed Uptown West.
Dakota House / American Museum of Natural History
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We turned right at 72nd Street toward Dakota House where is so famous as the place John Lennon died. This was built in 1884 and its name originated from "like the undeveloped Western=Dakota". I heard that its qualification to live was so severe that requires the resident should be rich. We turned the corner toward north along West Central Park Ave. (connecting to 8th Ave) and soon we could see the American Museum of Natural History. This big museum had been enlarged a several time and therefore a various shape and atmosphere. Especially the "Rose center for earth and space" on the north has quite unique which has ball inside the building covered with grass.
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Broadway / 72-81 Street
On the 81st Street, there is the Starbucks famous as in the movie, "You've got mail". On the opposite of Broadway, also Zabar's and Shakespeare Bookstore & Co is famous in the movie. There are a lot of grocery stores or restaurants which make the street full of life.
125th Street
We've got on the subway at 79th Street and moved to the 125th Street, the very center of Harlem. When we got up from the exit of the subway, what we saw was so impressive because it was really cultural center of African Americans. Sometimes Harlem will be treated as "unsafe area" and it is true or false. If you visit there in a day time around crowded area, it's not so dagerous but please don't forget that some of the people living in the area don't like Asian. We only focused on the 125th Street to look around, start from Lenox Ave/125th toward West near Apollo Theater built in 1914, so famous as sacred of black music. We saw a lot of stalls selling African fragrance, CD, Art and so on. Then we went East toward Park Avenue and got on the subway at Park/125th on 6 line toward Upper East.
Upper East
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Our walk around Upper East began from 96th/5th Avenue, where is famous as "Museum Mile". It is located just the eastern edge of Central Park and a lot of Museum are standing there. Other than Guggenheim Museum, those museums were reconstructed building from formar rich people's house so that they are matched with old fashioned atmosphere around the avneue. In the Central Park, we could see the orange gates looked so curious. It was so called "The Gates" project with 7,500 orange gates by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the modern artists.
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The Plaza
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On the east-south edge of the park, one of the most luxirious hotel has been standing for a long time, named "Plaza". You can easily see the photograph taken at around "the Pond" in the park. The Plaza was established in 1907 with Renaissance styled and its name was so famous as "used with international conference, "Plaza accord" in 1985. Of course it's too expensive for us and we just enjoyed its entrance and just used its restroom ! The building itself has been treated as a historical building of the U.S.
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The Tramway to Roosevelt Island
We moved from 59th to 60th, 2nd Avenue to get on the Tram to Roosevelt Island. It was born in 1976 as a means to shuttle residents to and from Manhattan. The tramway was only supposed to be temporary until the subway station opened. But when the subway finally connected to Roosevelt Island in 1989, the tram was to popular to discontinue. Over twenty years later, the Tram has serviced over 20 million passengers and provided passengers with a breathtaking view of New York as they are quickly shuttled between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan. The tramway is now run by RIOC (the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp.) and fare can be paid by Metro Card. The first view from the Tram is "Queensborough Bridge" and East River. With a lot of visitors, we could enjoy the view from the Tram. Especially, the very East edge of Manhattan was new to me. 15 minutes' round trip with only $4.00 was so reasonable, we are satisfied and then once back to the hotel to take a small rest. Actually, we were so tired with "walk".
Night View at Times Square
We went out to enjoy dinner to Times Square. At that time, we had yet planned to watch Broadway Musical but I want to see how Times Square has been changed by its redevelopment projects. We got down from Subway at 42nd St. Station and walked along 42nd Street toward 8th Avenue. The illumination was bright and its impression was really changed from that of I felt in 1996. Actually, most of the XXX shops moved away from the area and it seemed to me the advertisement board became more tasteful. We enjoyed along 8th and 44th, Subert Array, 7th, Broadway.... My wife asked to book one night ticket for the Broadway Musical show and we decided to buy it at TKTS with cheaper prices. The dinner was at Yoshinoya, beef bowl restaurant, you know, recently Japanese government stopped importing of U.S. beef and its impact made Yoshinoya in Japan stopped sales of beef bowl, even it is their most important menu... We enjoyed beef bowls after a long while.
Chelsea and 14th Street
Next day was planned to be cover downtown. We started with walking around Chelsea first. Especially the "Historic District" has a really quiet and good atmosphere and it was really good to walk along those historic houses. Walk along the elevated unused railway line, we went toward southern and reached at MPD, standing for Meat Packing District, the very new developed area. Unfortunately, it was Sunday morning and no shops nor cafes were at operation but their even outlook of those shops were really attractive. The 14th Street is the border between Chelsea or Gramercy. Originally, I planned to get on the Subway L line to Union Square but it was under rennovation so we tried to walk until there. The street has a lot of different faces influenced by the avenue intersected. For example, bet 7th and 5th were really commercial zone but others not. Even we had a choice to take a MTA bus but enjoyed to see those different color.
Washington Square Park
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We took a small rest at Union Square park and then took subway Q/N/R/W line toward the Village. When we stepped down the subway at Astor Pl. station, it impressed me so much with "downtown" air. We walked toward Washington Square Park and then watched the Washington Arch there. The park was good enough to be relax and a lot of dog breeders got together to let their dog running around the park. New York University is the neighbor to the park and its outlook was so historic and nice to see from the park. Laguardia Pl. is the connection street with Soho, just a few minutes walk was required to face Houston Street.
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Soho
The street is the northern edge of Soho, the one of the biggest commercial area in Manhattan and I aimed to let my wife enjoy shopping there. As you know, a lot of brand shop already bought a space in Soho and no more artists can have a studio in this area now. Just my personal impression, all those shops were a bit unfamiliar to new comers and not easy to step in. My wife told me it's much easier to go shopping mall ! Anyway we could enjoyed with several shops and finally found the Japanese restaurant in the very mid of Soho. In the restaurant, it was actually for those who living in Manhattan and they can provide a lot of Japanese foods and materials. In comparison to Chinese people, Japanese will hesitate to create their own community in the foreign site so those shops should be so helpful to those people. We enjoyed the Japanese noodle and curray there and restarted our walking-around plan toward Little Italy and China Town.
Little Italy and China Town
After the walking along Broadway, we could reached Spring Street and turned left. We confused that the area was not Little Italy but China Town because a lot of Chinese Characters found ! I've heard that China Town has been expanding its area and Little Italy getting smaller. But, as a fact, some of the road related facilities were weared with Italian color, Red, Green and White and it told us that it was Little Italy actually.... Finally we could get into the very center of the area and saw the famous Italian restaurant on the typical guide book which is covered in tricolore color. Actually, the area was really surrounded by China Town and its bright colors will tell us their power in foreign country.
Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge
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The area just turning left at China Town should be so called "Two Bridges". Two means Manhattan and Brooklyn bridge and from the area. The bridges are over East River to Brooklyn, Brooklyn Bridge is famous as an icon of New York City, while Manhattan Bridge carries subway trains, cars and people, mainly used for the transportation. We walked along East River, watching those bridges then arrived at South East Seaport. It is located a few hundred meters south of Brooklyn Bridge and is the shopping center. East River was no longer enough to work as a port around 1930, then it had been rennovated as the shopping area or the sightseeing spot from 1970's.
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Lower Manhattan
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From the Pier 17, we walked along the Water Street and then to the Wall Street. This, so famous street as the icon of the finance is actually very short street.The name is from the wooden wall during the occupation of Netherland against Indians or New England. Two famous spots are NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) and Federal Hall National Memorial located at Nassau Street. A lot of Chinese sightseeners were there to take a pictures. Next we saw was Trinity Church, which is one of the oldest churches in the United States, and has been destroyed and rebuilt twice since it was originally chartered in 1697. After we looked at Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers had been standing until Sep.11th, 2001, we took the subway back to 23rd Street, Chelsea Hotel.
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(On) Broadway Musical
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Because it was so long-walking from Chelsea to Lower Manhattan, we had gotten so tired but we had a plan to enjoy Broadway Musical, so after a few while we went to TKTS to find the half discounted ticket for Chicago. Very fortunately, we could bought the tickets with 50$ each soon and we could have a time to walk around 7th, 6th Avenue just under 59th Street (Central Park South). After the dinner, we visited Ambassador Theater, located on West 51st Street to watch Chicago. It is well-known because of the movie, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger in 2002. The musical was quite exciting to us and we could enjoy much as well as which I watched in 1996, The Phantom of the Opera.
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Gramercy and East Village
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The third day, our main plan was to go to Gramercy and East Village, then shopping in Midtown. We started from the hotel and walked on 23rd Street toward east, and stepping into Magison Square Park and then Gramercy Park, which is famous as the park only permitted to the inhabitants. Very unfortune thing was that Flat Iron Building was under rennovation on its "special" corner. The area was really for rich people to live and its silence was really nice to reside. After arriving Union Square Park, we got on the Subway to Astor Place. This was really first time to go eastern 1st Avenue and the culture of multi-race was really interinting. Indian, Ukrainia, Japanese....a small market on St. Mark's place was really interesting.
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Shopping in Midtown
From Breeker Street, we took the Subway 4,5,6 toward north, but unfortunately we missed the direction for the first time ! We had to go to Spring Street then back toward Uptown. We started walking from 42nd/Grand Central station. The station is now only used for Metro North Railroad but the building was so traditional, especially, the dome with constellation was very nice. After we stepped into Bryant Park, just walked along 5th Avenue toward Uptown, where is the one of the center of shopping area in this city. The brand shops are mainly located between upper 45th and 59th Street. FORTUNATELY, we both have less interests in the brand shopping but enjoyed the department store, Takashimaya New York, Saks Fifth Avenue and Henri Bendel. It was good enough even nothing finally we bought, just the atmosphere here and watching the traditional, colorful, bright show window was exciting. Only I bought the accessary for my wife at Tiffany. We went downward toward 34th Street to go Macy's which is the biggest department store in the United States, where we found a wonderful bag for my wife.
Departure
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For this time, avoiding the lost of properties, we tried to go to the JFK airport via subway E line from 23rd Street then turn right along 52nd Street toward east, Queens. Our flight was NWA and could already checked in and reserved the confortable seat. The flight from NY to Narita took 1 and half ours longer than the reverse way, so it's important to book a good position of the seat such as no seat ahead, isle... Fortunately we got no issue during this trip and could take a lot of good pictures, so that I can introduce this city much deeper than before with a lot of useful information.
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New York Again
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After a while, it was so fortune to me to get a company award that let us visit Dominican Republic. The place was so far from Japan that is unable to access directly and therefore we could get another chance to drop at New York City for only one night with my company colleague. Our hotel was close to JFK, Raddison JFK, so that we hired a chartered taxi to Midtown and we walked along the Central Park (Already "The Gate" gone and colored green) and then walk down the 5th Avenue and Rockfeller Center and Times Square, Empire State Building.
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Travelogue, 2004 March
2nd Time to NYC
In comparison to the first visit, it was completely different impression when arrived because already JFK was renovated. The terminal was so clean and well-designed, ground transportation system was completed. From the terminal, I took the most popular transportation, the yellow cab to Manhattan because it's simple and easy when bringing a lot of belongings. The sight from the cab window was rather new to me even I might see the same scene (from Queens to Manhattan).
Hotel 31
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The hotel we (Wife and myself) stayed was in Midtown South area. Hotel 31 was the name and its name was from its location, on the 31st Street, bet Park and Lexington Avenue. Its price was very reasonable and its facilities were very classic and nice even it's not a type of luxurious hotel. Especially the elevator was so classical I had never seen ! The location was quite easy to access to the Empire State Bldg, Macy's, Madison Sq. Garden and Korean Town. The subway station was located on the 33rd/Lexington Sq, MTA bus was avairable on 34th Street, so convenient.
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Midtown South
The main purpose of this trip was to watch the ice show at Madison Square Garden and Nassau coliseum and also at Syracuse City, and usually the show will start in the evening so we have a few hours. We walk around the 31-34th Street and went up to the observatory of Empire State Building. Even it was cloudy, the view from 86th floor was quite beautiful and I could see by my eyes that WTC had not been standing no longer. Madison Square Garden and its surroundings were all new to me and I was so interested in the Korean Foods Restaurants. You know, in comparison to Japanese people, Korean or Chinese people tend to build their own community in foreign country. Some guide books already says that there is a "Korean Town" as well as China Town around 31-33th, bet 6th and 5th Ave. One thing so impressive was even the restaurants are Korean one, they will serve "Sushi" and "Karaoke". It tells that still it's difficult for western cultural people to distinguish Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
Ice Show at Madison Square Garden
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Madison Square Garden, well known as the sanctuary of the indoor sports, was really big and its atmosphere itself will make everybody excited. The clear tone voice of salesclerk walked around with champagne, beer, brochures made us like in the theme park and the bright and colorful spot light made everybody so happy. The show was quite good and enjoyable. I felt that the top skaters were the really entertainer and American audience really enjoyed their performance. Even sometimes the same types of shows will be held in Japan, it seemed to me quite different in point of the "heats of spectators".
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Mid Town North
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Next show was held in Long Island, located eastern Queens. We have free time until the show and went out to enjoy shopping around Midtown. From 42nd Street, we walked toward north and enjoye shopping on the 5th Avenue. Unfortunately, it began raining and bought umbrellas at H&M stores and then looked around Saks Fifth New York.... Finally, we went to Tiffany and Co. to buy something present for my wife. The store had an "luxurious" atomosphere and I guess this will make all ladies to be happy... Of course my wife gave me her biggest appreciation !
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Long Island
After 2 more hour's walking, we went to the Penn Station. It is one of the biggest terminal in Manhattan (the other one is Grand Central), where Long Island Rail Road, NJ Transit Amtrak trains are departing. This was the very first time to get on the train (except Subway) in New York and unfamiliar system a bit confused us but the information I got via internet beforehand squeezed my worrines into minimum. The train departed on time and soon got out from the tunnel and I enjoyed the scenary of Queens and Long Island through the window. My destination was Hempstead station on the branch line of LIRR where was typical subarban place in the United States. We transferred to the LIRR bus (operated also by MTA as well as LIRR) and the system to let stop the bus (push the black belt) was so curious to me. Anyway, experience is much easier to understand something.
Back to Manhattan in Midnight
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After we enjoyed the 2nd show at Nassau Coliseum, the hard time waited us because 99% of the audience came here by their own car and almost no public transportation avairable. The time show finished was late at night and bus was out of service. So we went to the nearest hotel and call a local taxi and could get back to the station. It was mid-night when we were back at Penn Station. Of course that time was dangerous time but luckily still a lot of people were on the street and we could get back to the hotel with safe.
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Trouble Trouble Trouble !
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It was heavy rainy day from the morning and it lead me a big mistake. After we checked out the hotel, we caught a taxi to go to JFK. The cab was three sheets type and I put the suitecase into the trunk and wet bag on the 3rd sheet. It was the biggest mistake. It was still rainy when the cab arrived at the airport and the driver helped me to get down the suitcase and I paid the fare at that time. That's the second mistake, I need to check my belongings first. The driver smiled and got back to the driver's seat and left. Then, I was asked by my wife about my bag ! Gee, it was on the 3rd seat ! Unfortunately, I didn't ask him the receipt and was the third mistake. The guard gave me a great help to ask another driver to let me go to the taxi pool at JFK but it was impossible without the number of the cab nor the driver's name. I put my video camera and suveniors in the bag and I was so disappointed to lose them.
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Eventually, this accident lost my passion to take a photo in Syracuse and this was my biggest mistake throughout the oversea trip. Please remember, it's quite impossible to get your lost belongings back in the big city like New York, Tokyo, Los Angels and so on. It was fortune to me that no passport, money and air tickets in that lost bag !
Because I lost 90% of photos, I decided to come back here soon to take a wonderful pictures and it became true after a year...
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Travelogue, 1996 June
Departure
This trip was planned by the one of the major press in Japan to learn about how U.S. companies had been taking their advantage to use internet inflastructure at that time. The budget was huge and luckly I could enjoy this luxurious trip to New York and San Francisco for 2 weeks such as Business Class Flight, Luxurious Hotel Staying, 3 Times delicious Meal and so on. Our international flight, JL006 From TYO-NARITA (12:00) to JFK (11:30), was on the business class sheet and could use my-first-time use of the "rounge" at Narita International Airport. The sheet was so large and was so easy and unbeliebably. Recently, some of the air companies offers personal monitor to economy sheets, but the personal theater was really good for me and I could enjoyed a lot of movies and musics. Still the smoking was not completely prohibited, so I didn't feel pain to keep no smoking.
Arrival
After the 12 hours flight, we arrived at J.F.K. International Airport. Yes, Tokyo is the one of the most far city among the world big cities. After we passed the immigration and customs (it was so smooth by assistance from travel agency staff), we got on the chartered bus and it went on the Freeway through Queens toward Manhattan. The sight through the window was so nice and it was really taste of NYC. The bus went across the Manhattan Bridge, the famous Brooklyn Bridge on the left hand side, and got into the Manhattan Island. The bus turns left and passed China Town, Little Italy. We could take a small look at the skylines in the lower Manhattan and reached to the South Street Seaport and got the first meal in NYC. At the restaurant along East River, we recognized that no smoking permitted in the restaurant in NYC, but it is already so general in this country.
Time difference
The time difference between Japan and NYC is -14 hours in Winter, -13 hours in Summer. In other way, NYC time is TYO time + 10 (11 in summer) hours - 1 day = NYC time. It means, if TOKYO is at 10:00 AM, 20:00 in Winter and 21:00 in summer. The planed departed in the afternoon will arrive approximately same time as departure, so it would be difficult to adjust once you fell in sleep. It would be recommended to stay mid night and wake up rather early. And also if you can have a enough sleep in the aircraft, you are so lucky because sometimes somebody always bother your sleep during the flight. You need to take care your health condition when you come abroad the half-a-day time difference zone.
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Statue of Liberty
In the Battery Park, many street performars are waiting for visitors, please don't stop to see them, otherwise they will ask you to pay money. The Staten Island Ferry is departing near the park and always crowded with visitors to see Statue of Liberty because the ferry is only the way to go there. About 20 minutes Ferry trip, we can get to the Liberty Island where you can get up to the top of the Statue. If you want to go up to the "Crown", you need to go with 354-steps-spiral staircase and will take more than a hour when crowded. For the protection purpose, it had been prohibited to get into the statue but finally in August 2004, it was free to all visitors.
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Ellis Island
We could also see Elis Island, where is the famous immigrant gateway to America. Ferry departs daily (except Christmas) from South Ferry at Battery Park. Ferry $10, seniors $8, kids $4 ; museum free.
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The United Nations Headquarters
1st Ave bet 42nd & 48th Sts : Located on the river edge of East River and consists of 4 building. You can take a Guide Tour but need confirmation by calling (212) 963-7539 in advance.
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Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers
811 7th Avenue (Bet 52nd and 53rd street); Enhanced facilities-new and larger lobby, restaurants, health club, meeting rooms, additional guest elevators. amd impressive staff service training. Super convenient location walk to Carnegie Hall, MoMa, Central Park, museums, Broadway theaters, Rockfeller Center and Five Avenue Shopping. Sheraton Manhattan Pool was avairable with 6$ same for fitness club. (at that time). The buffet style breakfast at Streeter's New York Cafe was also nice to enjoy New York style. It seems to me that it looked so curious that one owner person in the coordinator of this tour negotiated with the owner of the restaurant about the somking. Yes, at that time, already no body wished to smoke inside ! At the Sheraton Hotel, I had been staying for a week and I didn't have my credit card so I was asked to pay $40.00 as a deposit. After I used washing service and several international call, I was asked to re-pay more deposit. Oh, it's so difficult to stay in this country without credit card ! The breakfast service was avairable at the restaurant and they served American or Continental styled breakfast and it was so nice I remember. The hotel we stayed was so convenient, luxurious and big (1750 rooms). New York Steak, enjoyed in the first night was impressive. It was a very great chance to stay for a week at this type of hotel because the fee per night was so expensive, room late is $$$$ ($200 or above) .
Business Trip
In New York City, we visited major press, Japanes press, major contents providers and so on. The bus took us to the companies and we could enjoy the town view of Manhattan Island. Sometimes we went to New Jersey through Lincoln tunnel. The tunnel gave me a impact because I had seen it through movies. The people who had been working at those IT advanced companies looked like so active and motivated and confident of their vision and mission, so that I could get something from their presentation.
06/11/1996 : AT&T (North Maple Ave. Basking Ridge, NJ)
06/12/1996 : NTT America (101 Park Avenue)
06/12/1996 : Time Warner (1271 6th Avenue)
06/13/1996 : New York Time (1120 6th Avenue)
06/13/1996 : Telehouse (7 Teleport Dr., Staten Island)
06/14/1996 : New York Information Technology Center (39 West Broadway)
06/15/1996 : Woodbury Common Premium Outlets (498 Red Apple Court Central Valley, NY)
AT&T was located not in Manhattan but in suburban area and impressed with their fixed-price for internet connecting service ($19/month) because at that time, still the provider fee required the pay-per-connection and I was so impressed that the company who had an infrastructure of networking was so strong. NTT America was located on the tall building in Midtown South. We could look around the great Manhattan View and we had a presentation that was mentioning about the situation or position of Japan Enterprise in New York. Time Warnar was the next company we visited and we got a presentation that told us about successful content business and its value of advertisement. Unfortunately, we all got so sleepy according to the jet lag, I could not concentrate on listining their interesting presentation. Next day, we went to the office of NYT and their presentation over the value of internet advertisement was so exciting and useful to all of us. Telehouse was located in Staten Island who provide the hosting service to Manhattan company. New York Information Technology Center was in lower Manhattan and there we saw a lot of small contents providers had been providing the good and useful content business via internet. Among those vencher companies, some of the Japanese company also took part in and their energy was so exciting to me. The QTVR demo was so interesting at that time. Woodbury Common tour was the kind of off-time option for all attendee to enjoy shopping. It was really big and I felt it's so hard to walk around all malls.
You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on each image, new window will open.
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NY ITC
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NY ITC
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NY ITC
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Woodbury Common Outlets
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Woodbury Common Outlets
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Woodbury Common Outlets
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NY ITC
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AT&T
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NY ITC
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Weather
The trip was approximately middle of June and the average temperature is 63 to 80 (Fahrenheit, 17-27 in Celsius). It is not a rainiy season but humid.
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May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
| Average temp. (°F) |
32.4 |
34.8 |
42.4 |
52.3 |
62.5 |
71.4 |
76.9 |
75.6 |
68.2 |
57.3 |
47.4 |
37.7 |
| Average temp. (°C) |
0.2 |
1.5 |
5.7 |
11.3 |
16.9 |
21.9 |
24.9 |
24.2 |
20.1 |
14.0 |
8.6 |
3.2 |
| High temperature (°F) |
38.4 |
41.3 |
49.7 |
60.3 |
70.7 |
79.2 |
84.5 |
82.9 |
75.4 |
64.2 |
53.5 |
43.4 |
| Low temperature (°F) |
26.4 |
28.3 |
35.2 |
44.3 |
54.3 |
63.6 |
69.3 |
68.3 |
61.1 |
50.3 |
41.3 |
31.8 |
| Precipitation (in) |
3.8 |
2.9 |
4.1 |
3.9 |
4.4 |
3.7 |
4.5 |
4.1 |
4.0 |
3.5 |
3.9 |
3.7 |
Dining
All dining were controled by the tour owner and could enjoy American, Mexan, Chinese and Japanese restaurants. Already smoking was prohibited in the public space but the conductor asked the owner of the restaurant of Japanese foods to allow us to smoke. I don't like that kind of negotiation but was convenient because I was not used to be prohibite smoking at that time. Benihana at 56th, Tang Pacilion, Streeter's New York Cafe and some Japanese "Sushi" restaurants, Italian restaurants near 7th Avenue was the dining spots for the tour.
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Shopping
Though it was a business trip, we could have some times to enjoy shopping. 5th Avenue, 7th Avenue, Diamond Low, Times Square were the favorite area to enjoy shopping but missed to go to utown and downtown. SAKS Fifth New York was one of most impressive shopping store that gave me a urban, gorgeous and first-class atmosphere, I bought some gift there because I would like to bring a paper bag printed "SAKS". The biggest purchase was at Tiffany and Co. I bought a silver accessory for my wife, gold or white gold was too expensive but silver accessories were not so expensive so that I could gave her this big souvenior with famous skyblue box and paper bag.
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Shops
Sometimes around Midtown North, there are some malicious stores against foreign visitors so we need to take care especially for electorical stores or souvenior shops. If you desire to visit XXX-related stores, recommendation is 8th Avenue or western, near Times Square, but not safety. To enjoy the night life in New York, you can get the paper at the stand and call to confirm the fare but not recommended if you cannot speak English well. The alternative way is to get information via internet and also "adult night life" informations are on the city guide book issued for the hotels.
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Musical
We could hav a chance to watch "Broadway Musical". The play was "Phantom of the Opera" at Majestic theater, West 44th Street, Tracy Shayne as "Christine" and Davis Gaines as "the Phantom". The theater was so traditional and located on famous Shubert Alley. You can get the ticket at "TKTS" in Times Square but recommendation is to ask agent to book a tickets.
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Empire State Bldg.
One night, we planned to go with some small groups to the Empire State Bldg. or to Blue Note to listen to Jazz. If it would be now, I would choose Jazz but at that time chose Night View from the building. We got on the subway, you know, it was a kind of adventure to get on the NY Subway in the night, but it was very safe and clean and I felt that it was already the story in the past. We were so surprised at the crowded lobby where everybody were waiting for the elevetor to go up. So many people visit there ! Actually, the night view I saw was so beautiful, especially the illumination of the Crysler Building was so impressive. If I had a digital camera at that time, I could take a beautiful pictures !
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Departure from New York
The flight to San Francisco was from New Ark International Airport and took 5 hours across the North American Continental.
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