A Walk from the Battery

In case you were wondering, I've been meaning to write an entry for this photo for the past day or so. Basically, Thursday was another fun day wandering around the city in warm and rainy weather.

• Headed down to Battery Park (south tip of Manhattan) and took in The View: the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Governor's Island. Very touristy, but it was quite nice in the fog.
  
  
• Walked up to Wall Street, to see the House of Morgan (J.P. Morgan Inc.); the reason I went to see it was the story of the 1920 anarchist bombing of the building: a wagon filled with explosives and sash weights was detonated right on Wall Street, killing 33. Morgan Inc. made a conscious decision not to repair the damage, and you can see the pockmarks to this day (photos if you follow the link). I noticed that of the hordes of tourists on Wall Street, I was the only one taking snapshots of the damage.
  
  Another interesting story is that when the building went up, there were skyscrapers going up on Wall Street all around the site. Morgan decided to build four stories tall, just to show their power (i.e., "we don't need to maximize our real estate value that way"). However, they did design the foundation and building so they could put a 40-story skyscraper on top of it, if they ever wanted to.
  
  Incidentally, it was a bit odd to see the security level on Wall Street: there was an NYPD ESU (Emergency Services Unit) truck there (i.e., NYPD's SWAT team): a few cops there with balaclavas, helmets, black body armor and M-16s/AR-15s. It was a bit jarring, but I think it is not necessarily an irrational response, given the vulnerability of holiday crowds.
  
  
• Walked up along the East River, next to FDR Drive: it was really neat to put together my mental map of Manhattan together by doing this. I walked under the three downtown bridges (Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg; photo above is the Manhattan Bridge). Also passed by South Street Seaport and Fulton Fish Market (which has, alas, been shut down permanently, in favor of a newer, shinier location).
  
  
• I started feeling increasingly nervous during the walk: it was getting darker, I had no idea what type of neighborhoods I was heading into, and I think the apartments I was walking next to might have been projects. I was feeling awfully white at that moment; the streets were creepily deserted. However, I ended up finding Houston Street, and ended up in nice safe Soho. But there's a reason why I do this urban wandering on my own: it's only my own ass on the line.
  
  
• Met up with Doug (aka Air Force Guy) and his wife 'Stina; had a lovely evening out, and felt really guilty about their holiday generosity (Lord of the Rings II and III Extended Editions DVDs! Wow! Who wants to have a great-big-geek-out party at my place sometime?!).