World Trade Center site

The WTC is still a huge hole in the middle of lower Manhattan. The PATH and subway station underneath it is functional, but the building/memorial that is being built at the site is still not really taking shape. Still, we wanted to visit the area. We ended up at St. Paul's chapel, which is one block directly east of the WTC site. It was used in the months after the disaster as a place for rest and food for all the volunteers working to save survivors and later clear debris. It is also quite a historic chapel, frequently visited by George Washington.
The front of the chapel:

Here is the chapel interior. It is still a major WTC memorial site. They maintain many displays about the 9-11 aftermath.

Responders came from all across the country to help out. This display shows the badges of some of the volunteers.

The chapel's interior:

Just across the street is the giant hole where the twin towers used to be.

The churchyard was filled with graves and mature trees, which offered shade from the brutal sun. The blue signs you can see through the fence block the public's view of the WTC site construction.

Brian and me in front of the WTC PATH station.

Grant's Tomb

Since is is located right next to Riverside church, we stopped in to Grant's Tomb, which is a National Parks Service site. Although a tomb for a war general, the quote above the door reads "Let us have peace."
Here is Dad's more artistic picture of the building. I like it a lot.

The inside of this building is quite beautiful as well.

In the middle in a lower chamber you can see the tombs of General Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia Grant.

There are also several informative displays about the Civil War battles and life during the Civil War. I think the NPS has done a pretty good job with the site.

Downtown Jersey City

On Tuesday, my parents and I spent a little time in downtown Jersey City. I had to attend a short meeting for work there and I wanted to show them our downtown, so we went on Tuesday morning. Jersey City is a great place to view the NYC skyline. The first time I went, I was surprised how close NYC really is to Jersey. Jersey City is across from lower Manhattan, so it is an impressive view. There are several ferries that go from JC downtown to various points in lower Manhattan. We ended up taking one of these ferries to Pier 11 in NYC after lunch.

My parents waiting for the ferry in JC with NYC in the background:
We started off at Exchange Place, which is a major transportation hub downtown. We took the PATH train, but the light rail, buses, and ferries also have stations at Exchange Place. There is also a very nice public pier with benches and shaded areas. It is a popular lunch spot for downtown workers. Here is one of the many ferries we saw while taking in the view:

A view of lower Manhattan (north is to the left). The white tent at the water's edge to the left of the picture is the ferry station Brian and I were standing at when we took the pictures of downtown Jersey City that we posted last week.

We saw some sea birds (since we are quite close to the sea), including this fellow. He ignored us and seemed to be searching the river water for fish.

We found a few signs with historical information about the coast long ago. Look--windmills!

This picture, taken from the pier again, shows the tallest building in New Jersey. The ferry station is in front of that building.

Mom and I looking at NYC from the pier at Jersey City:

It was a nice place to relax.

There was a 9-11 memorial at the river's edge, showing the skyline (as it appears from Jersey City) with the twin towers. It was interesting to look at the depiction with the towers and then look at the reality to see where they used to be. It was difficult to get a clear picture of both the memorial and the skyline, but you can see the skyline shot (above the sea bird) for comparison.

Also part of this memorial was this twisted metal beam from the WTC site. It was covered with memorial letters, pictures, ribbons, flowers, and flags.

Monday - churches

We also visited a couple churches on Monday that are close to Columbia: St. John the Divine and Riverside Church. St. John is a couple blocks south of the law school. This church has an organ demonstration on Mondays at 1:00 pm, so we went there first. The church is part of a larger complex (most of which we did not see), including a school and a garden. This interesting statue was open for viewing at the edge of the garden area:

Here is the front of St. John church:

It is hard to get a good picture of the entire church front (or really any large building in the city) because you can't back up far enough. There are other buildings and trees that get in the way. Here is my attempt:

The interior of the church was built in two stages. The rear (shown here-from the large arches back) was built after the front. They two parts are built in different styles, which is a little odd. I like the rear section a little better, but a large part of that was probably the purple hue caused by the sun+stained glass windows.

Here is a close-up of the rose window. I like this type of window- they are always so pretty.

The organ demonstration was pretty interesting. The organist told us a little about the church building in general before playing a couple songs. The number of pipes was a bit extreme (I think he said 800 or so), but it sounded good. In this picture, the organ is about 2/3 of the way down poking up from the wooden choir loft.
This shot shows the front of the building. Along with the central alter area, there are several small chapels sticking out from the center area. The day we were there, a noon service was held in one of these chapels. We arrived shortly after the service ended.

Here is a close-up of some of the stonework decorating the front of the church. Along both sides of the choir area, there was a row of figures. My favorite was Ghandi (shown here looking into the camera).

This shot was taken from the inside of one of the smaller chapels looking out towards the central altar area. I like the overlapping pillars and arches.

Here is the interior of one of the smaller chapels:

The other church we visited on Monday was Riverside church. It is located on the other side of Columbia, between campus and the Hudson River. It was interesting, but the tower was closed, which was a little disappointing. Still, it was a large beautiful building.

Brian, Dad, and Mom, heading for the entrance:

Riverside's large tower:

There were plenty of lovely stained-glass windows here too:

This large golden Jesus was above the entrance at the back of the sanctuary:

Here is the picture of the sanctuary:

Here is a close-up of the front altar area. All the tall skinny statues remind me of those dribble sandcastles people make at the beach.

The exit:Here is a view of the church from the other side. I had to step out into the street to get it because of the nice trees blocking my view otherwise.

Columbia visit

After lunch on Monday, we took my parents to see Columbia. We didn't walk around too long (it was a very hot day to be out in the sun), but we walked through the main campus area and around the law school.

Brian walking past the teacher's college (red brick) and theological seminary (grey):

Mom, Brian, and me heading away from the law school to main campus:

A very interesting statue located on the Amsterdam Ave overpass:

Walking towards Columbia after lunch:

Central Park, take 2

My parents visited us for a few days this week. It was great to see them. We did some sightseeing in NY and NJ together on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Monday, we went to the northern part of Central Park around Harlem Meer (a small lake). The terrain was surprisingly rocky, and we climbed a good number of stairs. After we walked around Central Park a bit, we headed towards Columbia. Here are some pictures from the park: