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.