Lower Manhattan Walk - World Trade Center, Civic Center, Brooklyn Bridge - New York, United States

I was driving from LaGuardia Airport to New Jersey for business meetings.  My route was heading West along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, across the Williamsburg Bridge onto Delancy Street in Lower Manhattan.  I took a detour heading South through China Town and parked my car in the Financial District on Water and Maiden Lane.  I wanted to go for a late afternoon walk!

I walked along Maiden Lane to the World Trade Center complex.  I saw the illustrious One World Trade Center, while still under construction, is now taller than the Empire State building.   I found the 9-11 memorial plaque on the FDNY firehouse number 10 building; I saw lots of tourists queueing up for the WTC memorial.  

Nearby I saw the St. Paul's Chapel, now being remodeled.  I also walked through the wonderfully pleasant Zuccotti Park and headed over to the Civic Center area.  I saw Woolworth Building, The Beekman Tower, City Hall, City Hall Park, The Potter Building, Benjamin Franklin statue, Home Life Building, Horace Greeley statue, Manhattan Municipal Building (Law & Order), Surrogate's Courthouse, Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, New York County Courthouse, Church of St. Andrew, One Police Plaza, etc.

Next to the Manhattan Municipal Building is the pedestrian walkway to the Brooklyn Bridge.  I walked about a quarter of the way across the bridge.  I got a nice glimpse of Brooklyn, saw the South Street Seaport, I saw the cityscape that makes up the Lower Manhattan Wall Street area.  This was a really very social activity.  Lots of families, tourists, bike riders and photographers (like me!).  The walkers and bikers have separate lanes.  There were a couple of places that offer "bike the bridge" rental bikes.

After the bridge, I made my way back to the car, passing by the New York Federal Reserve (lots of security... wiki says more gold than Fort Knox!).  

I took the long, slow rush-hour drive, on Broome Street to the narrow Holland Tunnel, and then made my way to my destination in New Jersey.  This was a very nice diversion to a part of Manhattan I haven't visited since 2005.  BTW, this was the first time I ever drove in Manhattan; it's not easy.  I write this everytrail posting as a badge of honor for having done something I haven't done before.

A new point of interest in Lower Manhattan is the postmodern Beekman Tower (also known as 8 Spruce Street building) designed by the famous deconstructivist architect Frank Gehry.  The building is a tall, slendor skyscraper that looks like its rippling shape is being changed by the blowing wind. It looks really cool.  Being from Chicago, it reminds me of Chicago's new Aqua building.  Chicagoans are fans of Frank Gehry; he designed our new Millennium Park bandshell -- a truely unique design of which  we've all grown fond. 

To visit the WTC memorial, you need to get visitor passes on the internet, print them, and bring them to the entry area.  Lots of people were disappointed that they couldn't get in.

And, as I learned you cannot park on Maiden Lane.  Even though there's parking meters and a small number of street parking places, you can only park there if you a commercial vehicle.. just so you know.