Task 33- Catch 2 Live Sporting Events (New England Patriots vs. Denver Bronco's)

While I’m not a true die hard fan of football anytime I’m given the opportunity to root on my home town team I jump at the chance. There is nothing like being in the stadium watching a game live and when I was offered Box Seats to the biggest matchup of the year I took them.

The rivalry between Payton Manning and Tom Brady was a hotly anticipated event. The heat of their battle however was nearly extinguished by the blisteringly cold winds that howled through Gillette Stadium on Sunday night. After three, count them, three fumbles early in the first quarter by the New England Patriots the Denver Bronco’s were so far in the lead no one would have ever guess the Patriots would recover.

The second quarter didn’t give Patriots fan’s much hope a comeback against the Denver Bronco’s was possible with them widening the gap to 24-0 by half time.

In the third the New England Patriots rallied and scored 31 straight points leaving a now terrified Denver Bronco’s scrambling to recover. The fourth quarter was evenly matched with game tied at the buzzer.  In overtime a fumble by the Bronco’s Carter left the ball in Patriots possession and Gronkowski scoring a 3 point field goal to win the game.

 

This game was a disaster for both teams each with 6 fumbles. It was Mother Nature who could claim true victory by blowing the ball around like a balloon and clearing the stadium of many of its fans unable to combat the bitter temperatures and 20mph winds by halftime.

 

Empire State Building 86th and 102nd Floors

The 103 Story Iconic Empire State Building is more than one of the tallest buildings in New York City. When built it was the tallest and was surpassed by the once mighty Twin Towers and today by 1 World Trade Center. Built in the Art Deco style and named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World it is a New York City landmark. It is an example of the mighty building boom that hit NYC in the early 1900’s for the title of the world’s tallest building.

Costing nearly 41 million dollars to build at the time it has 6,500 windows and 73 elevators and 1,860 steps from street level to the 102nd floor. It has 2.77 million sq ft and encompasses 2 acres at its base. It construction was completed in just 410 days and it passed 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building not just in NYC but in the world.

Its completion marked the beginning of the great depression and early on much of the building remained empty. During these hard times it got the nickname Empty State Building as a result of that low rent rate. It has had many notable and newsworthy events during its long history. They include plane crashes and over 30 suicide attempts. Only two of those who attempted survived.

There are 103 floors total with 85 for commercial office space. There are two observation decks. The main deck is located on the 86th floor and is an indoor and open air observation deck surrounded by high fencing. The remaining floors are part of the Art Deco Tower with a final indoor observation deck on the 102nd floor at a height of 1250 ft.  Capping the tower is a 203ft pinnacle which brings the building to a total height of 1453ft.

Its reign as the tallest man-made structure in the world lasted 23 years and was surpassed by the Griffin TV Tower in Oklahoma and as the tallest free-standing structure in the world for 36 years before it was passed by the Ostankino Tower in 1967. It’s longest world record was as the tallest skyscraper which it held for 42 years until the North Tower of the World Trade Center passes it in 1972.

During our visit we stopped at both observations decks. The 86th floor includes both indoor and outdoor areas surrounded by a high fence to prevent jumpers.  This floor offers 360-degree views of the city and is an impressive way to really experience the height and grandeur of the building. Being up here reminded me of my visit to the World Trade Center in 1990 with my family and it was a great experience to look towards the new tower having recently been completed. Looking down on the city was surreal,  people and cars look like ant’s on the ground and you can watch the planes fly by at eye level.

After the 86th floor we again boarded the elevator for our next stop on the 102nd floor.  The 102nd floor is a small enclosed room with windows overlooking the city. It couldn’t have been more than 400sqft and had large steel beams chopping it up further. They were clearly the support for the super structure above. It was an interesting experience being so high up above the city and nearly on the same level of the World Trade Center observation deck.

I preferred the open air of the 86th floor over the more confined 102nd. There is only one level above and it was designed and planned as a loading dock for zeppelin’s but it was scrapped as a result of the extreme updrafts that shoot up the buildings sides. It is rarely visited and only usually be VIP’s.

We wrapped up our stay after taking many pictures and again boarded the elevator for our long ride back to the 86th floor where we changed elevators which took us back to the main level. The elevators were surprisingly fast and it wasn’t long before we were back down on street level looking up again at the iconic building.

 

 

 



9/11 Memorial

While the 9/11 Museum is not yet open the Memorial is and stands as a tribute of remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Architecturally it is an 8 acre park with 2 reflecting pools that are placed exactly in the foot prints of the  Twin Towers. Each person lost has their name inscribed on the bronze panels surrounding the two reflecting pools.  Every day white roses are placed along the names of those victims who would have been celebrating a birthday.

The park has been planted with more than 400 Swamp White Oaks which can reach heights of over 60 feet and live up to 300 years.  Among the Swamp White Oaks stands one special tree called the “Survivor Tree”.  This Callery Pear tree was planted on the original World Trade Center plaza in the 1970’s and was found buried in the rubble and severely damaged but still alive. Nursed back to health it has been returned to the WTC site standing just west of the South pool.

The reflecting pools are each 1 acre in size and have 30 foot deep black granite walls where 480,000 gallons of recycled water are pumped at a rate of 4 ft per second or 52,000 gallons per second. The flowing water creates a cascading waterfall which gives off a nice, peaceful background of sound that almost nearly eradicates the sounds of the city bustling around it. Together the two fountains make up the largest man made waterfalls in the nation and are called Reflecting Absence.

In addition to the trees and reflecting pools a new museum is being built. The museum stands today where the sphere once stood in the center of the WTC plaza. I saw the sphere in Battery Park during my visit to the Statue of Liberty. While not complete we were able to look through the windows of the museum and see iconic Survivor’s Staircase and the Twin Tower Tridents.

It was most inspiring to see the large crowds all stand in silence and look down deep into the reflecting pools as if they were looking deep into the soul of America. Each person there most definitely left with a tear in their eye and a sense of pride in their country. While I reflected on my visit I couldn’t help but remember all those years ago when my family and I visited the Twin Towers and rode the elevators to the observation deck on the 107th and 110th floors of the South Tower. I can remember feeling like were in the clouds and watched the planes fly by nearly at eye level. It makes me wonder what those visiting that day must have seen and experienced.

Later in the day I will visit the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building and I look forward to visiting the observation deck of One World Trade Center when it opens in 2015.

Train to NYC

If you have ever been to NYC then you know that traffic and parking in the city is terrible and can make for a very long and stressful trip. Ever since I was a kid we avoided all the honking horns and hunting for a parking spot and or garage by taking the Metro North. Usually we pick it up in the little sea-side town of Old Saybrook where for year I spent my summers. We didn’t always start there though and when we didn’t it was usually from New Haven. New Haven offers express trains so you avoid the stops in each of the little towns and makes the trip shorter.

With that in mind we all converged on New Haven to catch the first off-peak express train at 8:30. That put us arriving at Grand Central Station at 10:30 with plenty of time to wander before our 12:00 appointment at the World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial. The ride was smooth and uneventful and filled with conversations about what we might want to do and see while in the city.

With plenty of time before our appointment we walked for a while and enjoyed central park and the NYC Library where we took a few pictures with the lions. We also walked along 5th avenue and enjoyed the Lord and Taylor window where you could take a picture and have it sent to you.

After the 9/11 Memorial we wandered down to Wall Street for lunch at my favorite Cuban shop and the obligatory photos with the bull. Next we wandered around stopping in a variety of shops as we headed back up town to the Empire State Building. Debbie and I couldn't resist putting on the Asian masks in one of the stores and had a good time with it.

After the long walk we were glad to have express passes at the Empire State Building. Read that entry for more on the experience. Exhausted we decided to catch an earlier train home. On our way back to Grand Central we found ourselves walking past a live shoot for a TV crime show filming. we are not sure which one it was but it was interesting to see

Although we had bought off peak tickets getting on the train was not a problem. We just had to pay a slight additional charge for a peak train. Finding a seat however on a Friday night train out of the city proved a little more of a challenge and we stood for a few stops before finally finding a seat to relax in. This train was not an express train and we made many more stops on the trip back to New Haven.

Below are a few pictures from the train and our NYC adventures.