The Statue of Liberty: Construction

The Statue Liberty was designed by a young French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi.  The construction consists of  steel framework  supporting the   heavy tons of copper plates that form the statue's exterior skin.The statue's  steel framework was designed by the famous French engineer Gustave Eiffel,  the man behind the famous giant steel structure in Paris, The Eiffel Tower. Large iron bars attach the framework to a central pylon.

I have always fascinated with steel structure in buildings and bridges and did not miss the opurtunity to take photos of the steel framework details of the statue. We took staircase 354 steps all the way up to the crown. The statue is 151ft high. 

Copper plates

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Birds and Miss Liberty

A bird and the lovely " Miss Liberty" in the background

New York Harbor

The Statue Liberty in New York Harbor

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American Life

I stayed in USA for few  months years ago   to visit my friends and during that I learned a little bit about the American lifestyles. My friend loved to drink pop that what they called carbonated drinks like Pepsi and  Coke for examples.They really love to watch football  and baseball games which are not really popular in most countries in the world but doing well in Japan and South Korea and they hate soccer. My friend said it is a sissy game. Well, fortunately soccer  is the most famous and popular sport in the world. The Super Bowl is the highlight of the game where two big winning  teams from NFL and AFL  meet at final to win the game. The  Super Bowl is the most-watched television program in America. It was the time when the wardrobe malfunction  by Janet Jackson's  famous stint happened during a performance at  Super Bowl, I do not know which year was that. I watched some of the popular shows on television and some of them to list were Jerry Springer Show,  Judge Judy and The View. Jerry Springer Show  is the wackiest show I have ever seen on television.  Well it is not recommended for kids . You watch  family,  hillbillies, midgets, lesbians and gay fighting over money, love, relationship, stupid stuffs, etc and they actually have fist fight and  hair pulling showed  live on television. Jerry Springer is the mediator. Dang it, I just missed my favourite show on television today!

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Paris

I visited Paris twice in 1995 and 2004 respectively. Talking about Eiffel Tower makes me  feel excited about my previous  visit to Paris. New York has to wait because I have not done yet. In this post you will see some of my favorite photos of Paris that I have taken. What do I like about Paris? One of the things because there is  lots of interesting places to  visit. For those who love building and architecture there are many places to see  historical and beautiful buildings and of course the famous  steel structure of Eiffel Tower. I  found   the French language too,  beautiful. The communication  was a bit difficult at  that time  because the French people prefer to communicate in French though they can understand and converse in English. I just grasped few words like Bonjour and Merci beaucoup. I have to admit languages are not  not my forte.

Eiffel Tower

Grande Arche De La Defense

Notre-Dame Cathedral

Montmartre, Paris

Eiffel Tower

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The Statue of Liberty

We spent half of the day at Liberty Island. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the people of United States.It is a symbol of freedom and independence for the people of United States. The statue was designed by a young French sculptor and the statue's  steel framework was designed  by Gustave Eiffel the famous engineer who  designed The  Eiffel Tower in Paris. The statue was constructed in Paris and took 9 years to be completed before it was sent to United States.

This photo was  taken at Battery Park  under bright sun. 

I adjusted the f-number and shutter speed to get this effect

The Eiffel Tower in Paris.My trip in 1995

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Battery Park and Ellis Island

We   took ferry at Battery Park to go to Liberty Island where Statue of Liberty is located. Battery park is a public park located at southern of Manhattan Island in New York City and  facing New York harbor. It was cold and chilly  all  day and it was winter time. The ferry stop a while  at Ellis Island and we had a small lunch. I did not take any photos of  building at the island. Maybe I was just too excited to go to see the Statue of  Liberty. There is an Immigration  museum where  you can view artifacts, photographs, prints and videos. Historically, Ellis Island was  immigrant gateway to America where millions of immigrant arrived here to begin new life in a new country. At Ellis  island it is the best place to take elevation view photos of  Manhattan city. On the ferry  Many people were busy taking photos and trying to get good shots of the city and Statue of Liberty or also known as Miss Liberty. 

This  photo was  taken from Ellis Island. 

The skyline of Manhattan City  now is not the same  anymore.

This photo was taken from the ferry

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September 11 - Stop war against Muslims

Yesterday, it was September 11 and the ninth anniversary  of the attack that struck the Twin Towers. It has been  dominated by protests over a proposed New York mosque just two blocks from the sacred  ground Zero and this year the event was politicised the most. One priest from Florida made Muslims all around the world  including me, angry  over his plan to burn the quran to mark the event. Fortunately he cancelled his plan after pressure by many people. I lauded the speech  by Obama about right and freedom  of every American   to worship and practise the religion he/she chooses and  America is not at war with Islam. The events included a ceremony for the family of  2752  victims that killed in the attacks. One of them a ritual of reading of the names of every person murdered. I feel sorry for the family and this made me wonder and feel sad too over more than 100,000 innocent  Iraqi killed by the US attack as a result of September 11. Who is going to read their names in remembrance and if there were such ceremony took place, it would  take more than a day to read their names. 

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World Trade Center Observatory

We went up to the World Trade Center Observatory at the 107 floor, located at the South Tower. I think it was the best place to see 360 degree panoramic  view of New York city. Now,  for those who want to see panoramic view of New York city at the highest level, you can go to  Empire State Building Observatory.   It was so  beautiful and  I took lot of  photos to capture it. I used my 4 years old  Yaschica camera 50mm SLR, then and now it almost 20 years old.I still keep it and I think it is still working. There are lots of photos that I still needed to scan for this blog and my photos are 15 years old. My last  visit to overseas  was to USA 3 years ago, it was my second trip there  but I did not take many photos and 2nd last trip was in  2004 to Toulouse France. I travelled a lot when I was student in Scotland 15 years ago. I studied architecture in one of the universities  there for two years. I travelled backpacked with my friends.  Well that how old it has been now and it is not too late to start my travel blog. I just want to document my  photos in the blog for my own reference and record, for the old days and for my kids and lastly  to share with others. Hope you enjoy it. There are lots and more to come, photos of buildings which I loved the most, landscape and people  taken from all over the world, from New York, Paris, Istanbul, Izmir,  London, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Isle of Man, Rome, Toulouse  and definitely Shah Alam and other places of interest in Malaysia.

View taken from World Trade Center Observatory

New York city is one of the cities in the world famous for its grid plan system in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Many cities in US adopted this layout. You can see it from  aerial  view of these  photos. 

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World Trade Centre

I spent almost the whole day at the World Trade Centre or known as the Twin Towers. The sight of the buildings just made me feel so excited.  My friends and I walked all the way  from our hotel to the buildings. Along the way,  I took photos from  the slightest glimpse of the building from  afar  until close up when  I reached  to the buildings. This was one of the famous buildings in the world and at one time was the tallest building in the world. Clean structure steel made its  facade. I could not believe until now that the building is gone and perished because of the September 11.

Tubular steel frame of the building structure 

made the facade of the building

 

Only 1 WTC had antenna.

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China Town

I went to visit China Town alone without my friends. China town is located at the East side of Manhattan. I was felling a little bit scared and excited at the same time. We were  staying at the YMCA . What I heard it was dangerous taking the train alone by yourself especially at night time. There were lots stores and they extended to the storefronts and sidewalks, selling stuff like watches, souvenirs and bags and you can always bargain. I accidentally  met a Malaysian who had emigrated to New York  and started business there. Unfortunately I was just not in the mood and tired to take  photos. So I left without any photos of China town and I regret it.

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