Day 9 - Niagara Trip - Fort of Niagara

Day 9 (12 July) - Next attraction after Niagara George Park was visiting the Niagara Fort. Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built to protect the interests of New France in North America. It is located near Youngstown, New York, on the eastern bank of the Niagara River at its mouth, on Lake Ontario. If you are a history buff, this place will excite you. We spent around 2 hours over there and I clicked number of photographs.

"Inside the Fort, you'll tour original buildings where Native American, French, British and American soldiers lived and worked from the 18th to the 20th centuries. During the summer months you'll witness musket and artillery firing demonstrations, go on a guided tour, see artisans at work and learn about life on the Niagara Frontier during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

"The history of Old Fort Niagara spans more than 300 years. During the colonial wars in North America a fort at the mouth of the Niagara River was vital, for it controlled access to the Great Lakes and the westward route to the heartland of the continent. With the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, however, the strategic value of Fort Niagara diminished. It nonetheless remained an active military post well into the 20th century." - http://www.oldfortniagara.org

Enjoy the snaps from this place:

Main gate to enter the fort

Me with acting French Soldier

"The three flags flown daily above the parade ground symbolize the nations which have held Fort Niagara. Each competed for the support of a fouth nation: the powerful Iroquois Confederacy.

The French established the first post here, Fort Conti, in 1679. Its successor, Fort Denonville (1687-88) was equally short lived. In 1726 France finally erected a permanent fortification with the construction of the impressive "French Castle." 

Britain gained control of Fort Niagara in 1759, during the French & Indian War, after a nineteen-day seige. The British held the post throughout the American Revolution but were forced, by treaty, to yield it to the United States in 1796. Fort Niagara was recaptured by the British in 1813. 

It was ceded to the United States a second time in 1815 at the end of the War of 1812."

- http://www.oldfortniagara.org

Day 3 - Visiting 9-11 Memorial

Day 3 (6th July) - The last sight seeing place on day 3 was 9-11 Memorial. From the location where BIG Bus dropped me, it was around half kilometer stretch to reach this place. A must visit place in my itinerary. Some facts about this place:

"On September 11, 2011, a dedication ceremony was held at the memorial, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. The 9-11 memorial officially opened to the public on September 12, 2011. Three months after opening, the memorial had been seen by over 1 million visitors. " - Wikipedia

"The National September 11 Memorial is a tribute of remembrance and honor to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site, near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon, as well as the six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993.

The Memorial’s twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in the North America. The pools sit within the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. Architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker created the Memorial design selected from a global design competition that included more than 5,200 entries from 63 nations"

- http://www.911memorial.org

Here are the snaps of the visit:

"The names of every person who died in the 2001 and 1993 attacks are inscribed into bronze panels edging the Memorial pools, a powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history." 

- http://www.911memorial.org

"The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site, on the former location of the Twin Towers, which were destroyed during the attacks." - Wikipedia

Pray for Peace

Day 2 - Statue of Liberty

Day 2 (5th July) - Second attraction in New York Tour was to take the cruise tour of Statue of Liberty and Staten Island. One thing to mention here that finding the place from where to get the cruise was one of the tedious task I experienced.

It took me almost 1 hour and 20 minutes to find the exact location. First I went to a different direction and after reaching there I was being told that the cruise which is mentioned in my ticket doesn't operate from here and I need to reach to opposite direction to reach there. Then I went back to Big Bus person and told him to again tell me the direction. The answer of my question was - to go to "Water Street". I headed to one direction as I was being told and then I had to get back for around half kilometer to take the right side of the road. From that point, it was another 30 minutes walk to reach at the place where whistle blower cruise operates.

However, since the weather was good, I didn't feel tired. Finally I reached there and I was relieved. I decided to take the lunch after completing this sight seeing activity. While coming out from the the sight seeing place, I met an Indian Person who spoke with me in Punjabi Language. He told me a place where I can get authentic Indian Food, but that place was around 25 kilometers away. Though there were number of eating options on different locations, but majority of them were non-vegetarian items, so I thought it will be good if I can get some Indian food. However, since there were shortage of what I wanted to eat, I preferred Subway foot long burger to get some energy in.  I was aware that finding Indian Food will going to be difficult but finding eating point like Subway is not difficult in New York.

Caught in the wrong foot - I first reached this location, but this wasn't the place where I should have supposed to be.

At water street. Photo taken by an Indian boy. He was there with his family and did the photo shoot for me. He was quite confident though :)

This is the place from where I got the cruise. I was feeling relieved to finally reached there. Although it was around 3.30 pm but still it wasn't that hot. Nice free flow wind was breezing out there.

At the cruise

Writing in the sky

Take the snap please.

Statue of Liberty