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Glimpses of the past (Before September 11, 2001)| These were some of the pictures taken during my first visit to New York in August 2000. Unfortunately the World Trade Center tragedy took away so many lives and now all that is left is a gaping vaccumm. The pictures are intentionally converted to Black and White. Let us all first pay tribute to those people who lost their lives in the 9/11 tragedy and then let us proceed to see all the pictures and videos in the albums to follow in full glamour and color. God bless all those souls! |
| 188 Visits
3 Images
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 | 2.
Panaromics & Videos (Dec 24 2004 - Jan 1 2005)| This album contains all the Panaromic shots and the short Videos taken during our trip. Check out these and enjoy. |
| 240 Visits
9 Images
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On our way to NYC (December 24, 2004)| Our flight was from San Jose to Chicago and then from Chicago to Laguardia in New York. Although we got delayed at San Jose we reached NY at the right time, unfortunately our luggage decided to trot along in the next flight making us wait for 2 hours at the airport. The next delay was the car - none of the people who had rented out cars returned the cars on Christmas eve and we were stranded for a long time and until finally a guy from Ohio drives in and returns the car. We were happy we got a Compact car even though we had booked an Intermediate. Finally we packed and left the airport for our hotel in midtown Manhattan. |
| 251 Visits
7 Images
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Friends and Seinfeld (December 25 2004)| On our first day of NY trip we started out with the Apartment buildings of the very famous sitcoms like Friends and Seinfeld. It was the day of Christmas and the streets were empty and it was nice for us as we did not spend too much time driving. |
| 366 Visits
12 Images
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The Apprentice (December 25, 2004)| After touring the Friends and Seinfeld, we headed north of Manhattan to check out Donald Trump's location of 'The Apprentice' We checked out not only the Apprentice location but also the Trump International Hotel. The guy has some real huge buildings up there on famous streets. |
| 222 Visits
9 Images
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Columbus Circle and Central Park (December 25, 2004)| After checking out Trump hotel we just roamed around Central Park and Columbus Circle for a while and looked at the structures that have sprung up there. We were awed at the structures there as we now knew what we could expect when we actually go to downtown/midtown Manhattan to check out buildings that are almost 1 1/2 times the size of these buildings. |
| 191 Visits
7 Images
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Empire State Building (December 25, 2004)| Once the touring of the studios locations was done, we parked our car near 33rd street and 6th aenue and walked towards Empire State Building. As we neared the building we noticed the line to get into the building was long. It was fun though waiting to get on top of one of the tallest buildings in the world. |
| 913 Visits
30 Images
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Macy's Lighting (December 25, 2004)| After ESB, we started straight to Macy's - the world's largest store. We wanted to see the lighting at the store for Christmas and New Years'. It was indeed a large store. |
| 248 Visits
7 Images
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Rockefeller Plaza & NBC Studios (December 25, 2004)| After ESB we walked about a few blocks to the Rockefeller Plaza. The Plaza boasts of a huge Christmas tree lit with a Swarovski crystal on top of it and each year the ice skating rink welcomes thousands of visitors to visit this place and enjoy no matter what the season is. |
| 305 Visits
11 Images
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Prasanna Uncle's home @ Woodbridge, VA (December 26 2004)| After the busy day of our first day in NYC we rested for the night and started out early morning for Washington DC. The plan was to first visit my uncle's place in Virginia and then go around DC for sightseeing. |
| 258 Visits
17 Images
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Washington DC (December 26, 2004)| By afternoon we headed out tour DC. It was about 30 minutes drive to DC from Woodbridge, VA. Parking was a major problem and hence Prasanna uncle decided to drive around while we walked and saw the places and hopped back onto the car. It was freezing cold that day but the sun was shining in all its glory on us. |
| 571 Visits
41 Images
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Luray Caverns (December 27, 2004)| After the wonderful time we had at DC/VA we bid my uncle, aunt and their kids goodbye and left for Luray Caverns about 90 minutes drive from Woodbridge. Luray Caverns is a spectacular sight and its worth all the drive we need to take on the 20 mile one lane road. |
| 554 Visits
47 Images
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 | 13.
Arsha Vidya Center (December 27, 2004)| After Luray Caverns we had our lunch and left for Saylorsburg. On the way we also passed by my Lattice, Pennsylvania. Since it was holiday it was of course closed. Saylorsburg is a small town in Pennsylvania about 20 minutes drive from Lattice, PA. The Arsha Vidya Center is located in Saylorsburg. We thought it would be nice to visit the ashram and continue our journey onwards. |
| 243 Visits
9 Images
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Sri Ranganathar Temple @ Pomona (December 28, 2004)| Pomona is a small town in NY and it has probably the only complete Vishnu temple in the entire North American continent. The temple's main deity is the the lord Sri Ranganatha (sleeping posture of lord Vishnu as in SriRangam). The other moola-perumal's(supreme godhead) are Balaji, Narsimhar, Sri Krishna and Sri Ram Parivar. Of course on the right of Sri Ranganathar there is Sreedevi and to the left is Bhoodevi, the 2 divine consorts of Vishnu. This temple also has the moorthies of all the Azhwars (Aalwars). The month we went was in Dhanur maasa time and that too during the Adhyayana Utsavam. The experience in the temple was ecstatic and we were very happy to have visited the temple and have darshan of the lord in sitting, standing and sleeping postures. Its hard to find one place/temple that hosts all the 3 forms of the lord. This album consists of the pictures taken during the Adhyayana utsavam of NammAzhwar. May god bless you all. |
| 1990 Visits
12 Images
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Albany <---> Niagara Falls (December 28 & 29, 2004)| After we finished the puja @ Sri Ranganathar temple in Pomona we started to Albany. We reached Albany at around 12:30 pm and it was fun and exciting to meet Ravi, Priya's cousin. It was the first time I was meeting him and it was after a long time Priya was meeting him. After lunch we took some rest and Ravi suggested we leave for Niagara Falls that day itself. That way we could see the falls @ night and in the morning the next day and reach Albany back by evening. So we reached Niagara Falls at around 9:30 pm and went straight onto the Canadian side. Now enjoy the pictures... |
| 557 Visits
35 Images
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Water and air tour of Manhattan (December 30, 2004)| The drive from Albany to NYC was nice as we reached NYC at about light break and enjoyed the peaceful traffice for a while but once we reached the heart of Manhattan we were woken up to embrace the one-way traffic and honking every now and then. Today's agenda was the water and air tour of Manhattan. |
| 866 Visits
66 Images
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NYC Skyline from Hoboken (December 30, 2004)| We were checked in Howard-Johnson hotel in North Bergen, NJ and in the night we thought we would go to one of the piers in Hoboken, NJ to see the New York City skyline. |
| 187 Visits
3 Images
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Statue of Liberty (December 31, 2004)| The day started out early with the first stop @ Statue of Liberty. There was intense security checking systems and finally we got on board the ferry that would take us onto the Liberty Island. |
| 1429 Visits
31 Images
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Ellis Island (December 31, 2004)| Ellis Island was the gateway therough which more than 12 million immigrants passed between 1892 and 1954 in their search for freedom of speech and religion, and for economic opportunity in the United States. After the NPS took over and converted it into a historical monument, Ellis Island todays hosts a large number of memories of those 12 million people. Let us all see those artifacts and think for a moment what these people had to go through to come inside the United States and then let us think back how some of us came in during the 21st century. Let us appreciate for what oppurtunity we have been given to come to this land. (for those who have come) |
| 1454 Visits
61 Images
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New Year's Eve (December 31, 2004)| Once we finished Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island we had pretty much covered everything and so we set out to see some of the landmarks that we had postponed to see at the end. |
| 321 Visits
18 Images
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