In the streets of Manhattan, the cervicals are constantly strained; we do not look where we are walking, even if it means stumbling over obstacles. From the top of the Empire State Building, you can see Manhattan, but not the Empire State Building. From the roof of Rockefeller Center, we have a bird’s eye view of Central Park and we can observe the Empire State Building, but not the Chrysler Building. To capture everything from New York, there is the helicopter tour. To do once in a lifetime.
Manhattan – New York is a remarkable city. From top to bottom and bottom to top. More vibrant, cleaner and safer than ever. Since Brooklyn sets itself up as an equal to Manhattan with its new bars, restaurants, organic grocery stores, various artist studios, and the Bronx presents a more engaging face, the city always attracts more and more visitors.
A tourist traffic that extends into the urban sky. Of course, not as much as on the ground, where 54.3 million people visited the Big Apple in 2013! However, the New York sky is an exceptional place to explore the city, far from the noise of the street.
We take the aerial ride for the pleasure of examining the face of the Statue of Liberty more closely, studying the geometry of the city from above and admiring, along the banks of the Hudson River, the silhouette of tall buildings silhouetted against the sky. There are more than 560 skyscrapers in the megalopolis, of which 8 of the 21 tallest have been built since 2001.
Among these new structures is the One World Trade Center, the tallest building in New York, at 541 meters, or 1,776 feet, in reference to the year of the independence of the United States. There, we shudder, imagining the horror that was the destruction of the Twin Towers in 2001.
On the ground, the taxi driver recounts that every time he passes the World Trade Center site, at least once a day on his way to La Guardia airport, he repeats to himself that he has been very lucky, that famous September 11, for not having been around. We don’t forget!
We go up the Hudson River to the George-Washington Bridge. From the cockpit of the helicopter, glazed on both sides, the pleasure is to appreciate the creativity of the architects to the end of the arrows. And since the benches in the Heliny Company’s chopper are designed for two people, passengers can get a portrait without tipping over onto each other.
In the series of skyscrapers, we see the stainless steel dome, Art Deco, of the Chrysler Building.
Built by the American architect William Van Alen, it was the tallest building in the world between 1930 and 1931. A short-lived triumph since, a few months later, the head of the Empire State Building was floating in the clouds, in 381 meters.
The Chrysler automobile company ultimately never occupied the premises of the impressive skyscraper, restored in 1995, but the tower, 319 meters high, continues to shine with its eternal fires over New York.
This is Central Park and its lake surrounded by greenery and hundred-year-old trees. Seen from the sky, the famous urban oasis plays even more with the contrast between the tall buildings of stone, glass and steel of Manhattan. It took nearly 20 years and 20,000 workers to transform old swamps into this green rectangle of 341 hectares, 50 streets long and three arteries wide.
On the other hand, it is better to walk there on foot, by bike, by tap tap or by electric cart to capture the cachet.
We follow the Hudson River to the Yankees stadium in the Bronx. The pilot is enthusiastic about this construction, the cost of which is estimated at 1.3 billion dollars. He goes around it three times.
On match days, flying over the venue is prohibited. Finished, the harmful reputation of this borough to sensitive minorities which gave birth to hip-hop. Tourists are welcome. The website ilovethebronx.com testifies to the work done to change the image of the Bronx.
The helicopter turns right, then left, with the grace of a dragonfly. Down below, on the banks of the Hudson River, in tiny size, is Les Cloîtres, an American museum made up of five medieval French cloisters and located in the Washington Heights neighborhood, north of Manhattan.
On the way back, the pilot points to Colombia University. We guess it: « This is where President Barack Obama studied law and political science. »
Our reporter was the guest ofAeroplan.
Destination New York, in Aeroplan Miles. Montreal-New York flight with Air Canada: 15,000 miles + $ 176.90. 20 minute helicopter ride (Ultimate Tour): 26,000 miles. NBC Studios Tour: 5,000 miles.
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