Things to see and do New York

St. Patrick's Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of New York, appears to date from the Middle Ages, but was built between 1858 and 1879. The first St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York (which was its original archdiocese) was located in the Nolita neighborhood of lower Manhattan, at the intersection of Mulberry Street and Mott Street, but it was completely destroyed by fire in 1866. It was rebuilt alongside it, becoming the oldest Catholic church in New York, and is now called St. Patrick's Old Cathedral.

Although St. Patrick's Old Cathedral on Fifth Avenue may look small among all the skyscrapers that surround it, it is nonetheless the largest Catholic and Gothic church in the United States. Its interior is magnificent. The cathedral is lit with candles that are reflected in the 71 stained glass windows and the large rose window. Observe the details of the carved columns. The great organs have no less than nine thousand pipes, which means that the concerts are grandiose in this perfect acoustic. If you are there during the great Irish festival of St. Patrick's Day, you should definitely visit. It is one of the most visited buildings in New York (3 million visitors per year) and, even if it is very busy, the cathedral gives an incredible feeling of quietness in the heart of the hive of activity that is the Rockefeller Center area. It stands out considerably from the luxury shops and glass buildings that surround it, and seeing it as you walk up Fifth Avenue is like a real apparition! F. Scott Fitzgerald, the famous author of Gatsby the Magnificent, married his girlfriend, Zelda, there in 1920. Unfortunately, if you too dream of getting a finger ring there, you must reside in the Archdiocese of New York to get married. However, you can attend mass with the believers who attend it (necessarily well-to-do, since they live in the neighborhood!). Masses are held every day of the week. On Sundays, there are no less than eight sermons between 7am and 5:30pm (the choir is there for the 10:15am mass). The 4pm mass is entirely in Spanish! Only the Christmas mass, which is quite incredible, is difficult to access since priority is naturally given to members of the parish.

Since the dramatic attacks of 11 September 2001 and the collapse of the towers, which killed nearly 3,000 people, there has been a strange atmosphere surrounding Ground Zero. The area is still cut off by numerous barricades and police officers are on every street corner. This huge secure area has become a place of pilgrimage. The entire site will not be completed until 2020. On February 27, 2003, the think tank responsible for deciding on the reconstruction of the World Trade Center made its choice. Among six projects proposed by some of the world's leading architects, Memory Foundations, Daniel Libeskind and his team called THINK were chosen. Its aesthetics, its performance, its symbolism and, above all, its connection between memory and the future had to convince New York decision-makers. But by July 2003, the data had changed again under the leadership of Larry Silverstein, who had been the site's landlord since July 2001 (just under two months before 9/11). Libeskind's project is partially abandoned, although Libeskind continues to supervise the overall construction of the One World Trade Center. In particular, architect David Childs of the SOM agency (Skidmore, Owings, Merrill) is in charge of the design of the new skyscraper. In September 2005, other projects entrusted to other renowned architects were unveiled to the public: the World Trade Center site was to consist of seven buildings. However, in May 2009, with the help of the economic crisis, the projects are still changing and six towers will finally come out of the ground.

Ground Zero is now a highly emotional memorial site and a political symbol. But the World Trade Center site is also a strategic real estate location in the heart of the world's most important financial centre. Hence the great dilemma between the place given to memory and that reserved for office and commercial space. The reconstruction has proved to be extremely complicated and controversial, torn between the frictions of the designers, the weight of the economic crisis, the financial interests and the emotions of the city dwellers and victims. In addition to the crisis, it also took time to reach an agreement with the insurance companies.

Today, the whole world is in a hurry to admire the new towers and memorials, symbols of the city's resilience.

No less than 11 metros have a stop in this huge station, called Oculus, which is also a station for commuter trains. The station itself has been in existence since 1909. It was then razed to the ground and rebuilt in 1971 as part of the huge World Trade Center construction site, before being destroyed again in 2001, this time because of the September 11 attacks. While part of the station was partially reopened in 2003 to facilitate the travel of tens of thousands of New Yorkers, the Oculus architectural project, which includes a shopping centre and numerous metro stations, was not inaugurated until March 2016. Designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the Oculus is supposed to look like a bird flying from the hands of a child. On the first drafts, the two wings had to move (an idea that Calatrava had already explored, since the Milwaukee Art Museum, from its design, is similar to a white phoenix that flaps its wings!), but the project had already far exceeded its initial budget, so this feature was abandoned. During its construction, the building will have been the focus of repeated controversies. At issue is its cost: $4 billion, paid in full with New Yorkers' taxes! In the heart of the station, a huge 7,000 square metre hall all in immaculate white and featuring two floors of numerous luxury boutiques, a two-storey Apple Store and a few restaurants.

In this Russian quarter, known for its beach and its mobile holidays, scenes from Annie Hall's oscar were filmed.

This magnificent suspension bridge and its blue-grey steel piers connect Manhattan to Brooklyn, as does its famous neighbour Brooklyn Bridge. Built between 1901 and 1912, it starts from the Lower East Side boundary with Chinatown, to connect the DUMBO district to Brooklyn, on the other side of the East River. You can cross it on foot or by bike, it is much less crowded than the Brooklyn Bridge, but the untimely passage of the subway makes the walk rather difficult! The Manhattan Bridge was immortalized on the poster of the film Il était une fois en Amérique (1984).

Wall Street, this nominal group, which has been heard a thousand times over, designating by abuse of language the neighborhood around the New York Stock Exchange and by ricocheting the superpowerful American financial community in its most hectic and wildest form (there are countless publications and films on the subject), is simply the name of a street located in southern Manhattan, starting from east of Broadway and running east to the East River. A northern border line of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam in the 17th century, its name comes from the first owner of the area, a Walloon who arrived before the Dutch and to whom it sold its land, hence the name "Rue des Wallons", which is still used today: Wall Street. The area around this street is marked by the stigmas of New York history, and the buildings surrounding it - listed as Historic Monuments of the city, the oldest being the National City Bank Building and Federal Hall - are absolutely worth a visit. The wise comments of a guide are highly instructive here.

If Wall Street is now the term used to describe the New York Stock Exchange, it is because on May 17, 1792, twenty-four traders gathered at the site of the current 68 Wall Street to sign the Buttonwood Agreement, which marked the creation of the New York Stock Exchange. The agreement was signed under a plane tree ("buttonwood" in English), hence its name.

Several tours possible depending on the budget. The New Yorker (12 to 15 minute flight) flies over the Statue of Liberty, World Financial Center, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Met-Life Building, Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum and Central Park. The Ultimate Tour (17 to 20 minutes) adds to the previous loop Saint John the Divine, Columbia University, Washington Bridge, Yankee Stadium and Harlem. The Deluxe Tour (25-30 minutes) adds the Verrazano Bridge and Brooklyn.

The huge building is preceded by monumental stairs and surrounded by gigantic columns, which makes it immediately noticeable! Next to Madison Square Garden, right across the street, it stands out frankly. This is the main building of United States Postal Services (USPS), the American postal service. It was built in 1912, and you can still post postcards on it! Part of the building is part of a major expansion project at Penn Station. Once the work is completed, this is where Amtrak trains should be operating.

The Waldorf Astoria, built in 1931, provisionally closed its doors on March 1, 2017 for important work. For 86 years, it was one of the most beautiful hotels in New York, and certainly the most luxurious. Marilyn Monroe to Audrey Hepburn, along with Franck Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and all American presidents, the most prestigious and richest tenants (15 000 US $ after all) have won in his suites. The gangsters of the large Italian families also had their habits at the hotel during the Prohibition. This iconic building that appears in many films and series - weekend at the Waldorf (1945), the Tenenbaum family (2001), The Sopranos - will unfortunately lose its splendour to the great regret of the New Yorkers. The Chinese insurance company that bought the building decided to renovate it fully, including part of its facade. The hotel part will be tiny and most of the rooms will be converted into luxury shops on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors.

For his organ performances, his choirs, his young orchestras every Sunday afternoon, from autumn to spring.

With 19 waterfalls, Watkins Glen's park is the most famous Finger Lakes. Olympic swimming pool, hiking, camping, picnic, fishing, hunting, mountain biking, cross-country skiing… what to do. For those interested in the endangered flora, the park houses and preserves the wild flower rhodiola integrifolia.