Broad St Between South St and Pearl St

   

Surrounded by the constant whirr of landing helicopters, the blaring horns of Governor's Island ferries and the thunderous hum of idling buses, it didn't take much to convince me to begin walking away from South Street. Though the views of the ferry terminals and the Brooklyn Bridge is quite picturesque, the convergence of land, sea and air transportation is a tad overwhelming.

Walking north, you can feel the scale of the Financial District overtake your senses. The shadows creep inward and the horizon disappears. Long vertical lines make up newer sky scrapers while burly stone work makes up the older ones. A single block of buildings, bound by Water, Pearl and Broad streets remains untouched by modern developers. This row of 17th and 18th century buildings is almost comically misplaced amongst the towering monoliths that surround it. You feel like you're looking at, not a real city block, but a diorama created by some skilled craftsmen to illustrate the diversity of Manhattan – condensed into a single scene. Surely it couldn't be real.