I took these using my cell phone on Sunday, while riding Metro-North from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central. It's an exceedingly beautiful train ride, because the entire trip runs right along the shore of the Hudson River.
Starting at Poughkeepsie station:
This is the basic view from the train. Really a beautiful landscape.
Not too far south from Poughkeepsie, you pass Bannerman's Castle, a ruined old armory, located on an island in the river.
Near there, you pass by West Point, the US Army's official military academy.
Another thing that makes the trip beautiful is that the Hudson is lined with suspension bridges every so often. The one barely visible in this picture is the Bear Mountain Bridge.
About halfway from Poughkeepsie to NYC the train stops at Croton-Harmon, which is a big railyard.
This is the Tappan Zee bridge. If you look very closely, or
view the full-size version, you can see the towers of Manhattan peeking out below the bridge.
Getting a little closer to the city, river barge traffic picks up. You can clearly see the Manhattan skyline below the George Washington bridge here.
This is the very northern tip of Manhattan island, at the confluence of the East and Hudson rivers.
The train is elevated through Harlem. It's an almost Chicago-like vibe.
Then the train goes under ground and finally reaches Grand Central via tunnel.
Into America's most famous train station:
Threaded Mode