New York Day 3 Part II

On our third morning in NYC we walked up to Central Park and then over a block or two to the Manhattan Temple.

I was walking without looking up and SM finally stopped walking and told me to look up.  Yep, we had made it to the temple.  It was surrounded by tall buildings and looked very similar to the other buildings in the area except that it had Angel Moroni on the very top.

This symbol was in the cement on the sidewalk in front of the temple.

The writing says that this is the Manhattan New York Temple.  The lady at the desk was very kind and let us use the bathroom on the third floor.  This is the floor that church is held and when the elevator doors open I felt like I was in a chapel, like the many chapels I've attended.

Then we walked over to Central Park.  One of the first things I saw was this man, standing on a giant stone, practicing his fly fishing casting method.  He stopped few minutes later since the rain started to pick up.  But I do think it was a good idea on his part to practice casting his fishing rod in the park.

Just a couple photos of us in the park.

Have I mentioned how large Central Park is...it's huge!!  And very beautiful.

The castle...or Belvedere Tower.

The above plaque says:  " Belvedere Tower, Erected in 1869 as a lookout.  It now houses the New York Meteorological Observatory which was founded in 1868 by Dr. Daniel Draper who was its director until his retirement in 1912.  At which time the observatory came under the direction of the United States Weather Bureau."

On one of the paths in the park.

Here is the view of the castle from the path.

SM looking at a statue of a leader of Lithuania in the 1300's.  Little did that guy know he'd be remembered in a park of a country that hadn't even been "discovered"  by Christopher Columbus.

Alice in Wonderland

A statue of Hans Christian Andersen building after 9/11 as a memorial to all the children who died or had a parent die on that day.

SM wanted to go on a carousel ride but it was closed.

The park had very large rocks all over.  I could see how it might be difficult to build on the Island of Manhattan if all the ground was like this.  But maybe that is why the park was never built into?  Probably not!  I think SM told me that someone donated/gifted the land but made it so that no one built on the land.

New York Day 3

Here's a picture of our hotel room. Yep, smallest hotel room I've ever been in but I have to say it was also the quietest.  I could hear when our neighbors shut their door but that is all.  It made sleeping soundly a very easy thing to do, especially since we had walked so much and so far earlier in the day.

On our third day in New York City we had to walk through Times Square to get to Central Park.  We stopped to take a few pictures since it was not so crowded.  Behind me is the TKTS sign...that is where we bought our tickets for Newsies and Once that we saw on Broadway.

Here's a two story M&M's store!  And across the street was the....

...Hershey's store!  Don't worry, we didn't go in...in fact, I think we were walking by before they were even open.

Loved this sign.  So many people would creep out into the streets while waiting to cross.  It was typical to cross the street on a No Crossing sign as long as you were faster than the cars trying to cross the intersection.  I heard a lot of cars honking because some people were crossing without being aware how close the car really was in the intersection.  Lots of risk taking, street crossing, people in NYC.

Another photo taken near Times Square!

Day 2 NYC, Part 3

After leaving the 9/11 Memorial we walked back down to Battery Park.  Here's a garden in the park.  I think the bamboo posts were put around the garden to keep pedestrians out.

We then took the Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island and then back.  We took photos of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty from the ferry.  It was also a great time to sit since we had been walking around for many hours.

I was on an upper deck looking out at the Statue of Liberty when I happened to glance up and see where they kept some of the life jackets.

Picture of the south end of Manhattan from the ferry.

Ellis Island

After taking the ferry back and forth we walked to the Brooklyn Bridge.

This is a painting done on the side of three buildings.  Buildings without windows and views.  Doesn't it look beautiful?  I loved these buildings...so, of course, I took a photo.

Sweetest Man in New York City.

See the sign below the Golden Arches.  Here we are in China Town.  We got some yummy Chinese food at a restaurant called Canals Best Chinese Food.

That building with the spike on top is the Empire State Building.

9/11 Memorial

We had tickets to attend the 9/11 Memorial at 10 am when the memorial opened.  We had to stand in the security line but the line moved quickly and after we got through security we entered the memorial.  The memorial consists of two pools set in the footprints of the original Twin Towers.  Thirty-foot waterfalls, the largest in North America, cascade into the pools and then descend into a center void.  The names of the victims are inscribed in bronze parapets around the pools.

The "Survivor Tree" was found at Ground Zero and it was reduced to an eight-foot tall stump.  The tree was nursed back to health in a NYC park and grew to be 30 feet tall.  In March of 2011 the tree was uprooted by severe storms but it survived.  In December 2011 the tree was returned to the Memorial.

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SM searched for Brady Howell's name and found it and took a picture.  He knows Brady's widow.  It makes the whole memorial a little more real when you know someones' name. 

The museum was closed but I took this photo through the window.  It is a steel trident- a column from the original facade of the North Tower.

And this is the Freedom Tower, now the tallest building standing in New York City.  The day we arrived the construction company placed trellises to make it taller than the Empire State Building.  It will still get higher before it is completed.

Second Day in NYC

The morning of my second day started with rain and a lot less people, noises and smells.  SM and I didn't know how far we would be walking that day but we probably walked 10 miles and SM did an additional two or three getting us tickets to the Broadway show Once.

I don't know who that guy is but behind him is a copy of the Arch de Triumph in Washington Square Park.  Notice that the ground is wet, it was a bit drizzly but that was okay by me because it meant a few less people in the streets and on the sidewalks.

Had to get a photo of this street sign!

Not sure the name of this church but we walked past it and I wanted to get a photo of it.

This view of all the sky scrapers above me is how I felt most of the time.  Kind of closed in and small.

Here's a drawing of the Trinity Church.  SM really wanted to see this church.  Apparently one of his relatives helped with making this church come about, whether he helped finance it or actually build it, I'm not sure.  But it is pretty cool.



Trinity Church

Trinity Church cemetery

Trinity Church again

We then walked to the Financial District and saw the Charging Bull.  Do you recognize it from different movies?  I'm not sure why they put a gate around it, I mean, the bull is really not going anywhere.

This is now located in Battery Park.  It was a nice shiny ball at the World Trade Center and after 9/11 it got all smooshed and smashed.  So, this is now what it (called The Sphere) looks like...and it and the eternal flame are a memorial to the strength of a people that will continue to stand.

This is the East Coast Memorial dedicated to the servicemen that died on the water during WWII and is located on the south end of Battery Park.  

Another statue on the south end of Battery Park.  This was to the Jews, I don't remember what else but it is a nice statue.  After visiting Battery Park, we walked back up to the 9/11 Memorial.  I'll share photos of that in my next post.