Author: Erin McKinney (Page 5 of 27)

Today started out with a quick subway ride to Chelsea to have breakfast at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. There are only 5 or 6 of these around the world. This one is a 3 story collection of seating and bars offering booze and coffee, pastries, fancy sandwiches, tasting flights of various coffees. All in a fancy schmancy setting of walnut furniture, fireplaces and copper. Designed to celebrate their coffee and their process.

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Honestly, it was good food, but we were both underwhelmed at the coffee. Maybe we aren’t fancy enough haha. My cold brew- the whiskey-aged- tasted like a shot of whiskey…legit. I had to just drink it fast. ha The prometheus blend was watered down so much it didn’t have much flavor…and the nitro cold brew which is normally served cold when I order it at a regular Starbucks was lukewarm. Kegan said his espresso was so bitter, he didn’t enjoy it and he orders straight espresso from Starbucks constantly. Off day? perhaps.. or perhaps thats the true profile their coffees should have and we just don’t understand. ha either way, decent experience, not a necessity ever again.

We headed over to the Hudson to see the newest park in Manhattan, Little Island. Public space built out over an old Pier no longer in use. Has a very distinctive look from land or the water.

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Norah added her name to a wall of names as part of an art project designed to help people feel more connected and together as part of a post-Covid re-opening.

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We had tickets to the Museum of Illusions that I knew Norah would love because she watches a bunch of YouTube videos with these sort of optical illusions all the time.

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Following this museum we walked towards the famous Dominique Ansel bakery. Famous for inventing the Cronut. I’ve had his baking cookbook for quite a few years now and he gives his recipes for Madelines, cronuts, cannelles, etc but I always wanted to actually get something from his bakery. Turns out still, to get a cronut, you have to order them two weeks in advance. So I did…. Just plain cronuts. 6 of them- the smallest order I could make.

There was some confusion, they couldn’t find my order (even though I had my order receipt and # -but they don’t go by order number. Ha it was a bit of a mess) but they handed me 6 cronuts and I left. But they weren’t what I ordered. Ha turns out we got 6 salted caramel cronuts that were filled with a crème and iced with a caramel fudge. And they were cold. And they had definitely been in a fridge since yesterday. So I think they lost my order and I got whatever was set aside for mess ups such as this. Ha and they weren’t that good. But a flakey layered cronut needs to be eaten within hours of baking. That’s why we had a one hour pickup window.

Sadly. Kegan and I agreed that ol’ Dominique may have gotten a little big for his britches. Ha but oh well. Sometimes when you’ve been wanting something for years, it will likely never live up to the hype… but this was especially disappointing because everything about it was objectively not right. Ha

Walking along the area we ended up walking around New York University-NYU campus.

There was a science related home decor store that I wanted to stop into called The Evolution Store. They had some very interesting insect and animal specimens for purchase as well as fossils and gems.

Our walk took us along to an unassuming building that you would never know the history of without seeing it labeled on Google Maps or specifically seeking it out. This was the former location of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory- and the famous Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in 1911.

The shirtwaist fire was the deadliest industrial accident in the city. 146 garment workers, mainly young Jewish and Italian women newly immigrated to the US who burned to death inside the building or were killed when they jumped from the 8-10th floors of the building to the pavement below.

The workers were locked into the work areas to prevent the girls from taking unauthorized breaks and to prevent theft. When a fire started the doors were locked from the outside and no one could escape and the guy with the keys had left the premises. The owners of course were not locked in and they escaped to the roof when the fire started and left all of their workers inside to die.

Sidebar- I’m no fan of labor unions these days… but it’s because of things like this that they exist at all. Large organizations with all the power will never do what’s right by workers without workers having some leverage. Usually that leverage is the ability to leave and go to the competition…but in early industrial days, there were so many immigrants coming in every day- you were lucky to find employment and there was someone else waiting to take your spot when you died at your machine. The girls in this factory were only making the equivalent of $300 a week in today’s money for six 12 hour days.

The owners were never convicted of any wrongdoing and went on to open another factory- where they were also fined multiple times for locking women in to that factory too. Doesn’t take a leap of the mind to figure out these men were evil and had zero regard for the women they employed.

One of the bystanders watching the girls jumping to the deaths was Frances Perkins. She would go on to organize worker’s rights and eventually 20 years later would be the Secretary of Labor under FDR, the first woman to serve in any president’s cabinet.

We proceeded to walk through Washington Square Park, a big open space around NYU and Greenwich Village area with a big fountain and a famous arch dedicated to George Washington.

Just a street over from the park is the Washington Mews, an private gated cobblestone streets with adorable buildings on each side, which since the 1950s has housed offices for NYU. Before that, some artists lived here, and before they were houses, they were originally horse stables. A cute little street to walk down.

We hopped the subway to the Flatiron District to see the flatiron building and couple other sites before heading up towards Central Park but the building is currently under construction and has scaffolding all over the outside! A bit disappointing. I read that the entire building is empty through 2023 while they do an overhaul. I always pictured people living here and that single window on the skinny end was likely some posh living room or bedroom window…but turns out its all corporate office space. No residential at all. So, instead, it’s just a bunch corner office executives with the awesome offices.

Just on the other side of the intersection is Eataly. A fancy Italian market with hot food and sandwiches and gelato.

We grabbed some food and ate it on a park bench outside.

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Right next to Eataly was a Lego store that Norah wanted to visit (it is her vacation, too ha) so we went exploring. I made some notes for Christmas, it wasn’t totally lost time.

After that, we hopped on the subway again and headed North to Central Park…completely forgetting I had art museum tickets to ARTECHOUSE and planned to tour through Chelsea Market that we were supposed to hit before leaving the area. Whoops. North we went.

When we exited the subway there was this huge black building. I thought it was cool. Turns out its Trump International Hotel. ha I knew it looked familiar! and it also explained why there were 30 cops surrounding a crazy guy who had just spit on some lady’s face who was just walking down the street. We were like “why are there so many police officers around to begin with??” turns out it’s because this building invites a lot of controversy and likely a lot of threats and security needed.

Here at the entrance to Central Park at the Merchant’s gate entrance (a name given in the 1860s to show appreciation for the role commerce in the city’s economy) stands a monument dedicated to the 258 American soldiers that died aboard the USS Maine.

The USS Maine exploded while docked in Havana, Cuba which was under Spanish Rule at the time. The ship had been sent there is protect US citizens due to Cuba revolutionaries and anti-Spanish violence that had been occurring. We of course wanted Spain out of the Americas since they controlled Puerto Rica, Cuba, Guam and others….and this explosion- which is still debated about what or who actually caused it- was the battle cry that finally got Americans ready to go to war. “Remember the Maine!” became the catchy phrase that would lead the way.

We backed Cuba’s right to independence and signed a declaration that authorized our president to use force if necessary to secure that freedom. Spain declared war on us. But then we declared war on them the next day! and made it retroactive 4 days prior! HA! sure showed them… ha

But Spain wasn’t prepared to fight a major war across the ocean against a foe like the US. It didn’t take long for the US to capture the Philippines. Then to free Cuba from Spanish control- with the help of a young secretary of the Navy Teddy Roosevelt and his volunteer group of cavalrymen called “the Rough Riders”. After that, the Spanish signed the Treaty of Paris- freeing Cuba, signing over Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States and selling the Philippines to the US for 20 million dollars.

The irony in this, is that the Philippine rebelled against their NEW oppressors and the US lost 10 times the number of men in 3 years putting down Philippine rebellion than they did fighting Spain.

Anyway, after the USS Maine explosion occurred- William Randolph Hearst decided there should be a monument to the tragedy and raised funds by running ads in his newspapers, collecting donations small and large until they could build this monument.

We ventured on into the southwest corner of Central Park

The beauty of New York City and why they are able to build such monumental skyscrapers here is that the island is basically solid rock. the bedrock is just under the soil and in some places, like in central park- its actually above the soil. People were relaxing on the rocks, hanging out. So naturally, Norah wanted to as well.

After wandering in Central Park for a bit (don’t worry, we’ll see more later) we had a Norah event planned at Columbus Circle. On Columbus Day… haha I had no plans of that, just a coincidence.

The Shoppes at Columbus Circle is a very nice retail plaza that is a part of the Time Warner complex- the most expensive piece of real estate in all of Manhattan.

They even have Botero sculptures in the main atrium.

We were headed for a store called CAMP. One floor was retail games, toys, books and a few fun items to play with… but the 2nd floor was a kid art studio- including a paint splatter room, spin, art, painting ceramics, making slime and other fun hands-on items.

We were very early, so we went downstairs and explored- they have an old truck the kids can climb inside and play with.

They had a sequin room that I wanted to go play in. ha

After this, I had plans to go back up the edge of Central Park and see a few famous Upper West Side buildings like the Dakota building where John Lennon lived, then go across into Central Park and see the Strawberry Fields John Lennon memorial…. but Norah was done. Like, she kept it together in the mall, but no way was I going to get her to walk more and spend another couple hours out. I know that kid’s limits. ha So… back towards midtown on the subway we went, grabbing carryout sushi from a shop called Wasabi on our way.

Tomorrow we’ll spend most of our day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and see Wicked on Broadway.

We started our morning a bit later than normal because we were all up so late for SNL and we had less than 5 hours of sleep two nights in a row prior. It was pretty nice to sleep until 8:30. ha

Right outside the front doors of the hotel is Angelina’s Bakery. They had some great looking pastries.

I got the cheese danish above and the ham and cheese focaccia below that I split. Kegan got the spinach and egg focaccia.

We got some coffee and headed out towards “the river”. I say it with quotes because apparently, when you are on an island surrounded by rivers, you need to specify to your spouse WHICH river we’re walking toward. ha We were walking about 20-30 minutes when all of a sudden we passed Grand Central….and I KNOW where that is on a map…and it is nowhere NEAR where we should have been. haha Turns out, Kegan was walking us towards the East River… I was planning on us heading West towards the Hudson River. ha. So… we got an Uber right over to where we needed to be and all was well.

We booked the Circle Line Landmarks cruise and we could not have picked a better date and time for it because the minute we boarded, it rained until right about the time we got back.

We were 40 minutes early because its one of those places that writes “be here 30 minutes prior to departure” and departure was at 11:30, so we arrived at 11. It said they boarded the boat at 11:30… but when we arrived they said 11:45. and actually didn’t start until 11:55… and didn’t leave until 12:30. Annoying. I’m a punctual individual! If you say 11, I’m there at 11. Then I’m grumbly and annoyed that you lied to me. ha

Anyway, because we were over to the pier early, we checked out the USS Intrepid which houses the Intrepid Air and Space Museum which included planes and even a space shuttle on display in a military aviation museum.

We walked by the convention center of New York city- the Javits Center- where they are currently holding the ComicCon convention. A couple people I follow on Instagram were in there including Adam Savage formerly of Mythbusters fame. It truly is crazy all of the things going on in New York at one time. 8.8 million people live here and about 14 million people visit every year.

My pictures are absolutely terrible because of the rain, but posting a couple anyway.

After the cruise docked again, we caught another Uber down to the World Trade Center tower to see the 9/11 Memorial and museum on the previous site of the twin towers.

One of the first sites that stood out to me was The Oculus. It’s the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub opened in 2016. It connects PATH trains from Jersey and subway trains and is the 5th busiest station in New York.

There is a mural project right next door. Multiple giant spray painted art pieces… they were very vibrant.

After a little ticket issue where our digital tickets were showing invalid even though they showed today’s date and appropriate time for entry… we headed inside the 9/11 Museum.

I would hope/think that everyone is familiar with 9/11 and the events and there is no need for a long historical post about it. There are many great documentaries documenting the terror, the heroism, the individuals who ran into the building when others were running out. I recommend you watch a couple to really reflect on how our world changed that day… and really learn the facts of everything that transpired. It’s still gut-wrenching 20 years later. We watched a very moving documentary The Falling Man a few years ago, a documentary trying to identify the man from the famous New York Times front page photo showing a man falling to his death after being forced out of the North tower, likely by fire and smoke.

It’s estimated that over 100 people fell from the towers before they collapsed Some say closer to 200. It was these initial falling deaths after the planes hit that had a catholic priest named Mychal Judge from St. Paul’s Chapel- the closest church to group zero – running over to the site to pray last rights over these bodies. He himself was killed by the debris as the south tower collapsed. His body was carried out of the North lobby shortly before the north tower fell, creating one of the most iconic images of the day

If you haven’t heard of Mychal Judge, you really should read up on him. A man who dedicated his life quite literally to the priesthood. He was a pillar of marginalized communities throughout his life, supporting and loving those traditionally neglected and shunned from the Catholic church. He was at the bedsides of countless AIDS patients as they died alone in the early years of the epidemic. He has been nominated for sainthood since his death, but it wont happen because of his stance and work within the gay communities and the information that came out after his death that he himself was gay, though celibate as required by his priesthood. He seemed like a man that walked the walk and lived his values… and I think it’s important to remember and learn about genuine people doing great deeds in their lifetimes.

We entered the museum from the ground level with most of the exhibits being underground.

The first overlook was down to the slurry walls which were poured as sort of water levies to keep flood waters from infiltrating the ground underneath the towers. The walls held even in the collapse of the towers. Also- “the last column”- the last piece of steel to be removed from the site during cleanup was relocated here to the museum.

Most of the museum was in galleries and did not allow photographs. Anything with images of people, items that belonged to people, etc- there was no photography…so most of the museum. There is an online catlog of over 60,000 items that have been collected that are related to 9/11 history.

https://collection.911memorial.org/

Outside, the museum sits between a North and South reflecting pool. The original site of each tower.

Now it was time for a bit to eat for us. Joe’s Pizza is your quintessential New York slice. Great crust, quality toppings, guys yelling at you to order faster… all of it. ha The owner Joe is in his late 70s but he still manages the product and the operations- and says that the recipe hasn’t changed in over 40 years.

Continuing our walk of the financial district, we passed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York building.

Just down from there was 57 Maiden Lane. It doesn’t exist anymore. Like most everything in New York, the history has been replaced with newer and “better”. They even bulldozed George Washington’s mansion on the waterfront to make way for ferries and coast guard! Like seriously?? Who was steering this ship for 100 years or so…. they were demolishing everything with zero regard for history or preservation.

Anyway, 57 Maiden Lane was the residence of Thomas Jefferson.. and historically significant for being “the room where it happened” (if you’ve ever seen Hamilton the musical) – the great 1790 Compromise, where Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson entered a dinner meeting as bitter sworn enemies and somehow came out of the meeting deciding to approve Hamilton’s plan to create a national bank and assume state debts…and in return, Hamilton would support moving the United States Capital to Washington, DC. We always think of DC as our nation’s capital… but you may not know that from 1785-1790, New York City was the center of government and our nation’s capital…which really does make more sense… but those darn Southerners. We had to give them some sort of win..and I think Hamilton knew when compromising on the move that it wouldn’t matter where your put the politicians and lawmakers, all the banking, money, commerce and trade would stay in Manhattan, even more free to grow and operate without the constraint of politics intermingled. Smart man, indeed.

Our next stop was in front of Federal Hall. The United State’s first official courthouse. Hamilton as a lawyer argued cases here, including the famous 1804 Manhattan Murder Trail. Its the site of the 1st congress, the 1st supreme court and the original 1st office of the Executive Branch of the United States (you know, before we figured out you probably shouldn’t put all 3 branches of government in the same stone building when they run the entire country). George Washington was also inaugurated here.

This statue stands on the exact spot where he took his oath of office on April 30, 1789. George Washington really doesn’t get enough credit for shaping the presidential landscape. He was so popular in his time that when he stepped down from running for another term, the nation was shocked and horrified. They had only ever lived under kings previously- they had no real concept of a democratically elected president with a set term of power….and for Washington to see the need to transition while he was still alive and to let go of the incredible amount of power he had for 20 years…first as general and then as president….well, I don’t think you’d find that from today’s politicians.

The New York Stock Exchange building was around the corner on Wall Street. Wall Street was actually originally named after a true wall in the colony by the Dutch where residents would meet to trade. This trade and commerce continued and Wall Street and lower Manhattan continued to be the center of transactions and trade. Up until the 2000s, the trading floor was an absolute mad house of securities representatives screaming prices and stock symbols, following ticker tapes and just generally seeming like a work environment that would make me hate my life… These days, most markets trade completely electronically and the NYSE here has been closed to the public since September 11th. The NYSE still invites special guests to ring the opening bell and there is still some trading on the floor (I think anyway- in the Covid pandemic at least for a while, they went to all electronic trading-I’ll have to talk to my father on that one, he’s a CNBC daily watcher)

We walked on toward Battery Park on the very tip of lower Manhattan, walking by the Alexander Hamilton US Customs House. It was built in the early 1900s in a Beaux-Arts style- looking much older. It was the processing point of port taxes, which prior to implementing corporate and income taxes- was the government’s primary source of income. (Let’s go back to that, please! ha) It currently holds the Museum of the American Indian but we didn’t have time to visit as they were closed.

Our next building of interest was the Fraunces Tavern- an original building from the 1760s that was an early meeting place for Rebel patriots to meet and gain support for their revolution. George Washington bid farewell to his troops here after the revolution. Aaron Burr and Hamilton were said to be drinking here the night before their famous duel. The building was purchased by the Sons of the Revolution and restored to a tavern with a period appropriate dining room like the one Washington would have been sitting in.

From here we hopped an Uber up to Chinatown because there isn’t really a good subway station in that area. I was sort of surprised to find that there is sort of a big circle of area that doesn’t have a station. But it was a quick ride by car. We got a better view of the Brooklyn bridge now that the fog lifted and it stopped raining.

Chinatown was my favorite area of New York so far… cozy, small streets, low buildings, so much going on, family run restaurants, decorations strung across the street, very busy. Right up my alley.

I had planned to eat at this Now Wah Tea Parlor that had a line down the block. I wondered if we would get in because their online reservations showed booked through Oct 19th…but we gave it a shot. They supposedly have been in business since the 1930s and have great dim sum and dumplings. Guess we’ll never know 🙂

Instead we decided on Boka Korean Fried Chicken and it was a good decision. We got some soy garlic wings and an order of LA Galbi- California style Korean BBQ short rib dinner. Norah got French fries. Ha

After eating there, we went to eat elsewhere. Ha a stop at the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory which had tons of awesome flavors

We walked all along Canal Street eating our ice cream passing vendors, restaurants, Little Italy headed towards Tribeca (shortened as the “triangle below Canal Street”)

The photo above of Little Italy was taken with Kegan’s iPhone 12 Mini because I was eating ice cream. The photo below was taken with my iPhone 13 Pro Max. Incredible camera difference! I debated between bringing my Fuji camera and lens and eventually decided I didn’t want to drag a camera around… so glad I didn’t. This iPhone legit takes as good of photos as the camera I spent a lot of bucks on a couple years ago. Go Apple.

We were meandering through Tribeca in search of the Ghostbusters Fire house. This is the real working fire station that was used for the exterior scenes in Ghostbusters . It seems the firemen here have embraced the nostalgia.

Kegan required me to take a photo of this tiny police car. Modern problems require modern solutions. Ha

We entered the subway at the Franklin St station and had it all to ourselves.

My hair was angry from the rain and wind all day ha it was straight when I left! Ha

We crashed on the beds at around 8:30pm and watched a bit of TV before falling asleep. Norah was put to bed at a much more realistic bedtime tonight 🙂

Tomorrow is another full day of events and exploring before the week slows down for the rest of the trip.

Today was a big day and we still ended up in the hotel by 6:30pm tonight! I was not too upset about that because after the miles we walked today (10+ miles), our feet were screaming at us. We don’t walk this much usually. Even Kegan said his hips were hurting. My ankles were what was yelling at me. ha

We got up at 5am to be out of our hotel by 5:30. Norah wasn’t ready to vacation yet.

We got to the airport, I couldn’t check in online, I kept getting an error… so we got there and the line is wrapped around waiting to use the self-serve kiosks… finally get up there and the kiosk tells me the same thing- see an agent. Finally got boarding passes to head to security and they said “seat unassigned”… so I was pretty sure we must not have seats on the flight and we likely wouldn’t get on the flight anyway after the debacle getting on this flight to begin with. So, we get to the gate and I go to the gate agent… who looks in the system….. and then… promptly sits us in first class. ha

NOT the outcome I was expecting. So, Norah and Kegan got to fly first class for the first flight of their lives. and likely only the 4th or 5th or mine honestly… Now, the flight was only 1.5 hours… and they don’t really have beverage service…and they weren’t serving booze at 7:30am… hahaha so, really, it was just the bigger seat this flight…. but still, very cool when I was expecting to be sitting in Indy waiting on a noon flight. ha In our hotel tonight, we watched the news and saw that the next flight out from Indianapolis to LaGuardia today had a “security incident” and as they were landing, a passenger was making threats about having a bomb and the people on the plane freaked out and deployed the slides and evacuated the plane on the tarmac! supposedly people were shoving other people out. Good lord. and to think, if we wouldn’t have gotten the first class seats, that would have been us! LOL would have been an interesting start to “slide” into NYC. ha

Getting an Uber was super easy from LaGuardia airport, so that’s what we did. Had him drop us at our hotel near Times Square so we could have them hold our bags in storage until this evening as it was still before 10am at this point. We tried to grab a slice of pizza across the street before setting out, but they had only baked the sicilian deep dish so far…and Kegan was really looking for thin crust new york pizza. So, we carried on.

Our first stop walking south was the New Yorker hotel. This was truly where I wanted to stay…but its hard to beat free… so the Holiday Inn with points, it was. I love the history of this hotel. It’s been a New York landmark since 1930. Very art deco hotel. Famous for its huge Red roof sign on the skyline.

The hotel was outdated before it opened in 1930, really -months after the great wall street crash and right at the beginning of the depression. It had 2500 rooms, 3 ballrooms, and indoor ice rink, restaurants, etc… and it opened in the worst economic period in US history….

Because it was designed and built in the 1920s, it was built top of the line to coincide with the era, the era of big building and skyscraper competition, opulence, and excess – built with a private power plant in its basement and an underground tunnel to Penn Station. The tunnel remained open until the 1960s when they demolished Penn Station- supposedly the most ornate and amazing train station in the world- to build Madison Square Garden, making the original Penn Station the most glorious landmark you can no longer see but is historically significant because the backlash over demolishing that station led to the creation of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, which has saved hundreds of other landmarks since- including Grand Central which we’ll be seeing in a bit.

Anyway, the New Yorker! Nikola Tesla lived here the last 10 years of his life, living in rooms 3327 and 3328.

A historical photo exhibit in the basement had multiple media items on Tesla. He seemed to have really went off the deep end at the end of his life. He ventured out to Bryant Park to the same corner to feed pigeons every day, carting back injured and sick birds to his hotel suite…and actually falling madly in love with a white pigeon… saying “I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.” 

Consipiracy theories abound about a “death ray” energy beam Tesla was shopping around to governments and private business near the end of his life. When he died, his notebooks in a safe in his suite were never located… some speculate that the government “collected” them to ensure no one else could build his ideas, including potentially his death ray.

In the 30s and 40s, NBC broadcast Big Bands from the Terrace Room of the New Yorker, including Benny Goodman and other big names. This was a GI Station for departing WWII troops before departing for overseas, so small town boys shipping out spent a couple days in this huge city in this building. In 1971 – Muhammad Ali rested here after his famous Joe Frazier fight that he lost and in 2016, Hiilary Clinton gave her presidential concession speech at the ballroom.

The lobby is still very similar to the 1930s original, although the ceiling murals are all tiled over and they’ve added some white woodwork in front of the green marble pillars

When it opened, the New Yorker Hotel equipped every hotel room with a radio. In 1948, the hotel had the most televisions within a single building in the world.

They were also ready for 2021 back in 1941, using “Protecto-Ray UV lights” in the bathrooms for sanitization starting in 1941 – with the added benefit of having all treated bathrooms sealed with cellophane!

Let’s bring that back! Our hotel last night had handprints on the headboard (yeah….disgusting) and tonight there were M&Ms on the floor and we don’t have M&Ms. ha I hate what passes for clean in hotels these days.

Next we walked past Madison Square Garden- the world’s most famous arena. Named for our 4th president, James Madison. Its the home of the New York Knicks since 1968, Ali fought Frazier here in 1971, the Pope John Paul II visited here in 1979, Pope Francis in 2015, 3 democratic conventions, 1 republican convention, Marilyn Monroe sang her famous birthday serenade to JFK here in 1962 and countless artists have performed here. Elvis, John Lennon, Dylan, Stones, Elton John, The Who, U2, Springsteen… currently Billy Joel does one show per month in a first ever residency at Madison Square.

Our next destination was a bit East on 34th Street to the original flagship Macy’s store. This is the Macy’s from Miracle on 34th Street in 1947, was the first department store to have a store Santa Claus and was the first major retailer to promote women to the executive level. Macy’s was opened in 1902 by Rowland Hussey Macy. By 1924 they were the top employer in New York. They started the Macy’s day parade, which eventually became the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Macy’s got the red star logo that is still their symbol because the founder used to work on whaling ships and got a star tattoo… so he used that for his store’s logo, too.

We were here for the escalators, though… this 9 story department store still has the 1920 wooden Otis escalators on its upper floors. So cool.

Norah needed some sugar at this point. She was already tired and got up too early. ha

Found a juice vendor and that perked her right up.

We got our own sugar juice at Starbucks next door, too.

New spelling of my name. lol But, I did get my first pumpkin spice item for Fall. I absolutely love their pumpkin creme cold brew.

We turned north up 7th Avenue to see a couple statues dedicated to Jewish garment workers (as we were in the garment district)

Now it was time to get some food for us. We stopped into Empanada Mama’s for some lovely cuban empanadas.

We walked on along until we got to Uncle Tetsu for a Japanese cheesecake. Tetsushi Mizokami founded his bakery in Japan in 1985 and these jiggly fluffly japanese cheesecakes are baked fresh daily.

Ours was still warm from the oven.

We popped a seat nearby and shared it. It was good…but almost a little eggy tasting. I was a bit underwhelmed, but still ate every bit of my 1/3. lol

As we were sitting there, Norah asked me to do a panoramic shot of her in front of a cool building, so I did….

Then, she wanted to do one of me. Fine…. mine didnt turn out as well. hahaha

We headed to Bryant Park next. Its a great green space with a putting green, some patio tables and food vendors. There is a small section of tables with free board games to borrow and play. We went to Nikola Tesla corner to see the spot he fed pigeons and then visited the carousel.

We walked to the other end of Bryant Park to go inside the New York Public Library. The building is insanely gorgeous. There are two lions out front Patience and Fortitude. The names of benefactors on the walls was impressive- John Jacob Astor, Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Hamilton, John D Rockefeller, Jr.

This branch specifically houses 1st edition Shakespeare works, the 1st Native American language bible, a Guttenburg bible and the original stuffed dolls that inspired Winnie the Pooh.

We then headed for the Chrysler building. This is Kegan’s favorite building, along with about 90% of all architects in the world.

I’d have more photos but the second we got through the revolving doors, the security guy said the lobby was closed and we routed right back out. So no photos of the super cool art deco lobby.

This building was briefly the tallest building in the world for 11 months before the Empire State Building was completed. Apparently, Mr. Chrysler asked for his toilet to be the highest in Manhattan so he “could look down and shit on Henry Ford and the rest of the world”. The building has the most ornate and expensive lobby in the city. a ceiling mural, African marble, gargoyles that are the same design as the 1929 Plymouth hood ornaments and the 31^st floor corners look 1929 Plymouth radiator caps. The 1920’s was definitely the age of the skyscraper with multiple competitions and one-upmanship happening. The Chrysler building’s spire was actually a secret architectural change, assembled inside the building and then pushed upwards and attached to the top at the last minute after another rival building completed construction and declared itself the tallest in the world. Immediately, the Chrysler building erected its secret spire to ruin their claim. ha Sounds about right from banking, car and railroad magnates. Replace skyscrapers with trips to space and our billionaires are still doing the same thing today.

Next up was Grand Central Terminal, the most famous train station in the world. 250,000 people a day go through Grand Central.

The Main concourse is really the star of the show with its Zodiac ceiling and amazing windows. The ceiling was painted like this in 1914 when Grand Central opened, but by the 20s, it was leaky and people joked there was a “mildew way” along with the stars. In the 1940s, they fixed the leaks, put up asbestos panels over it and repainted the mural. During a cleaning and restoration of this 1940s ceiling, they left one brick uncleaned to show the tar and nicotine that had built up on the ceiling from decades of indoor smoking.

This Opal face information clock is estimated to be worth 20 million dollars. It is accurate to within 1 second every 20 billion years!

We walked around the dining concourse and to the whisper galley – an arched ceiling area underground where you can hear your whisper in one corner all the way on the other side.

We purchased our 7 day unlimited Metro cards here. $33 a person gets you unlimited rides on all the buses and subways in the city for an entire week. We may have been cheaper to just pay per ride… but I didn’t feel like dealing with that all week. Laziness and easiness wins when we’re talking about a 10-15 dollar difference. ha

We made our way over to the subway concourse and rode north on the 4/6 line to the 51st street station. Saved us 9 blocks or walking or so and tested out our subway cards.

A few cool buildings along the way

We walked south a block to see the front of the Waldorf-Astoria. We couldn’t stay here or even see the inside lobby because the entire building is shut down for remodeling until 2023. The original Astor hotel was on the site of what is now the Empire State Building. It was built in 1893 by John Jacob Astor. John Jacob Astor’s cousin, William Waldorf Astor, built a competing hotel right next door called the Waldorf. Basically, they were so rich, this is what they did to annoy each other.

Eventually, the rivalry ended- they connected the two hotels via Peacock Alley, a walkway between them and it became the Waldorf-Astoria. This was the first hotel with electricity on every floor, all of the rooms had ensuite bathrooms and the first 24 hour room service, including the famous Waldorf salad- apples, celery, grapes, walnuts, and a mayo based dressing

This current building was built in 1931 with 1416 rooms, no two the same. It had a hidden train track underneath the building that connected to Grand Central known as Track 61- it was used by FDR during his presidency

Marilyn Monroe lived here after her divorce from Joe DiMaggio (more in just a sec on that!), Cole Porter lived here for 30 years, from 1934-1964 and his famous piano that the hotel gifted to him remains in the building, Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Grace Kelly held their engagement party here, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor lived here when he abdicated the throne- there is still a Royal suite decorated to Wallis Simpson’s tastes as it was when they resided in the hotel. Queen Elizabeth gave a speech here in 1957. Frank Sinatra lived here in the 1980s, Paris Hilton in the 2000s. Would have been cool to see, but I can’t wait to see the restoration when it reopens. I hope it still retains the history.

Walking towards Rockefeller Center and St Patrick’s cathedral, we passed a famous landmark that wasn’t really a landmark. The subway grate at 52nd and Lexington is from the 1952 Marilyn Monroe film The 7 Year Itch where her skirt famously flies up and it became a worldwide symbol. This scene actually led to Marilyn’s divorce from Joe Dimaggio as he thought this risque act was crossing a line. (You married a 1950’s Hollywood sex symbol, dude… what did you expect? ha)

We walked past St Bart’s church- neat facade

We went inside St Patrick’s Cathedral. It definitely seems to be the most famous cathedral in the United States. Pope John Paul II even gave mass there in 1979 on his visit to the US. It is the largest gothic revival church in the United States, I see why it’s such a must-see, especially in the US because we don’t have these huge cathedrals stateside- but it seems we should have seen this first to be super impressed, because after seeing a couple of the cathedrals in Europe we were a little underwhelmed…and that sounds so snotty haha I promise I don’t mean it that way! Ha its still an impressive structure but I just don’t think it’s as good as Rouen or a few others we’ve seen. The size wasn’t as big, the woodwork wasn’t as intricate… but I still appreciated it. And it did have a great vault. I am a sucker for a cathedral arched vaulted ceiling.

Next we walked to Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall- the showplace of the nation!

Radio City is the largest indoor theater in the world. Saturday Night Live (SNL) films here, as does the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the Late Show with Seth Meyers, the Today show and others. It’s also the home of The Rockettes.

Norah is obsessed with SNL- the girl has watched so many older classic SNL episodes and she hardly misses a new episode. I tried to get tickets to watch a filming but you have to be 18 years old to attend and if I remember right, you had to apply for seats for the whole season and then they tell you which taping to show up for. Obviously that wasn’t an option for us.

Right then and there when I told her SNL filmed there she was ready to stop touring New York and just sit and wait for the actors to arrive for the evening. (It was 3pm ha) we managed to talk her into just watching SNL live from a few blocks away at our hotel later that night. Luckily. Ha and we did! Kim Kardashian was the guest host, Halsey the musical guest… and she stayed up until 1am watching it, commenting the whole time “I cant believe that they are just a couple streets away right now doing this!”

We waited in the queue outside of Magnolia Bakery which is famous for their banana pudding.

We got our treats and walked the block to the Prometheus Statue and where the Rockefeller Christmas Tree usually stands. It seems they are prepping it for winter and the ice rink. It was all torn up and blocked off

We ate our banana puddings- which objectively were very good, but nothing we couldn’t make at home. Vanilla wafers, southern style banana pudding with chunks of bananas and very vanilla’y thick whipped cream. BUT… I can see why southern style banana pudding could become a hot commodity this far north. They don’t know every good church going woman worth her salt can make this for you for the Sunday pitch in where we’re from! ha

It was getting close to our last reservation of the day- our tickets to The Top of the Rock. We purchased CityPass tickets for the week and it paid for entrance admission to quite a few sites we would be visiting anyway and saved a lot of money. One of the sites was the observation at the 67th-70th floors of 30 Rock.

We had our passes verified and our vaccination status verified (yes, in New York City, almost every place is requesting or requiring a mask regardless of vaccination status.. and you must be vaccinated and show proof to enter or eat anywhere inside.)

The lobby of 30 Rock on this side held the Joie Chandelier made by Swarovski with over 14,000 crystals in the shape of upside down 30 rock

You could see for quite a while from the deck! Even on this overcast and gray day.

The Comcast Building/30 Rock construction site was the site of the famous construction worker photo of some guys hanging out on a beam in the sky eating lunch.

So, as a tourist trap, they make you take green screen photos on the beam… and then ask you to act like you’re falling off the beam for the last one. Norah really liked this one, so we got suckered into buying a $27 stupid photo because I’m a pushover and it made her really happy. haha

After this, that wrapped up our itinerary for the day and we were way ahead of schedule due to arriving much earlier than I had planned. We decided to walk back to the hotel all along Times Square and the Broadway Theater district

We arrived at our hotel, our bags were still sitting in the lobby from 10am. Even though I specifically said “those are going into the storage room, right?” “oh yeah, of course”… and there they sat at 6pm. Luckily everything was still inside… but I had my laptop in there, an iPhone, Norah’s iPad, Airpods, etc… like, a LOT of expensive electronics! But… I wasn’t a jerk. ha They did give us a room on the very top floor. I’m not sure if that’s desired or not. Your view is better, but you also have to wait a very long time on the elevator… I was happy enough.

The room is very small, just enough room for the 2 beds, with a sliding pocket style door for the bathroom. No closet, no microwave… but again, you just cant beat the price. ha

We got a pizza from across the street at Upside Pizza for dinner and called it a night, watching TV and lounging.

Tomorrow is supposed to rain all day off an on, so we’ll see what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into.