Day 6 - The Guggenheim and Chelsea

Our last day... one last museum on my list for this trip.  We headed uptown toward Central Park (again) to see the Guggenheim.  As we arrived there was a film crew on the corner getting ready to film something... not sure if it was a movie or what but we hurried on past to get out of their way.

Once we got inside we were told that the ramps were closed while they were setting up for their upcoming exhibit.  It was a disappointment but we were able to see many of the pieces at a distance as they were placing them along the walls.

We still were able to see Motherwell's early collages.  

Lasting Images installations

and Kandinsky In Paris 1934 - 1944

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We took the subway and headed south to Chelsea where there were many art galleries listed in our travel book, but we should have looked more closely.  We might have seen that they were all closed on Monday.  It's ok, though.  We still enjoyed walking around and I even found this really unusual car park (pictured below).  Since parking in NYC is at a premium, there are these vertical parking decks where you can rent a space by the month.  I was fascinated, wondering how they got the cars in and out of there.  I'm going to keep it a secret and let you use your google skills to find out for yourself.

We had skipped lunch so we had an early dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp.  I had a burger.

We then spent the rest of the evening running around Midtown while I posed in front of all of the tourist spots, just so we could make sure we had the photos of the various places.

Times Square

Fox News

Fox News - with Bill O'Reilly

Rockefeller Plaza's Ice Skating Rink

Rockefeller's Atlas Statue across from
St. Patrick's Cathedral

MOMA by Moonlight

Now, biggify the photo below and see if you can find me in this Times Square crowd!!

In the spirit of "Where's Waldo?" ..... Where's Kathy??  

There is still much of the city that we didn't explore and art exhibits are changing every month.  I have to say, all in all, the trip was great!  The city is a fun place to visit and believe it or not, I'm looking forward to going back!  

Day 5 - Wicked, Central Park

We slept in late on Randy's birthday.  We grabbed lunch at the hotel headed to the Gershwin Theater to see Wicked. In front of the hotel the street was blocked off because there were all vendors set up there with tents selling all sorts of items.

The musical was just wonderful and if you haven't seen it you should go if you get the opportunity.  You will learn things about the Wizard of Oz story that you never knew and you'll hear some wonderful songs!  I had wanted to see if for years and I'm so glad that I was able to see it in NY.

After the show we grabbed the subway uptown to Central Park.  The park is quite large, 843 acres, and is almost an oasis in the midst of all of the asphalt and concrete.  It boasts more than 35 million visitors each year!  One of the original architects for the park was Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed the landscape for the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC and his granddaughter, the late Dory Brown was a member at Piedmont Craftsmen, where I used to work.  It's a small world! 

There were many people walking, jogging, and riding bikes on the many trails.  Families played on the grass with their children.  There was a carousel, a little league ball field, small lakes... horseback riding is even allowed!  You should look on Wikipedia for some very interesting information about the park and its history.

We walked around until it was beginning to get cold and dark and we were getting hungry.  We wound up stopping at a Chipotle and had a burrito for dinner.  We took our time walking back to the hotel.  By the time we arrived there, we were once again exhausted.  Tomorrow would be our last full day in NY and we still had so much left that we wanted to see!

Day 4 - Top of the Rock, FAO Schwarz

We had a 10 am appointment at the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center) and it looked as if the weather and cloud cover would be cooperating with us this time.  We decided not to go to the top of the Empire State Building because the view would be the same and the lines would be longer... and we would be able to see the Empire State Building from The Rock.

Looking southwest in the photo above, the large building beside my head in the photo above is the Empire State Building.  The smaller building between my head and the Empire State Building is in Lower Manhattan and is the building they now call the World Trade Center and is adjacent to the 9/11 Memorial.  

A man was nice enough to take a photo of Randy and me.

There are two observation decks and this photo overlooks the lower deck.  If you enlarge this photo and look in the left 1/3 of it, you might be able to see the ball that drops on New Year's Eve on Times Square.

Looking northwest in the photo above, there is Central Park.  The building that is in the park along the right edge is the Met, they lease the space from the city.

After our tour we took a break in the lower level of the Rockefeller Center.  We wanted a light lunch because we were having a special dinner to celebrate Randy's birthday so we hit the streets.  We found this little place and it wasn't any wider than the storefront....

Y'all know what a sucker I am for a good hamburger and Five Guys never disappoints. After lunch we headed back to 5th Avenue and walked by Saks.  I saw these little lovelys in the window,  a little bling for the feet......

 We headed on down the street to St. Patrick's Cathedral where there were many renovations going on.  There was a service starting but they still allowed tourists to go through.

The catholic church has always been a big supporter of the arts.

We headed on down 5th Avenue toward Central Park, passing by many more churches and high end shops.  Just across the corner from the park was FAO Schwarz.  This is the creme de la creme of toy stores.  There you may purchase a life size stuffed animal for thousands of dollars.  They had one of those pianos that you can play by walking on the keys.  The sign said, "Take one home today, only $250,000".  They had several large lego projects on display including this life sized pirate.  See the legs of the person behind it?  That gives you some perspective of its size.

In addition to all of the extravagant toys, they also have regular, down to earth priced toys too, but it really is a novelty to see some of the things they have for spoiling children.  When you have time, click on their link above to window shop.

We walked along 60th Street (Streets run nw to se and avenues are ne to sw) by Central Park where there were many hotels with outdoor restaurants.  There were also many horse drawn carriages across the street at the park.  I mused that I wouldn't want to try to eat my lunch while smelling THAT!

If you're a Seinfeld fan you will recall the horse drawn carriage segment.  I couldn't help thinking of it!

We had dinner at Shula's 347, just a couple of blocks from our hotel.  Shula's has the best steak I've ever tasted.  It's pricey but we save it for very special occasions.  It was the perfect ending for another perfect day!

Our Great Adventure - Day 3 - MET and NY Pizza

We got a little late start today because we were exhausted from our long trek of the day before.  We jumped the subway (we felt like old pros by this time) and headed uptown toward Central Park and  The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

We arrived at the museum and headed for the Islamic Art wing.  I had found this video  (stop and watch this, it is amazing!) and wanted to see it in person.

If you didn't look at the video before, after looking at those pictures, you might want to go back and click on that link now because it is truly amazing.  

We went to the 19th and early 20th century European Paintings and Sculpture Galleries. We spent hours looking at paintings by Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Manet, Corot, (you get the idea)  we had a snack in the cafe and then hit the Medieval and Cloisters gallery.  

This piece is only about 5 inches tall
 and the detail is amzaing

This piece, a rosary, was carved from
ivory in the 1500s

See below photo for explanation

Biggify this so you can read it, it's fascinating!

Count the toes.....

Apparently 6 toed saints are more common than you would think.  Some artists portrayed the saints with 6 digits as a way of saying that they had a 6th sense or special knowledge conferred upon them. 

   

Well,we stayed here as long as we could take it and didn't get through half of the place.  By this time I knew that I had to come back on another trip.  We headed back toward a pizza place that Randy had found near the subway station.  We ordered this....

it was a size small and was as large as any pizza I've had in NC.  I wonder how large a large one would be?  It was delicious.  My daughter's friend from college, #Spencer Hutton, had always held forth about the superiority of NY pizza .  He asked that we take a photo of what we ate.  

We found a CVS nearby and got a supply of gummy worms and headed back to the hotel, exhausted and thoroughly artified and ready for the next day.

Our Great Adventure - Day 2 - 9/11 Memorial

We had a 10:00 am appointment to take a tour of Rockefeller Plaza.  This also included a visit to the "Top of the Rock".  When we arrived we were told that the visibility was only a quarter of a mile and we would be allowed to reschedule our "Top of the Rock" tour for another day when the sky would be more cooperative.  

 Rockerfeller Plaza is a cluster of several buildings in Midtown Manhattan.  It houses the NBC Studios as well as Fox News, 

Bill O'Reilly and I point at one another

Christie's Auction House, an ice skating rink and many high end shops.  Many shows are filmed in this complex including the Today Show (we saw Will from the "Will & Grace" show), Dr. Oz, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live.  

As we were led around the complex we were told about the Rockefeller family and the lavish art spread throughout the building.  Our tour guide pointed out one tiny little jewelry store in the complex and she said that their rent for that little space was $1,000 per day.  Wow!  

We finished our tour just in time to run around the corner to church.  We usually go to the Episcopal Church on Wednesdays so I found a church close by called St. Mary the Virgin, affectionately known as Smokin' Mary's because of the heavy use of incense.  

The beautiful old church, in addition to being a place of worship, that day served as a sanctuary for folks to get in off the streets and out of the elements.  You could see them reclining in the pews along the sides of the church.  I wasn't aware of them participating during the service but they certainly were not a disruption.  I think it is wonderful that the church is open to them.  The service started with the   short noonday prayer.  Following this, the priest invited us to the sit in the chancel area for the healing service and eucharist.  It was a special and memorable touch that I really appreciated.

  

After the service we headed for the subway and Chinatown.  We got off at Canal Street and aside from the advertisements in the windows being in Chinese, it looked just like the rest of NY, not at all like the foreign look I was expecting.  There were lots of gift shops selling name brand knockoffs and open front food and fish (peweeee!!!!) markets.

Right beside Chinatown is Little Italy.  In fact it's hard to find  the dividing line between the two.  We were hungry for pizza so we found a cute little place called  Il Cotille and ordered this....  

and a salad.  The experience was made even more authentic by the other diners in the restaurant who were conversing in Italian.  It was a great experience.  After lunch we walked around a little more and then headed back through Chinatown, past the Dentist's office, courthouses, the Brooklyn Bridge and a tiny, bird-filled park

into Lower Manhattan.  We went to St. Paul's Chapel, the oldest surviving church in Manhattan, which served as a triage area during the tragic fall of the twin towers during the attacks on 9/11.  

We also visited its sister, Trinity Church, just down Rector Street, both Episcopal churches.

We left Wall Street and headed to the waterfront where we found this little lady.....

We made our way up to the  9/11 Memorial area.  There is no charge for visiting the memorial, however they suggest a $5 per person donation.  There is a screening process with metal detectors before you are admitted and it was much less intrusive and intimidating than the TSA screening at the airport. It was a reminder that this is the spot that caused our lives and feelings of safety to change in 2001.  Has it really been that long ago?

The memorial is simply beautiful.  It is tasteful.  It is elegant. It is dignified and shows honor. There are two large dark pools with falling water situated where each of the towers stood.  Around each pool is a plaque that runs around the perimeter and has the names of those killed in each tower.  

There is also a park area and once the trees are fully grown, it will be even more beautiful than it already is.

We headed back to Midtown and stopped in for a sandwich for dinner.  What a busy and exhausting day.  Even with taking the subway, my pedometer said that I had walked over 9 miles!  Time to rest up for tomorrow and another museum!