New York - 9/11 Memorial

We were able to go to the south end of Manhattan to see the new Freedom Tower and see the 9/11 Memorial.  What a humbling experience.  I had not seen pictures of what the memorial looked like but it felt fitting keeping the footprints of the original towers intact and making them into fountains.  Really touching and beautiful.

One of the fountains in the shadow of the new Freedom Tower.

The new 9/11 museum which will open later in 2013 is also in the park adjancent to the tower footprints.

 The names of those lost were engraved around the footprints of both towers.

While we were nearby, we also walked past the New York Stock Exchange.

 

 And down to Battery Park to catch a view of the Statue of Liberty.

 

New York City - Rockafeller Center

On Saturday we set out to be a tourist! I had spent little time in New York City and was anxious to see everything we could in a very short period of time.  By the end of the weekend my feet were very angry but I was so excited from everything we say.

We took a tour of Rockafeller Center.  While it was a bit more about the art and less about the history of the buildings than I would have expected I learned a lot and did enjoy it.

This embalm is outside of Radio City Music Hall, a part of Rockafeller Center.  There were three representing the arts.

This mosaic is inside the portico of Radio City Music Hall it represents the different forms of media and it is really about 5x as large as my picture could take.

 When Rockafeller Center was built they bought up all the buildings in the area to clear for the 7 buildings they planned to build.  This building was one of the few holdouts.  The seemelessly built their buildings around those that had to remain.

 A review of Rockafeller Plaza and the flags of the nation's of the world.

I think maybe I should have been an architect. I really love buildings!

 

Every entrance to every building is decorated somehow with art or some adornment.  These guilded panels are beautiful.

 

 These buildings were built during the height of the depression.  If you could afford beautiful art and adoration it was much cheaper than in other areas.  Rockafeller spared no expense in his decoration of the buildings and art installations.

 

After our tour we went to the top of the building or "Top of the Rock."  The view was incredible!  This view is looking South to the Empire State Building.  However to the right, the building that looks the next tallest is the new One World Trade Center which was topped out just after we were there at 1776 feet and is much taller than the Empire State Building now.

 

 This view is south where you can see the entire Central Park.  How beautiful! An oasis in the midst of a concrete jungle on an island.  Only in America!

 Looking southeast.

Us at the top.

My Personal New York Walking Tour

After I left Grand Central I walked over to Bryant Park.  I really didn't know what to expect since all I knew about it was that is where fashion week takes place.  This is a view across the park of the New York Public Library.

 Beautiful fountain in the park.

 All of the flowers were just beautiful.

 

 My next stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral which is completely under construction.  They are doing a $175 million renovation of the church.  Pardon my new camera issues and not knowing what setting to be on... These are a bit dark

 

 

 

 

 I walked through the NBC TV store.  This NBC logo is made out of M&Ms!

 And in time square there is this huge digital flag.

 And a crazy amount of advertising.  Apparently some of the billboards go for $500,000 a month!  How nuts!

 

 If you look closely on top the center building above the advertising is a 2013 and just above that is the new year's ball.  I never would have thought it was so small.  It looks huge on TV!!

Since I knew Darren would not care, I did a tour around the Broadway theaters.  This one below, the Barrymore, is named after Drew Barrymore's great aunt who was a legend in the 1920's. 

New York - Architecture

Growing up in Chicago gave me an appreciation for architecture.  Well being in New York it is like architecture on steroids.  Even compared to Chicago, the buildings were just immense.  I've only been to New York once before but I could completely see us living there for a year.  Fingers double crossed!  Would be amazing!

Friday Darren had his interview so I went out exploring on my own and kept finding myself staring up!  Up first I walked down the street from our hotel to the Chrysler Building.  At one point this building was in tallest in New York but now is tied for 4th with New York Times building but behind the almost finished One World Trade Center tower, Bank of American tower and the Empire State Building.

From there I went to Grand Central terminal to get a breakfast.  I was hoping for a lox and bagel sandwich and was not disappointed.  What a beautiful building!

 

 

 

 I also spent some time walking around Rockafeller Center.  While I wasn't able to get up early enough to go to the Today Show I did want to walk around the plaza.  I was glad I did because the next day they had all the beautiful flower beds torn up and were planting rose bushes.  The tulips were beautiful!

 

 

Another New York icon I was glad to see was the Flat Iron building.  We walked passed it by happenstance but how interesting of a shape!