We finished the walking tour of Central Park, had lunch at Columbus Circle, and are now ready to continue exploring NYC! The Mid-Manhattan walking app conveniently started right here!
The pillar has three bronze protrusions that represent the three ships on Columbus’s famous voyage: the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria
The glass building behind the Columbus statue is the Time Warner Center. It is home to luxury shopping and high-end dining. We certainly had no need to go in.
A large section of the Mid-Manhattan area is known for iconic high-end shopping and dining. (Neither of which we will be doing.)
Love the ages of architecture:
Petrossian Boutique is located in the magnificent looking Alwyn Court Building. The architecture of the building is what interested me. If you are into caviar, you may want to check out Petrossian.
Walking down 59th Street – this is the “home stretch for the NYC Marathon! I never ran this marathon, but have a number of friends who have. While I totally enjoyed my experiences completing marathons, and half-marathons, I don’t miss the running. I’m forever grateful for the wonderful friends I made within the running community and the support we provided each other. Barry was my biggest fan and supporter throughout my personal completion of 3 marathons within 90 days to qualify as a Marathon Maniac. As I crossed the finish line of the YukonDoIt Marathon on Dec 31, 2012, Barry greeted me with beautiful red roses to congratulate me as the newest Marathon Maniac.
Carnegie Hall – Opened in 1891, this hall “set the international standard for musical excellence”…From classical masters like Tchaikovsky to popular musicians like Judy Garland, David Bowie, and Jay-Z. If you are playing here, you know you’ve made it! I have a friend from Washington – Joni Keller who was part of a choir that got to perform here! It isn’t always about music though. Carnegie Hall has also hosted some famous speakers.
Russian Tea Room – The tea room is an iconic restaurant, ornately decorated for a decadent ambience. Madonna used to be a coat check girl here, and Rowan Atkinson, or “Mr Bean”, got married here. It has also been featured in movies like “When Harry Met Sally”. Rachel Green from “Friends” once mentioned that her ex-finance Barry took her to a romantic lunch here. My Barry and I peeked in and continued walking. 🙂
The Russian Tea room opened in 1927 by former members of the Russian Imperial Ballet as a haven for Russian ex-patriots. The interior reds and golds are meant to emulate a Russian palace. The ceiling is 24k gold! The walls are decorated with priceless works of art. The Tea Room quickly became a place for those in the entertainment world – celebrities, Carnegie Hall musicians, writers, actors/actresses, etc. Supposedly the chances are good that you may see someone here, but you have to be willing to pay the prices for food and tea. People say it is well worth it.
Steinway Hall and the much newer Steinway Tower – Each house luxury condominiums. Steinway Hall has 14 and Steinway Tower contains 46. The Steinway Tower (glass building behind Steinway Hall) is a 435-meter-tall tower making it the 4th tallest in the US. But it is the tower’s width that brings it the most recognition. Locals refer to it as the Coffee Stirrer.
Plaza Hotel – The Plaza is one of America’s most elegant luxury hotels, and when it opened in 1907 it was called the greatest hotel in the world. Inside is picture gilded furniture, gold-encrusted china, and over a thousand crystal chandeliers. In 2008, the hotel completed a full top-to-bottom renovation that cost $450 million! Filmmakers flock to this hotel when they want to depict extravagant luxury. One night in the Royal Plaza Suite, the most spacious and luxurious of rooms, has a price of over $30,000!! I think we’ll book a week in that suite. LOL
On second thought, I think we’ll just make do with seeing this hotel within films such as The Great Gatsby, Crocodile Dundee, Sleepless in Seattle and Home Alone 2.
The Plaza wasn’t originally a hotel though! It was first a residence for who was once the richest family in America – Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Gwynn Vanderbilt. Of course!
The Real Estate of 5th Avenue – 5th Avenue hosts many famous landmarks.
The APPLE STORE – This was a most unique storefront of a huge glass cube! This is a major draw to tourists. It was for us. 🙂 Only the transparent glass cube and the Apple logo are above ground. The actual store is below!
The actual store of Apple products is located underground. While spacious and nicely laid out, it offers the same products other Apple stores offer.
Walking down the staircase had a slightly weird sensation for me. It is best to hold onto the handrail to ensure something doesn’t throw your balance off. There is an elevator if any need or simply prefer it.
The following three stores did not really interest me because I don’t care one iota about “high fashion” and the ridiculous price tags that coincide with them.
Bergdorf Goodman has two stores here! One on each side of Fifth Avenue. I guess it was important not to be inconvenient for the mega rich to buy some of the highest-end fashions by requiring them to possibly cross the street. The store started as a simple tailor shop in 1899. It has come a long way since then! In the winter, Bergdorf’s window displays are equally extravagant and considered out-of-this-world.
Next we see Louis Vitton. Founded in 1854, this brand continue to lead the fashion scene when it comes to handbags and other accessories.
And then there is Bvlgari, an Italian luxury brand of watches and leather goods.
None of those interested me, but Tiffany’s is a little bit different. Having run the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco and received a Tiffany’s necklace made specifically for the event, I have a special fondness for those little “Tiffany blue” boxes.
Tiffany’s inspired the Audrey Hepburn film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. The movie begins right here on Fifth Avenue with Ms. Hepburn admiring the window displays. (Continuing down Fifth Avenue are quite a few more luxury stores.) Today it is obviously undergoing storefront refurbishing.
tRump Tower
Unfortunately, Tiffany’s is part of the tall skyscraper that is tRump Tower. This divisive skyscraper has never been popular among New Yorkers, many of whom consider it gaudy, and public opinion has soured even more in recent years. As of 2019, it has been called one of the least-desirable luxury properties in the city. Protestors regularly gathered outside the tower to protest White House actions. Extremely tight security is a nightmare for residents and visitors. To top it all off, the town is aging, and hasn’t seen a meaningful renovation in years! Many residents have sold their units at a loss just to vacate the struggling property!
The picture says it all for us. I love you, Barry!!
If you want to read more about DJT and his typical ways of handling issues related to the Tower that includes not following through agreements, not paying workers, know criminal connections, etc., check out this internet page.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral – Completed in 1878, the massive cathedral was funded by a combination of small donations from poor immigrants and larger contributions from over a hundred wealthy donors. Construction took almost 21 years! St. Patrick’s Cathedral is still the largest Gothic Roman Catholic Cathedral in the United States! It spans an entire city block. It is spectacular both outside and inside.
The large circular window above the main entrance is called a rose window.
The two entrance doors are made of solid bronze. Each door is 16 1/2 feet-tall and weighs 4 tons!
Wow – just Wow!
Think you’d like to have a weekend wedding here? Plan to pay up to $14,500. If you’re on a smaller budget, you might be able to book a weekday morning for a few thousand. That package includes the officiant, a photographer, bridal bouquet and boutonniere, for a mere $3,799 (as of June 2018).
There are over 2800 stained glass panels here.
The enormous pipe organ has 7,855 pipes. It must give chills when you hear it played.
There is a small crypt beneath the high altar, in which eight of New York’s Archbishops are interred.
I’m always amazed how entering a cathedral like this consumes me with wanting to soak in all the incredible, architectural details and all the art within the space(s)!
Atlas statue – Atlas is in Greek mythology who holds up the heavens. But somehow we always see him holding up the earth in popular culture.
Saks Fifth Avenue – is one of the oldest, most prestigious high-end clothing store. It was founded in 1867 and remains a top shopping destination. But it is during the holidays that gets the most attention. Saks transforms its storefront into a brilliant holiday display. The store is draped in thousands of colored lights and garlands and its windows are filled with holiday decorations chosen to the the year’s theme. The theme is different every year! I doubt I will every see that in person since I want to avoid NY winters.
The RINK at Rockefeller Center – This rink is the famous ice skating rink seen in so many winter scenes of NYC, and in movies like Sleepless in Seattle, Elf, Home Alone 2 and Ghostbusters. However, in the summer, you may roller-skate and/or sit at a nearby outdoor table to watch or eat. The ice rink was installed in 1936 and was intended to be temporary, but the response was an immediate overwhelming success. People absolutely loved it, so it became a permanent fixture.
State flags are displayed around the plaza.
At one end of the rink is a gold leaf statue of Prometheus. Found in Greek mythology Prometheus stole fire from the gods on Mount Olympus and brought it down for humans to use. This was the foundation for human civilization and growth. But Prometheus was punished for his generosity with eternal torture. He was chained to a mountainside. An eagle representing Zeus, would visit everyday to eat his liver. He would regenerate the next day and the eagle would visit again. Prometheus was ultimately saved by Hercules – another famous Greek hero.
The skyscraper behind Prometheus is “30 Rock” ( 30 Rockefeller Center), but known better just as “30 Rock” thanks to Tina Fey and her creation of “30 Rock” – the TV show that was an American satirical sitcom television series. (We will be returning to the 30 Rock skyscraper later for our reservation to “Top of the Rock”!)
The entrance to “30 Rock” is the site of the enormous NY Christmas tree every December. The trees are always enormous at around 75 feet tall and are topped by a huge Swarovski crystal star that weighs 500+ pounds. I can’t imagine a tree having to support a topper with that much weight! It takes almost 50,000 led lights to illuminate the tree which when put end to end would be about 5 miles of lights! The yearly tree lighting is a major event that has taken place for over 70 years. It is often televised by NBC – which is based in the 30 Rock Building. If you can time it right, you might be able to get into a FREE taping of “Saturday Night Live”, or “The Tonight Show”. People stand in line for hours. While it would be cool to see one of the shows, we didn’t have hours to simply wait in a line, so we didn’t look into the current schedule.
NBC Studios – NBC began in 1926 focused on radio programming, but as technology advanced and the world changed, so did NBC. NBC began broadcasting television in 1939, and was one of the first regular television networks. The studio actually offers behind-the-scenes tours! We didn’t realize that. They are happy to show you the inner workings of the TV studio and learn about what really goes into making the shows that are broadcast to millions of people every day. Next visit.
NBC News Studio
30 Rockefeller Plaza/Rockefeller Tower was renamed/rebranded the Comcast Building in July 2015 when they also put the new art feature over the door (shown below). I love it! SO true!
These fountains in front of the Comcast Building were fun to watch as kids and adults enjoyed getting in between the tracks of the fountains and stay there throughout the fountain’s cycle without getting wet. Easier to do when the wind isn’t blowing. In the video below, the fountain group on the right with two boys definitely dances more in the wind. LOL
In this area is The Lego Store, and FAO Schwartz.
Radio City Music Hall – Radio City was built in the midst of the Great Depression as a symbol of hope. It is the largest indoor theatre in the entire world.
BROADWAY – Broadway is one of the oldest streets in NYC, and has long been the heart of the city’s theatre scene. This is the ONLY main avenue that runs diagonally. Broadway was originally a foot trail used by the Native American tribes. It was called the Wickquasgeck trail and it followed a natural ridge of land running north to south. When the Dutch colonists settled here, they made use of the trail as the main road for their settlement. Therefore, Broadway did not fit into the surrounding streets of the Manhattan grid.
Dozens of big-budget productions are held here year-round such as “Hamilton”, “The Phantom of the Opera”, and “Lion King”. For smaller, quieter theaters you often have to venture “off” Broadway. Quality of shows will still be AMAZING!
TIMES SQUARE – Just a couple of blocks from Broadway is the night life with neon lights of Times Square. This is home to the annual New Year’s Eve ball drop. You have to look for the ball. I expected it to be more pronounced with people looking up at it and taking pictures. It isn’t easy to photograph from the street.
In the late 19th century this area was known as Longacre, and it didn’t have the best reputation. It was a hotspot of criminal activity. The construction of the Times Tower was significant in changing that. The New York Times had moved in and its reputation brought more and more legitimate businesses to Times Square. It became a highly desirable location till the Great Depression started. Times Square felt it as theatres closed or turned to adult entertainment. In the 1990s, Mayor Rudy Giuliani made efforts to revitalize the square, but it wasn’t till DISNEY opened a store here that the changes actually stuck. Disney’s presence attracted more family-friendly businesses, and Times Square was once again a vibrant, welcoming place.
CHRYSLER Building – The Chrysler Building with its art deco design makes it is easy to spot in various skyline shots. The crown is composed of seven radiating arches that make the building so easily identified.
Because this building was always intended to be the headquarters of the Chrysler Company, imagery referencing the classic automobiles was worked into the design. The circular designs around the middle of the building are imitations of Chrysler hubcaps and fenders. The sculptures at each corner of that same floor are giant-sized Chrysler hood ornaments!
As with so many other NYC landmarks, the Chrysler building has also been featured in its share of movies. Asteroids chopped off its beautiful crown in Armageddon, Spiderman has mourned from atop its gargoyles, and Will Smith leaps from the top of it in Men in Black III. When King Kong first began with production, the plan was to use the Chrysler Building for the tragic finale, but then the Empire State Building was completed, and stole the spotlight!
In 1930, being the tallest building was a big deal. As soon as plans were laid out for the Chrysler Building detailing how it would reach 925 ft in height, the designer of the competing 40 Wall Street decided his skyscraper would be 927 feet tall. Little did he know that Van Allen, the Chrysler Building designer, had a secret weapon…The 125-foot spire wasn’t included in the original plans! Four days after 40 Wall Street claimed the title of tallest building, the spire was erected, easily snagging the title for the Chrysler Building.
The skyscraper served as Chrysler headquarters until the mid-1950s, but it was never actually owned by the Chrysler Corporation. The building was entirely paid for and owned by Walter Chrysler HIMSELF!
Grand Central Terminal – At the top of Grand Central is an ornate statue grouping called “The Glory of Commerce”. It is 50 feet tall and 60 feet across. It is carved out of solid limestone. It depicts the ancient Roman mythological figures of Mercury, Hercules, and Minerva. Mercury, in the center, represents the speed of the trains. Hercules, on the left represents the strength of the men who built the terminal. Minerva, on the right, represents the wisdom and thought put into this building. The clock below Mercury’s feet is made of Tiffany glass. There is a secret panel behind the “6” that allows someone on the inside to look out onto the street. The clock is STILL powered by the original motor, put in place in 1913!! Wouldn’t it be nice if other motored devices would last that long!?!
In the mid-1800s, NYC was expanding so fast, and the demand for railroad infrastructure was growing. But the existing railroads were owned by several separate companies, which argued constantly over territory, leading to a confusing and inefficient rail system. Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of America’s first business tycoons, had a solution. He bought the rival companies and unified them under the banner of the New York Central Railroad! It worked, and Vanderbilt quickly needed a new, much larger transportation hub. Thus, Grand Central Terminal which transformed this once remote area into the buzzing center of the city.
This is the second-busiest train station in the country! Around 750,000 people pass through this terminal every day! That’s almost half the population of Manhattan! I guess we lucked out since it wasn’t all that busy when we arrived. We paused our Mid-Manhattan Tour, and jumped to the one specifically for Grand Central Terminal.
The Main Concourse:
The info booth is in the center of the main concourse. The enclosed space inside the information booth, is hiding a spiral staircase that leads down to a break room.
The booth has a clock on top. It is decorated with acorns and oak leaves which were the symbols of the Vanderbilts. They represent the Vanderbilts rise to immense wealth and power. This clock is guaranteed to be among the most accurate clocks in the world. It is synced with the atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Maryland. That means it’s accurate to within one billionth of a second! The acorns and oak leaves show up again in the lower corners of the ticket windows.
Back in the 1800s there were not clearly-defined time zones. Many cities had their own which didn’t always align very well, making serious issues for a train station with tracks running all across the nation. The Vanderbilts in charge of Grand Central told the government they needed to create standard time zones across the whole country. They said no…But nobody says no to the Vanderbilts! The Vanderbilts divided the country up as they saw fit and began using these new time zones. Grand Central railroad company had so much influence that pretty soon the whole country was using the standard times they had created!
The ceiling is an incredible feature of Grand Central Terminal. The cerulean blue ceiling is a first in a train station, but it doesn’t stop there. Looking up to the “sky” you see the constellations painted in gold leaf and illuminated with LED lights. They were fun to look at, but oh, my neck! It would be neat to see it at night. This was a pretty unique feature.
Smoking was a popular pastime throughout the 1900s before its dangers were widely known. Passengers would smoke freely as they travelled to and from their destinations. Black soot from the smoke collected in this hall and eventually blackened out the entire ceiling above! Yes, that meant you could not see any of the constellations, or even enjoy the blue. Once smoking was banned a huge restoration project was started to clean up the tar. The beautiful ceiling became visible once again. But the restorers kept a black patch of soot as a reminder…and a warning. That black rectangular patch is near the Cancer constellation (the crab).
Grand Central Station is supposedly part of the Gilded Age, but it didn’t come across to me at that. We got a real taste of the “Gilded Age” with the mansions from the Cliff Walk, in Newport, Rhode Island. Those millionaires went over-the-top to appear more important and powerful than others. I like knowing the term “Gilded Age” was coined by Mark Twain and intended it as satire: gilded as opposed to golden suggested the beauty was only surface-level!
Of course this beautiful concourse has been the setting for a scene or two in movies. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith confront a society of tiny aliens here in Men in Black II. Oscar-winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’s tragic scene was here.
Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis was key in keeping Grand Central protected as a NYC landmark!
Pershing Plaza Whimsical Statues
Mid-Manhattan Tour (Continued)
New York Public Library. The grand entrance to the library can be seen up the street. But as we walk, instead of looking up, I was looking down. We are on Library Way and I noticed a plaque in the sidewalk that had a cool quote from a book. There were more! Evidently 96 bronze plaques were installed in this sidewalk in 1998, by an organization called the Grand Central Partnership. The idea was to add a little grandeur to the walk towards the library. Each plaque contains a quote from a famous author. Every quote was hand-picked by a committee of literary experts and esteemed librarians. Here are a few that I liked, but I only saw about half of them.
The New York Public library is a grand, marble building . It is the second largest public library in the country, second only to the Library of Congress. It houses more than 55 million items on 125 miles of shelving! Wow!
The lions on either side of the steps represent Patience and Fortitude. They have become the library’s official mascots.
The “attic” statues above from left to right represent: the embodiments of History, Romance, Religion, Poetry, Drama, and Philosophy.
The interior is spectacular. They were getting ready for a special event and were closing early today, so we didn’t have much time inside.
The woodwork, marble and frescos were all stunning.
Movies? Of course. A few include Bill Murray and friends chased a ghost among the stack of book in Ghostbusters. The Sex and the City movie had this as the planned site for a wedding. The library has been the backdrop in Spiderman, and in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Having now completed a total of 6 walking tours within two days we saw so much more than we expected. We are so glad we discovered the Action Tour Guides App! Had we just walked the streets on “our own” we would have missed so much. It was so efficient have a guide like this that not only guided our steps, but educated us the whole time with what we were seeing or what and when to look closer.
This didn’t end our day though. We had to get back to Rockefeller Center (30 Rock to be more precise) for our reservation to go up to The Top of the Rock – Our third and final observation tower! It provided perfect viewing of the Empire State Building! We didn’t think we were going to have much of a sunset, but OMG – it turned out to be even better than last night’s sunset!
I enjoyed all three observation towers we visited. Each provided its own unique experience. We didn’t spend time on the display area for information about Top of the Rock, the viewing, and information atop Rockefeller Plaza including the tradition of the Christmas tree. We thought we’d look at these after capturing the sunset and NYC night-scape, but we didn’t. I appreciated the pillars with interesting tidbits regarding the view(s. The observation deck at Top of the Rock is all open. Tickets for access to the observation decks cost more for sunset viewing, so we simply purchased our time for one of the last time slots before the price goes up. You can stay as long as you like (till they close for the night). Eat prior or bring some snacks or protein bars with you.
Top of the Rock has two levels of outdoor viewing. The first level has plexiglass to keep people safe, and to prevent loose items from falling off the edge. It is nice that there are a couple inches between each section, so you can hold your phone or camera lens up in the open space to get a picture without any reflection or glare. While the upper level is of course higher, it is set back to allow this level to be completely open and unobstructed for pictures.
Top of the Rock provided us the best aerial view of Central Park. You can really see how much real estate it covers in relationship to all the buildings
The Edge (reminds me of a cartoon bird)
We were thrilled with the vividly painted sky throughout sunset that enriched our last evening in New York City! We’ve had a non-stop, amazing time. It is on my list to return to visit the MET (Metropolitan Art Museum) for possibly an entire day, go to a Broadway show or two, and check out the Summit – One Vanderbilt. TOMORROW we head to Cherry Hill RV so we can explore Washington, DC for a full week!