Day 8: Getting lost in Midtown
Another exhausting but good day though didn't quite go as planned. I changed my initial plans from visiting Brooklyn to wandering midtown today as we had to go up to the Rockefeller Centre and get Top of the Rock tickets for sunset first- I was worried they would sell out of the timed spots if I waited til later in the day. For some reason Rockefeller seemed to give us problems all day-we kept walking in circles but not finding it-I know that sounds ridiculous.
Anyway to start with we caught the subway to 42nd and spent far too long cruising shops near Times Square first - like the
Disney store-guess who came home with a giant Simba (did I mention my daughter is 19 but a "nice" Simba has been on her wishlist since she was 3).
Times Square in the am
Love the Disney store-it had a great range of stuff-including items I have never seen actually in Disneyland, WDW or Downtowns.
Having secured tickets to 8pm entry to ToR, we walked up to Grand Central Terminal, admired the ceilings & played in the Whispering Gallery, but reluctantly decided still too full from breaky (cinnamon & raison bread today) to indulge in cheesecake from Juniors, then walked up to have a look at the exterior of the Chrysler Bdg. Deciding it was so close we would fulfill a request from a friend who had asked us to try and find time to visit the UN (figuring we could buy her a gift from there too)-waited far too long for a bus-we should have walked. We didn't do a tour just looked at the displays in the Visitors Centre which were very interesting-the memorial stained glass window is beautiful, and the elephant hidden behind the hedge outside is cute-the story goes he was so scary to children they had to partly hide him-not sure if this is true!
Grand Central Terminal Main Hall
Exterior of the Chrysler Bdg
Exterior of the UN (being worked on)
St George slays the dragon of war
The scary elephant
Inside the VC-the stained glass window memorial to those who have lost their lives for the UN
These are tapestries not paintings!
We caught a bus back to 42nd St and went into the New York Public Library. This is so beautiful inside and again we spent much longer than anticipated perusing their 100 Treasures collection-the illuminated Xanten Hebrew bible, Jack Kerouac memorabilia including his diary that On the Road was written from, an early Guttenburg bible, Malcolm X writings, maps, Beethoven score, women's 19thC dance cards, rather bizarrely a Klu Klux Klan robe.
The Library facade
One of the 2 lions that guard the entrance
The grand reading rooms
From the 100 Treasures exhibition-Jack Kerouac memorobilia
An early bible
Saturated with information we sat upstairs in Zeytinz and had a good meal from their deli overlooking Bryant Park which we wandered through afterwards. Somehow it was another 3pm lunch-story of the trip. Wonderful park with lots of chairs and tables, games, magazines, even a book corner!!
In Zeytinz
Bryant Park
Book corner
Down to Herald Sqe and Macey's looking for a graduation dress for daughter. Tried a ton on in the sales but none she liked that looked good on her in a size that fitted. So cheap though. She did buy a bag which had been doubly reduced + our 10% international discount so very good value. Subwayed to Union Sqe for more of the same but getting tired so took our purchases back to the hotel for a short R n R before going back out.
Plans to eat out first went awry as in a hurry we caught the wrong subway and muddled about so ended up going straight to Rockefeller-getting confused over which building it was again-and up top in time for early sunset and after dark pics. Great views from up here and well worth it but very very hazy-probably should have gone up early am instead for clarity. Good to have a proper look at the ESB though and views of Manhattan north and south.
Central Park
ESB and downtown
Afterwards we just popped into a restaurant we had noticed on our way there as they had crepes advertised, Un Deux Trois-we found the savoury crepes good (and well priced at $14.50) and the deserts even better and the staff very friendly. Amused by the server brushing the table free of crumbs with a little brush inbetween courses. (As you can see eating is not one of our priorities on hols.)
Deserts
Enjoyed a slow wander south down Fifth Ave and ended up at the Empire State Bdg so ducked in to look at their gorgeous art deco foyer. It was very quiet there-no queues.
Foyer of ESB
Next trip we would go up for a different perspective on the skyline...and so home to bed. Can't seem to manage to get to bed before midnight and we're not even out partying.