Right after I posted last night, we watched the weather channel and changed our plans. Remember, I said that could happen! It was to be real windy today so riding the ferry to Staten Island and then another ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island didn't seem like such a great idea. So, today was more of a walking day. We started out by going to Rockefeller Center. They were working on the ice rink the other day when we went by there on the tour bus but today it was open. There were a few people ice skating. We walked through part of the lobby of 30 Rock and the lower level. We went by the NBC building and looked in the window. We could see the set for the Today Show and I saw Matt Lauer walk by and a couple of the camera people waved at us! It was late morning when we were there.
Yup - it's a long way up to the top!
From there we headed over toward the United Nations Building. Of course, it wasn't without a few more stops. The first order of business was the Diamond District. Boy, is Conrad lucky that I'm not a jewelry person! There is one block of nothing but jewelry stores, gold and diamond buyers and loan places! We were looking in one window and the lady inside flashed a sign at us that said 60% off.
Can you imagine window after window of this?
We went to the old Daily News Building. The building is the fictional Daily Planet in the Superman movies. The lobby has a huge revolving globe and the floor is laid out as a giant compass indicating most of the big cities of the U.S. and the world and their distance from NYC. There is also a clock with 17 time zones but it wasn't working!
Next was the Ford Foundation Building. What makes it different is that the plaza is built inside the building and is full of fountains, trees and plants. The offices in the center of the building look out over the plaza.
We finally made it to the United Nations Buildings. Boy, talk about security! There were more police there than we've seen the whole trip! Getting in to the building was worse than the airport! I had to check the backpack so had to get in another line after going through security. It was more interesting than we thought it would be but didn't take the tour. The exhibits they had on the main floor though were really interesting. There is also a huge Chagall stained-glass window in the lobby. When I went to get my backpack I walked up to a window and had to ring a buzzer. The guard opened the window (you couldn't see in the window though) and said "Welcome to McDonald's! What can I get you?" Conrad told him he had more of a sense of humor than anyone else we had seen!
The flags were really flapping in the wind today!
Our next stop was the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. When I put the address in my phone to get walking directions, it was 2.5 miles away so to save time, we hopped on the subway. We had an hour and a half to kill before our tour time so we checked out the gift shop and then walked around the neighborhood. This tour was really interesting but since we couldn't take pictures inside I can just tell you that it was old,dark, and the apartments were very small. It was a 6-story brownstone built in 1863 by a German immigrant. Living conditions were appalling - tiny, windowless rooms, without electricity or plumbing. Some 10,000 people are estimated to have lived in the building until it was condemned in 1935. Originally there were about 4 privies out in the courtyard in the back and they were shared with all the tenants plus the patrons of the bar that was on the lower level.
The building is in the middle with the black sign hanging in front.
It was almost 6:00 by the time we got out of there so we took the subway to Little Italy and found a place to have a beer and pizza. It was a good day and a great evening for a walk.
Rush hour traffic near the Williamsburg Bridge
Conrad had trouble getting the turnstile to work at the subway after swiping his card and couldn't try again for 20 minutes since we have unlimited use cards. (That's to keep more than 1 person from using the card.) So, since it was such a nice night, we just walked about 8 or 10 blocks to the next station and got on there.
So, today we walked 9.46 miles. That brings us up to a total of 148.63 miles in 19 days! Not bad!! We're still having an absolutely wonderful time. We have gotten really lucky with the weather. Yesterday has been the only really rainy day and we've had a couple others that it was a "heavy drizzle". The temperature has been great too.
It's past our bedtime so I'd better quit. Hope you're enjoying our trip.
Conrad and Linda
No comments:
Post a Comment