We started our morning by going to the laundromat at 8:00 and doing 2 loads of clothes. Not how I want to spend my time here but it was necessary! We were back to the apartment and then on our way to the subway by 10:00. We got off on 28th Street (not that you would know where that is but stay with me here) and started our walking tour of midtown at the Flatiron Building. It was pretty hazy and it was hard to get good pictures but you know me....I take 'em anyway!
The Flatiron Building is triangular in shape like an iron. It was built in 1902 and is considered to be the oldest skyscraper in New York City. It is 287 feet high.
From there we headed north and walked through Madison Square Park and looked at the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court Building. The building is huge but was not completed as planned. The tour guide on the bus told us that there are more elevators in the building than there are floors. It was built in 1899.
It is the building in the back. See how it looks "chopped off"?
The next stop was for a tour of the birthplace of Theodore Roosevelt. As our luck goes, it is closed for renovation. It looks sort of funny in the middle of the block with tall business buildings all around it.
It's the house in the middle
This is actually a replica because the original was knocked down in 1916, but after Roosevelt's death in 1919 it was recreated as a memorial. About 40% of the furnishings come from the original house and the rest was either donated by family members or are authentic period pieces. I wish we could have gone in.
We kept walking north and saw some really cool buildings. We just walked slowly and studied them all! We stopped at a diner off Lexington Ave for lunch. It was good to sit and rest awhile. We kept on going up Park Avenue, through Times Square (I told you all roads lead to Times Square but we've also decided that a lot of them lead to Chinatown too!) We were headed to Lincoln Center which is a couple blocks north and west of the southern edge of Central Park. (Remember, we started at 28th St and zig-zagged through Midtown and Central Park starts at 59th St.) It would be fun to go to one of the programs there. John Williams (the guy famous for the Star Wars music and a lot of others) is being featured with the symphony tomorrow night.
After another quick rest, we headed across Central Park to the East Side. I think it's about 1/2 mile across the park. Then we walked 5 blocks south and 3 blocks east to Bloomingdale's. We walked through the store but, like most of you know, I'm not a shopper and Conrad would take anything to NOT even walk in a store! We went to the Magnolia Bakery in the back of the store and bought a treat to bring home. Our last stop was across the street to Dylan's Candy Bar. The owner is Dylan Loren, Ralph Loren's daughter. I was expecting one of those stores like you see at the mall. Oh no....it had 3 floors or nothing but candy! It was so colorful and expensive! They carry over 5,000 kinds of candy. They also sell t-shirts, sweatshirts and other things with candy stuff on it. I could have bought Macey a sweatshirt for $45 that said I Love Candy. Sorry Macey, but you'll like the other stuff I've gotten you!
Here's the outside of the store
This was one of the window displays
From there we were headed back home. We walked 9 miles today and my legs and feet are feeling it. I can't believe that a week from tonight, I'll be back in my own bed. This has been a wonderful experience and we've had so much fun. I can finally look at all these tall, beautiful buildings and not look like a crazy tourist. However, we've seen our share of crazy people here. We're learning our way around the subway and a lot of times know how many stops until we get off from memory and which side of the train to get off! We've gotten our "subway legs", you know, like "sea legs".
So, this girl is going off to bed. Hope it's a little warmer tonight. It's been pretty cold. The landlord said they'd come light the boiler tomorrow so we'll have heat tomorrow night. The temperature hasn't gotten above 60 here during the day. It's just perfect for us. The trees are starting to turn - you can see some yellow leaves around. We plan to make another trip through Central Park over the weekend and hope to see more color then.
Later!
Conrad and Linda
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