New York Day 2

Whew! Thanks for returning for day 2. It was a long. LONG. day. We put in about 15 hours of sightseeing and somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 miles of walking- and it was a museum heavy day so there was also a lot of standing around. Spoiler alert- my feet were *killing* me by the end of the day.  

Further spoiler alert- my feet took a month or more to recover from this whole trip. 

We had a lovely breakfast at our hotel. They had a Starbucks machine so I got to make my own hazelnut hot chocolate. It was a lovely way to start the day. 

Our first goal for the day was the World Trade Center Memorial. It was nearby so we started to walk. We passed this church- you know I'm a sucker for a cemetery so we stopped to explore. The workers invited us in so we checked it out. 

There was a lot of awesome history here! This was the church George Washington worshiped in just after his inauguration. Wow! That's really neat!

This is the New York Seal. "This depiction of the official seal of New York State dates back to circa late 1700s. The seal, adopted in 1777, depicts the state's coat of arms and a banner inscribed with the official state motto, "Excelsior," meaning "ever upward" in Latin. The seal also depicts allegorical figures representing Liberty and Justice; Liberty is seen with one foot on a crown, symbolizing the nation's independence from the British monarchy, and Justice is blindfolded, representing the American judicial system's impartiality"  (description plate by the painting. I could never sound that educated. haha!)

The Marvel geek in me giggled at EXCELSIOR , but it was beautiful either way. 

This was the original Great Seal of the United States from 1785. 

I think it's funny because I was thinking it looked like a turkey- which was originally recommended as the national bird by Benjamin Franklin. The description plate confirmed my suspicions. 

Also, I learned that George Washington's pew sat below this painting. Coooool! 😀

It was a very pretty church, very modest compared to some I've been inside, but it holds so much history- Also, it has the distinction of being the *only* building in the area that was not damaged when the towers fell. Which is really quite a miracle considering how close it is. 

 

The older the cemetery, the more fun I have. I could have easily spent all day there- but the two headstones that stood out the most to me were these two: 

The name on this one might be my favorite name EVER. I want to write a book and use this name! Mrs. Mehitable Nesbit. Oh my gosh. People just don't name babies like this anymore and it is a darn shame! Just say it over and over. Mehitable Nesbit, Mehitable Nesbit. Isn't that just delightful? 

This was also a favorite. I kind of want this inscribed on my headstone when I die: 

Behold and see as you Pass By

As you are Now so Once was I

As I am Now you Soon will Be

Prepare for Death and Follow Me

Absolutely fantastic!

Cemeteries just fill me with joy (usually- we'll talk about this later). I know. I'm a weirdo. I just love to imagine what life was like for people. Were they happy? What were they like? 

Like I said, I could have spent all day there- but we headed on over to the One World Tower. We stopped and paid respects at the Twin Towers Memorial. It was a very nice, peaceful place. 

We had tickets to go to the One World Trade Center Observatory, the tallest building in the western hemisphere.

Up, up, up we went to the 102nd floor. The elevator ride (48 seconds) was so "long" they showed us a movie on the way up. Hahaha! Oh my gosh. 

It was fun to walk around the observatory and see the whole city- and New Jersey 😉 It allowed us to plot out some of the places we wanted to see. It was in the plan to walk across the Brooklyn bridge but (spoiler alert) it didn't happen. 

Our next adventure took us to the subway and we headed waaaaay uptown. Our plan was to spend a few hours at the Met- and then a few hours at the Natural History Museum... 

There was a lot to see. I've already forgotten more than I learned. Prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for a barrage of art photos. I want to always remember what I saw there. I wish I could have taken pictures of everything!

We started to the left- classic art. If it wasn't for this mask, you wouldn't be able to tell us apart, huh? 

We saw all the legends. Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus... A lotta eusses!

I stopped and spoke with Zeus. He did not respond. 🤷 

I loved this sculpture of Perseus. I didn't want to shock or offend my more sensitive viewers though, so the picture was strategic. 😂😆😂

Here is our good friend, Hercules wearing the Nemean Lion, once again, begging the question: Who wore it better?

We found our way to The Eatery. 

I took these next few as future decor references. I do love a good French Rococo parlor 💚

Tale as old as time... true as it can beeeee..... Oh... uh. sorry. I'll stop there. 

The next section was the Modern Art. I'll tell you now. I just don't *get* it. I do not understand modern art . At. All. 

I mean, I know the name Jackson Pollock. I've seen is stuff before (not in real life)- but I just don't get it. There were lots of others that I didn't even take pictures of because I don't understand how they are fine art. Some of it looks a lot like the stuff I have on my fridge from my niece or the aftermath of my painting T-shirts. 🤷

Am I a total unsophisticated neandterthal? I'd like to think not. I was pretty impressed with myself at knowing so many of the artitsts we saw- but I will admit- Modern art is out of my realm of comprehension. 

These were my first Picasso. There were several and I geeked out all over the place. 

Henri Matisse. MATISSE guys!

A room filled with Degas took my breath away. 

And then Manet. 

I was overjoyed to see a room-full of Renoir.

I *squeeeeeed* a little when I saw my first Van Gogh.

And then I flat out cried when I saw Monet. He's always been a particular favorite of mine. 

This is a Rubens. There were also Van Dykes and so, so many others. I really wish I'd taken pictures of everything. It was amazing! All these paintings and artists I've heard about my whole life- right there!

As we made our way to the American Art Exhibit I was on the hunt for a particular sculpture. I am related to the artist, Cyrus E Dallin and I learned before going that one of his pieces was on display there. We searched and searched and I finally found it in a room that was blocked off. D'oh! Because they were short handed, a lot of rooms were closed off. But I could *see* it. So I asked a worker there if she could accompany me into the room so I could see it. She didn't want to- for fear of losing her job- and I totally don't blame her. The compromise was that she took my phone in and took a picture of it for me. 

This is Appeal to the Great Spirit. Fun fact, a copy of this sculpture is in the White House collection and President Clinton had it in the Oval Office. I was excited to see it- even it was from the doorway across the room. 

We were running out of time and we were barely half way through the museum! We ran through weaponry- this is Henry XIII's field armor. I've seen his dress armor at the Tower of London and his size, it seems, never diminished. 

We ran through the Egyptian section. I had just finished watching Moon Night so I would have liked to have had more time here, but they were sounding the closing bell. 

This is the Temple of Dendur. The ethics of removing all these antiquities nags at the corners of my brain, but I guess there's no other way I'd ever get to see them because it's not likely I'll end up in ancient Egypt anytime soon. 

The last thing I geeked out over- the dumbest thing- was this quilt coat. I am a fan of the fashion from the Met Gala and I remembered seeing this coat made from a thrifted quilt worn by A$AP Rockey in 2021.

We spent six hours in the Met and still barely made it half way through. So, I'm gonna have to plan another trip to see the rest of it- and the Natural History Museum. 

By this time, our feet were killing- but we still had a lot of walking to do! 

We walked through central park for a while. The park is kind of a miracle. You're in the middle of this crazy city- but it was so peaceful. Except for the occasional siren, you would have never known you were in crazy place!

There we so many beautiful things to see. The flowers were lovely. I wish I knew what any of them were. ha! 

We made sure to go by Bethesda Fountain. 

And this tree was probably the most beautiful. My picture doesn't do it justice. The whole tree was purple with blossoms. 

We also walked up to Belvedere castle but somehow I didn't get any photos of it. 

We found our way over to Strawberry Fields. Pot is legal in New York and everyone made sure to sit here and smoke it. Oi! We walked through quickly to avoid second-hand high. 

One of Kristen's favorite haunts is the little hole-in-the-wall cookie place. Oh my gosh- this cookie was amazing! 

We walked down the street and found the Manhattan Temple. We did not make an appointment for anything, but I still wanted to see it. By this time we both reeeeeally needed a loo- so we asked the security guard- yes- there is a security guard- if we could go to the church upstairs and use the loo. 

Once again, I wish I'd been better about taking pictures. They had amazing Book of Mormon art that I've never seen before. 

I get to check another temple off my list. Next time I'll make sure to take time to go inside, but for now, this was close enough. 

I was at the meeting where President Hinckley announced the Manhattan Temple so I was happy to see it. It's so strange- right there in the middle of the city- no temple grounds- no flowers or landscaping. Just there- on a street corner. Right where it belongs. A little oasis. 

I was only too delighted to walk a block or so down the road and come upon Sesame Street!  After all that sophisticated, fancy-pants art, the next few pictures are really going to show the 5 year old hidden inside. 

We continued our way downtown. We were on our way to Rockefeller Square when we passed the building where the Tonight Show is filmed. It's right next to Radio City Music Hall where I sang "Let's Go to the Movies" to myself and did a little Rockette kick... uh... in my mind, that is. 

We also passed Christie's. So many times has this place been in headlines. I just think of all the amazing things that have passed through there. 

I also got a little over excited when we went by FAO Schwarz. I thought they'd all closed so I was happy to see this one still exists. It was closed for the day- but just being by the door was enough to make me grin like an idiot. 

We finally made it to Rockefeller Plaza. I didn't realize they had skating year round. I knew they did the ice skating in winter- but I guess the rest of the time it's roller skating. 

There she is: 30 Rock. No Liz Lemmon, no Jack Donaghy, but still, it was fun to see with my own eyes.

Also on the plaza was the studio for NBC news. You can peep through the windows and see where they film the Today Show. I could have been one of the weirdos jumping around outside the window! 

We walked on down to Time's Square. I wanted to see it all lit up at night. And I did. It's another one of those iconic places that you feel like you just *have* to see. Well. I've seen it. I don't ever have to go back. I can NOT imagine wanting to be there on new year's eve. Bleh. I was there on a Tuesday in May and it was bad enough. It was cool to see the lights and banners flashing- but there was far too much humanity for my taste- and the whole place smelled like pot. 

Someone even offered some to Kristen. Does she *look* like a pot smoker? I would say heck no- but I guess these days you never can tell. 

I was the most excited, of course, when I saw they had a Disney store. It was closed. You know, for the "City that doesn't sleep" things sure close early in New York. 

I think according to Kristen's fitbit, we'd tracked at least 10 miles that day. And most of that was standing around looking at stuff in the museum- so even though we weren't walking, we were standing. My feet were absolutely dead by the end of this day. I'd brought my massager with me and two pairs of shoes. I'm really glad I did because this was still just the beginning!