Day 1, Mar 28, 2014, Friday:
Macy's Flower Show, Herald Square,
Fifth Avenue Walk, Empire State Building, NY Public library, The Grand Central Station, Chrysler
Building, Times Square, AMNH [American Museum of Natural History], Central Park, Top of the Rock, M&M, Hershey Candy Stores
Our day's attractions are marked with blue arrow on the map above. At 8.30 am we were on the subway. not
bad for day 1 —we had slept only by 1 am the previous night.
This is the subway map.
Our hotel is 100 m from 39th Av. Subway Station circled here and is serviced by N/Q/R trains and Lex av on 59th st Manhattan is the 2nd stop... so the sought after Manhattan is that close!
Our hotel is 100 m from 39th Av. Subway Station circled here and is serviced by N/Q/R trains and Lex av on 59th st Manhattan is the 2nd stop... so the sought after Manhattan is that close!
We had
bought one pay per ride metro card for the 2 of us paying $40+1. One
ride is $2.50 but when done with the card, there is a discount. We
took the N train, got down at 34 St - Herald Sq Subway Station
Macy's Flower Show:
At 9 am we were outside Macy's at 34
street, Harold sq: Macy's clock shows 9 am..
The self-proclaimed
"largest store in the world" Macy's holds a famous annual
flower show for 2 weeks to herald the coming of Spring. 40th
Annual Flower Show year 2014's Macy's Flower Show, opened
on Sunday, March 23. Our trip had coincided with this. Its
spring-celebrating theme the Secret Garden was installed on the
ground floor. The design, inspired by backyards and informal gardens,
had transformed the space, as well as the store's Broadway windows,
into a lush indoor conservatory.
The windows outside have great display as well. Secret garden with a lovely grill door...
The windows outside have great display as well. Secret garden with a lovely grill door...
Anthuriums with their projecting stamens in better focus.
Awesome pale green orchids to the left... lovely red roses to right. Magenta orchids are common, light green border orchids are rare, awesome.violet roses.
After 20 minutes admiring the flower
show, we were out on the Herald square. [Clock shows 9.20]
Herald Square:
Herald Square is formed by the
intersection of Broadway, Sixth Avenue (officially
named Avenue of the Americas), and 34th Street in
the borough of Manhattan. Named for the New York
Herald, a now-defunct newspaper formerly headquartered there.
The monument's bell was designed to chime on the hour. The two seven-foot-tall bronze laborers, nicknamed Stuff and Guff give the appearance of ringing the bell with their mallets, while in actuality is rung by mallets located behind the bell. The figures and the clock were originally part of the 1894 New York Herald Building that was located at the square. Prior to the demolition of the building in 1921, the figures were removed and reinstalled in the Square in 1940.
Horace
Greeley, who was the publisher of the New York Tribune,
the Herald's rival newspaper. (The two papers later merged
to form the New York Herald Tribune.There is a statue of
Greeley inside the park.
We started to walk on the Fifth Avenue
enjoying the skyline and trying to hit up the attractions on the way.
Fifth Avenue Walk:
Fifth Avenue is a 6 miles long
major thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan .
It is one of the most expensive and elegant streets in the world. It
has the Millionaires row facing the Central Park, the Museum mile [with
9 museums including the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art
(MOMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, etc] and another segment with
many luxury goods, fashion, and sport brand boutiques.
Fifth Avenue is among the most
expensive shopping streets in the world. and between 49th
Street and 60th Street,is lined with prestigious boutiques
and flagship stores , including Louis Vuitton, Tiffany &
Co., Gucci, Prada, Armani, Tommy
Hilfiger, Cartier, Omega, Chanel, Harry
Winston, Salvatore
Ferragamo, Nike, Escada, Rolex, Bvlgari, Emilio
Pucci, Ermenegildo Zegna, Abercrombie &
Fitch, Hollister Co., De Beers, Emanuel
Ungaro, Gap, Versace, Lindt Chocolate Shop, Henri
Bendel, NBA Store, Oxxford Clothes, Microsoft
Store, Sephora, Tourneau, and Wempe. Luxury department
stores include Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman.
Fifth Avenue also is home to New York's fifth most photographed
building, the Apple Store.
In addition to the stores, many sights
and attractions are located on Fifth Avenue, including the
Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, the Flatiron Building,
The New York Public Library, Central Park, Bryant Park, etc.
At close quarters with the lady of
liberty...courtesy souvenir shops on our way to Empire State
Building. Where is her right hand holding the torch?
Empire State Building:
We were at the Empire State Building's
Art Deco lobby located at 350 Fifth Avenue. This is the copper
relief plaque.
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art
Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. Its
name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of
the state of New York. Constructed with 102 floors and
standing 381 meters tall, the Empire State Building was the tallest
building in the world from 1931 to 1972.
The building has a roof height of 1,250
feet (380 m) and stands a total of 1,454 feet (443.2 m)
tall, including its antenna. The Empire State Building stood as the
world's tallest building until the construction of the World
Trade Center in 1970; following its collapse in
the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Empire State Building was
again the city's tallest skyscraper until 2012.
The building was erected in record time, taking 410 days to complete. Despite the Great Depression, over 3,000 workers were hired for the construction in 1930, building 4 floors and a half per week.
The building was erected in record time, taking 410 days to complete. Despite the Great Depression, over 3,000 workers were hired for the construction in 1930, building 4 floors and a half per week.
The Empire State Building has two
observation decks, the first on the 86th floor, offering 360 ยบ views of the city and the second on the 102nd floor. Going to the
first observation deck costs US$ 32 and going to the second
costs an extra US$ 20.
The building attracts 4 million
visitors a year, and over 100 million people have gone up to its
observation decks. To avoid the endless lines buy tickets online. The
tickets are valid for any day and time, so there is no risk in buying
them in advance.
We had decided to skip this deck and go up the Top of the Rock.
We resumed our
walk toward our next targets. The New York Public
Library Main Branch are located six blocks north of the Empire
State Building, on the block bounded by Fifth Avenue, Sixth Avenue,
40th Street, and 42nd Street. Grand Central Terminal is
located two blocks east of the library's Main Branch, at Park Avenue
and 42nd Street.
Lovely bronzes at souvenir shops.
Now we are on our way to the NY public library. One more pic with the lady. This one has her right hand intact holding the famous torch.
Now we are on our way to the NY public library. One more pic with the lady. This one has her right hand intact holding the famous torch.
The New York Public Library (NYPL):
Main Branch is easily recognizable by
its lion statues named Patience and Fortitude that sit either side of
the entrance.
It is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing.
It all started with $400,000 (equivalent of $11.8 million in 2019) bequeathed for the creation of a public library by John Jacob Astor, German–American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul and investor who mainly made his fortune in a fur trade monopoly and by investing in real estate in or around New York City.
NY library is the great—free, open to all, and with its main branch set inside a stunning 1911 Beaux Arts landmark. Opened on May 23, 1911 it was the largest marble structure that time in the United States.
NY library is the great—free, open to all, and with its main branch set inside a stunning 1911 Beaux Arts landmark. Opened on May 23, 1911 it was the largest marble structure that time in the United States.
When we visited, there was a nice exhibition in the library, Why kids books matter—the A, B, C of it.
The ceiling of the Rose Main Reading
Room, at the New York Public Library’s main building, on Fifth
Avenue—the biggest room in the biggest public-library branch in the
country’s biggest city—is an ornate piece of work. Its eighteen
tiered chandeliers hang suspended over the rows of work tables like
upside-down wedding cakes. There are a lot of gilded curlicues and
cornucopias and flute-playing cherubs cavorting up there, around
celestial murals of soft pink clouds, 33-feet-wide mural of the sky
painted in 1911.
We were admiring them on our visit at March end. Just 6 weeks
later, in the middle of a May night in 2014, one of the plaster
rosettes weighing 16 pounds came loose from the ceiling and crashed to the ground
from a height of fifty-two feet.
Two years and $12 million later, the
renovation–which included reinforcing all 180 rosettes, removing
asbestos dust, and recreating a mural in the adjacent catalog room–is
complete.
10.40 am...at the book check in counters.
We left the library and were on our way
to the Grand Central Station.
A friendly Indian chief outside a shop.
Chrysler bldg yonder...
The Grand Central Station:
We were at the station entrance at 11.20. The sculptural group around the clock
was one of the biggest at that time.
Sculptures Minerva, Hercules, and
Mercury 48 feet (14.6 m) high, the clock circumference of 13 feet (4
m).
It's also one of the world’s most magnificent, majestic public spaces.
The luminous four faced clock
The astronomical ceiling in the main
concourse of grand central station.
Chrysler Building:
We walked on and were in the lobby of
Chrysler Building.
At 1,046 feet (318.9 m), the structure was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931.
At 1,046 feet (318.9 m), the structure was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931.
Visitors can only see the Lobby. Lobby is art deco style. The walls covered with huge slabs of African red granite.
On the floor, a path from the entrances is marked to the elevators using travertine from Siena Vertical bars of fluorescent light are covered with Belgian blue marble and Mexican amber onyx, which soften and diffuse the light, to both illuminate and blend with the red marble walls. The lobby also contains four elevator banks, each with a different design.
The mural is painted in the shape of a "Y" with ocher and golden tones. The mural's Art Deco style is manifested in characteristic triangles, sharp angles, slightly curved lines, chrome ornaments, and numerous patterns. There is a wall panel dedicated to the work of clinchers, surveyors, masons, carpenters, plasterers, and builders. Fifty different figures were modeled after workers who participated in its construction.
Praised by critics as " one of the most appealing and awe-inspiring of skyscrapers". "hot jazz in stone and steel". "a wonderful, decorative, evocative aesthetic" The Chrysler Building is renowned for, and recognized by, its terraced crown, which is an extension of the main tower.
The final design of the dome included several arches and triangular windows. The building's distinctive Art Deco crown and spire is composed of seven radiating terraced arches The Chrysler Building uses bright "Nirosta"non rusting stainless steel in the exterior ornaments, the window frames, the crown, and the needle. The use of permanently bright metal was of greatest aid in the carrying of rising lines and the diminishing circular forms in the roof treatment, accentuating the gradual upward swing until it literally dissolves into the sky.
The crown and spire are illuminated by a combination of fluorescent lights framing the crown's distinctive triangular windows and colored floodlights that face toward the building, allowing it to be lit in a variety of schemes.
Lower down, the design was affected by Walter Chrysler's intention to make the building the Chrysler Corporation's headquarters, and various architectural details were modeled after Chrysler automobile products, such as the hood ornaments of the Plymouth.
Above the 71st floor, the stories of the building are designed mostly for exterior appearance, functioning mainly as landings for the stairway to the spire and do not contain office space.They are very narrow, have low and sloping roofs, and are only used to house radio transmitters and other mechanical and electrical equipment. The 73rd floor houses the motors of the elevators and a 15,000-US-gallon (57,000 L) water tank, of which 3,500 US gallons (13,000 L) are reserved for extinguishing fires.
Time : 11.43.
an incidental doorway with excellent relief of zodiac signs for all 12 months. Caught November, December here...
Gold embellished bldg.
Times Square:
We reached the Times Square. Times Square is a major commercial
intersection and a neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, at the junction
of Broadway (now converted into a pedestrian plaza) and Seventh
Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets.
Woody ...
Brightly adorned with billboards and advertisements, Times Square is iconified as The Crossroads of the World. Times Square is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, hosting over 39 million visitors annually. 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily.
It's the site of the annual ball drop on New Year's Eve, a tradition which began on December 31, 1907 and continues, attracting thousands to the Square every New Year's.
Woody ...
We could not see what was so special
about this, anyway we moved on.
Report continues here:
Report continues here:
