Since our plane landed very early, yesterday we had practically a whole day left to explore. The weather was quite nice, quite sunny when we started, although it did get a bit cloudy and a bit cool, it never got above 15 degrees centigrade.
Around noon we jumped on the Q line of the subway, which is literally 5 minutes from our bed and breakfast, and headed to Manhattan. The subway actually emerges at the Manhattan Bridge and we got a good look at the Brooklyn Bridge and the southeastern tip of Manhattan.
We decided to get off at Times Square, thinking this would be a good place to start exploring New York City. Times Square, with all its neon billboards and promotional displays, is something else. The sidewalks were absolutely packed with people strolling and tons of promoters handing out flyers for Broadway shows, comedy shows, and other entertainment events. There is so much advertising in the Times Square area with lights and screens flashing everywhere, that the individual ads actually started crossing each other in my mind, probably not the effect the advertisers were trying to achieve. In fact, the hustle and bustle of this area is huge and can be a bit overwhelming.
We walked around that area for a while, and we walked through Rockefeller Center, although we didn’t get to explore the entire complex. We then locate Grand Central Terminal and walk through this grand and historic train station that opened in 1913. There are over 100 commuter rail platforms in Grand Central and they all depart from one glorious central concourse.
The east side of Grand Central opens almost directly onto the Chrysler Building, and considering I’m a huge fan of Art Deco skyscrapers, I had to go inside this 1929 masterpiece. As a tourist you can only access the lobby, but the central area with its ceiling mural and authentic Art Deco elevators (and their doors covered in wood marquetry) they are worth a little detour.
We then snaked our way into Central Park, mostly on Lexington and Fifth Avenues. We pass the famous Plaza Hotel (apparently just closed) and on to the southern end of Central Park, a masterpiece of landscape design and 850 acres of much-needed recreational space by famed landscape designer Frederick Law Olmstead. We only explored the southern end, including Dairy and Sheep Meadow, and headed to Central Park West with all its stately apartment buildings, including the Dakota Building, in front of which John Lennon was shot in 1980. Strawberry Fields Hillside Garden it was dedicated to his memory.
Everything is in bloom here right now, and New York City is definitely a few weeks ahead of Toronto in terms of the horticultural cycle. There was something in the air, and I had to sneeze like a hundred times, and at the end of the day we both had to take allergy medicine as we were both battling major hay fever symptoms.
Then, a short subway ride later, we popped back into Greenwich Village, a beautiful neighborhood of brownstone row houses, and enjoyed the atmosphere. We ended up at a nice little restaurant on 7th Avenue called “Pennyfeathers” where we had a lovely dinner on an enclosed porch so we could enjoy street life.
A couple of subway rides later we return to our temporary home in Brooklyn, where we throw ourselves into bed exhausted from all the walking, trying to catch up on some rest for the next day.