Previously on “Glen Meets Manhattan”…
Glen recovered (albeit painfully and slowly) from his hangover. Witnessed the neighborhood of Harlem, Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History. Glen also witnessed the beautiful wonder that is the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.
The question now is weather or not Glen can survive venturing out into Manhattan on all by him self!
You see, on Sunday, December 9, Andy had to head up to Albany for his brother’s graduation and I was left on my own to venture through the bustling borough of Manhattan. So, was I up to the challenge?
You better believe it!
I started the day early (around 9ish) by taking the N train and transferring to the 7 train at Queensborough plaza. I managed all that by my self without getting lost! I arrived in Manhattan… at the Grand Central Terminal. Absolutely beautiful! There were so many train and subway tracks and platforms. The large interior space inside was truly an amazing sight. It was still busy even on a Sunday morning. I took a moment to have breakfast there mimicking Holden Caulfield in “The Catcher in the Rye”.
From there I walked uptown on Park Avenue… and then I turned around and began to walk uptown for real when I realized the streets were declining in numbers rather than increasing (!)… one of the few times I got disoriented that day. I worked my way back over to the Rockefeller Center to look at the big Christmas tree again. This time I got a little bit more “up-close” and got some pictures of the Prometheus Sculpture and Ice Rink.
I then headed a few more blocks uptown to the Museum of Modern Art. This place was an incredible experience. I saw several impressionist and post-impressionist paintings that have become famous. Beautiful! A special exhibit of Seurat’s drawings, including a series of paintings that he made before completing his famous “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” were on display. I saw my first Picasso! I saw many works from Monet and Matisse. And the big one for me… I viewed Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. Such a beautiful painting! I did not spend too much time viewing the other 2 floors of works (there’s about 6 all together). I wanted to continue and see more of the city.
With that done, since I was in the neighborhood I headed back over to the Bryant Park Christmas Village to do some Christmas shipping. After that I got on a subway and headed downtown to the Financial District, getting off at Wall Street. I wanted to get a feel for what it would be like to be walking through the “concrete canyons” of the city where there is concrete, glass and steel sky scrapers of hundreds of feet on both sides of you as you walk at the bottom on a concrete and pavement covered street. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. I located the New York Stock Exchange and Trinity Church. I headed cross town to the former World Trade Center site.
As you emerge from the financial district towards Ground Zero you suddenly see this wide expanse of skyline in front of you that is completely empty and seems rather out of place. This is where the towers would have been. My interest in the events of September 11 is very extensive so being there to see it first hand and up-close was a noteworthy experience for me. It just hits me very hard to see the large scale of the damage. There is not much of a memorial yet, but the whole area is a construction site at this point. I took the time to navigate around the entire area and take pictures when ever I could. I can not imagine being there on those streets on that dreadful day. A particularly good viewing area (as suggested by our tour guide on Friday’s cruse) was the Winter Gardens at the World Financial Center.
After viewing Ground Zero, I headed down to Battery Park. There I found the sculpture that was previously located in the courtyard between the Twin Towers. The sculpture was recovered from the ruble in badly damaged condition and put on display in Battery Park with an eternal flame as a part of a memorial. From the park I was also able to view the Statue of Liberty in the distance.
By this time I was feeling cold, tired and a little sick. I headed back uptown towards the Christmas village in Columbus Circle to do some more shopping. With a headache and an increasing feeling of sickness… I grabbed dinner and headed back to Queens. I collapsed on the couch and watched football for the evening!
So that concludes my 3 part series on my experiences in New York City. Awesome experience! I want to go back and do all the things I missed and do some things all over again!
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