Wandering Around New York City

After visiting the World Trade Center, we walked all over Lower Manhattan in New York City.  A couple of blocks from St. Paul’s Church is Trinity Church.  This is the one featured in a recent Hollywood blockbuster film.  Interestingly enough, the original was built in 1697 then destroyed in the Great Fire in 1776, the second church was built in 1790 and later damaged by a heavy snow storm in 1838 and later demolished to build the one standing today and dedicated in 1846.  It is still an active parish with regular services and community outreach.

A brief history of Trinity Church.

Trinity Church is currently undergoing some structural reconditioning.

Trinity is the burial place of Alexander Hamilton, his wife and her family, and many other people from the time of the Revolutionary War.

A few blocks south of Trinity Church is the Bull of Wall Street, although it seems that it’s on Hollywood Boulevard and not Wall Street.  It’s also nearly always heavily occupied by tourists that want their photo with different parts of the bull. Go figure, right?

Just around the corner from the Bull is the old Custom House which is now the Native American Cultural Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institute.

Across the street is Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty.  It was amazing and awesome to see Lady Liberty.  

Coming out of the subway in another part of the city, the first building I saw was this one, that looks like it has a helipad next to the penthouse suite.

Just down the street is the Empire State Building.

Another subway ride away is Times Square.

The saxaphone player on the left was jamming out some hot jazz, so we stopped there for a while to listen.  It’s crazy how many people are in Times Square.  It reminded me of the crowds in Zion Narrows.

Looking for a place to enjoy lunch, we found Bryant Park.  It has a nice pavilion for concerts, several cafes and a great view of the City Library.

Somewhere along the way near Central Park I found one of the oldest operating Jewish Synagogue in the country.  

I had a great time in New York, but this was just a stop over point to Paris and Normandy.

Enjoy,

Kelly

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July 2, 2019 by Kelly Guymon Photography Categories: landscape, new york, PhotographyTags: Alexander Hamilton, battery park, Bryant Park, freedom, history, Images, Manhattan, Narrows, Native American museum, New York City, New York City library, Recreation, revolutionary war, Smithsonian, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Travel, Travel and Tourism, trinity church, Wall Street Leave a comment

A Different Perspective: NYC

Growing up and living in the desert Southwest where the tallest things you see are mountains and desert in between, it’s hard to fathom anything else until you actually see it for yourself. I’m on my way to Normandy for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, and I was able to have a 36 hour layover in New York City. I pent the day yesterday with my traveling companion wandering around Manhattan sightseeing.

On arrival at JFK airport, the terminal was filled with rows of American flags and all the military branch flags as a tribute to our military. It was impressive and heart warming.

After breakfast at the airport, we looked for the subway station nearby. According to the transit app, it was was within walking distance. Turns out it was a 20 minute bus ride and 2.5 miles away. It was a 45 minute subway ride to downtown Manhattan. There was a guy sleeping on the bench across from us, and at one point another person got on the subway with a large subwoofer blaring rap music. I thought that only happened in the movies. Our first stop was the 9/11 Memorial (photos coming soon). Before we got there, this guy presented us with a tour package to see the local “attractions” of the 9/11 Museum and Freedom Tower Observation Deck. Turns out, it costs $35 to get in the museum and $45 for the observation deck. He offered us a pack of both for $57 each. I don’t know how many hundreds of people were there experiencing these two venues, but someone is making a boatload of money off of this tragedy.

Nearby the memorial is Trinity Church (more in another post) and it’s currently being renovated. Actually hundreds of buildings in Manhattan are getting renovated right now. Also, nearby is St. John’s church that survived the 9/11 attack.

I’ll do another post on St. John’s Church after my trip, along with Trinity Church.

Walking around in a large city sometimes the strangest things can appear around a corner. Take for example a parking garage. A vertical parking stall, actually.

Not sure how this works, but I can only guess.

Do you remember Sesame Street on PBS? And the song how to get to Sesame Street? Well, I found it! It’s near the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts.

In our wanderings, we came across Strawberry Fields in Central Park. It’s interesting that it’s a designated quiet zone, because it was anything but quiet. Hundreds of people were there getting their photos and selfies of the Imagine memorial, and a guy was there playing a guitar singing Beatle’s songs (he wasn’t that good either).

I got other photos of Strawberry Fields, and I’ll be making another post later on it as well.

We’ll be doing more sightseeing today before our flight to Paris tonight.

Enjoy,

Kelly

June 2, 2019 by Kelly Guymon Photography Categories: landscape, new york, PhotographyTags: 9/11 memorial, Central Park, Freedom Tower, JFK Airport, Manhattan, New York City, Sesame Street, St. John’s church, strawberry fields, World Trade Center 2 Comments