Rockefeller Center and The Dakota, Day 3, Part 2Rock

We still wanted to see Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall and the Dakota, so we headed back to midtown to see them before leaving.  

First thing we saw off the subway

Times Square by day

I found it ironic to see the Fox News van in font of the ABC building.

We tried to find the Ed Sullivan Theater and the Hello Deli, but we were unsuccessful.  We might have looked longer if not for the heat and our determination to see the Dakota.

Rockefeller Center

I could not find a way to to get a picture of the full height of the Rockefeller Center building.

We returned to Times Square to catch the subway.  It was here that we asked for directions to the right station from a police officer.  We walked a few feet from him and found a man standing there with a huge piece of cardboard around his neck that said, "I just need to get high."  Very amusing.

We returned to the subway for our ride back to Central Park.  We visited Strawberry Fields again and then walked over to the Dakota.

the entrance -  The little boy and his nanny or mom were waiting for an older sibling to arrive on a bus from a camp.

really pretty light fixtures

I have read online that some find it morbid to take pictures at the entrance given the fact that John Lennon was killed there.  We really didn't see it that way.  He lived there, and the building is really a beautiful work of architecture.  John Lennon is not the only famous person to have lived there, though Andy is a fan, and we visited it because he lived there.

We still had one more thing to see, but we needed twilight for it, so we headed back to the apartment for an afternoon break and dinner.

China Town and Little Italy - Day 3, part 1

July 19, 2013

I awoke on our last day feeling raunchy.  I thought the day was shot, and with children from China, Chinatown was still left on our "must see" list.  Fortunately, Andy had medication that worked, but our start to the day was delayed.  Then we stepped on the subway-wrong train.  We successfully maneuvered the subways for two days, and then took all kinds of wrong trains on Friday.

In our attempts to get to the right place we exited a subway station right in front of a CVS, I ran in and bought clips to pull my hair up off my neck.  It was so hot during our entire trip.  Before we left, it looked like there was a chance of showers on Friday.  They never materialized, and Friday was the hottest day of our trip.

When we finally made it to Chinatown, we struggled with finding the right streets, and I was ready to just be finished.  However, we eventually found our way.

I found this building to be interesting.

Chinatown is very Americanized but yet very similar to actually being in China when bartering with shop owners.

street names in Chinese and English

This screams China to us.

A fresh fruit stand allowed us to buy fresh lychee fruit for the family.  It is very rare for us to get lychee fruit in our area.

Little Italy resides next to Chinatown, and that was also a "must see" on our list.  In reality the two areas tend to bleed into each other with Chinese people working the shops in Little Italy.

I have no idea what it is called, but we ate at this restaurant, and it was our nicest NYC meal.  It was our only meal in a sit down restaurant and very tasty.  We topped it off with an Italian Ice for Andy and a pistachio gelato for me.  YUM!!

We liked the Italian flag painted building.

I confess that I returned to automatic mode on my camera.  The day was so hot and bright that I could not find the right settings for the pictures.

More to come...

20 years ago today...

The Brooklyn Promenade, Day 2, Part 3

Nikki suggested the Brooklyn Promenade months ago, so we added it to our "must-do" list.  I highly recommend that anyone visiting NYC check it out. 

On our walk from the subway station, we enjoyed the beautiful homes of Brooklyn Heights.

We checked out the Promenade, shot a few pictures and then looked for a place to grab a carryout meal that we could enjoy while watching the sun set on the city.

We walked a couple of blocks and found a place where we could get falafel sandwiches.  However, upon entry into the shop, we found the owner in a heated altercation with a customer.  She tried to get him to physically throw her out of the store.  It was ugly, so we stepped out and went next door for some Italian Ice while we waited for things to settle down.  Upon our return, the customer was gone, but the shop owner was struggling to calm down.  We took our sandwiches and left.

I think the night photography class paid off in some good shots of the Promenade. How do I know?  Well, I tried manual and automatic settings on my camera, and the automatic pictures were not good.    Interestingly, while on the night tour, we mentioned our plan to visit the Promenade.  Our guide confirmed that it was a very good place to take pictures, and we ran into one of the other group members while there.  He was thankful for the tip.

I plan to enter a photograph or two in the state fair this year.  I think one of them will come from these pictures.

You can also see the Statue of Liberty at the Promenade. However, she is far enough away to make getting a photo difficult.

This was the most relaxing part of our trip.  We sat, took tons of pictures and just hung out for a while.