It is an absolutely wonderful feeling to wake up in a fabulous hotel in the middle of time square in the heart of Manhattan, it was a glorious way to start day number two of our Broadway get a way. We began our day by going down town with our superb tour guide Jim. The tour began at the flat iron building. Upon completion in 1902 it was one of the tallest buildings in New York, and was also considered to be one of the first skyscrapers ever built! The flatiron building was designed by Chicago's Daniel Burnham thus it epitomizes the Chicago School conception thus it is different then it's contemporaries that are just blocky forms rising up in huge towers. The building was originally named The Fuller Building after George A. Fuller, who founded the company but the public kept referring to it as the flatiron building because of its shape and design that its name was officially changed. When viewing it from the street I didn't understand that flatiron nickname, I don't know maybe I'm slow or something but when I saw an aerial view it all made sense, thus I included an aerial picture, and no I did not take it.
Then we headed deeper downtown and came to St. Paul's Chapel. Established in 1766 it is Manhatten's oldest public building still in continuous use, it also witnessed the great fire of 1776, and played host to George Washington on inauguration day. It is situated directly across from the world trade centers and was the only building in the area that did not have on broken window, if found that to be rather amazing.
Me and Dad in front of George Washington's pew
Next we spent a long time at ground zero, talking about what happened, what it was like to be in New York at the time and what the plans are for the future. Our tour guide was giving a walking tour at that time and actually saw the second airplane hit the towers, I can't imagine what that would have been like. Above is the new plan for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, they are going to rebuild all seven buildings as well as a monument with an impressive fountain to honor that day and all who were in the buildings. Below is what towers one and two are going to look like.
The last stop of the tour was at a New York artist's studio! Oh how exciting! Her studio is located in the same building where Martha Stewart films her TV show! Doubly exciting! As you can tell the artist we visited is a Modern artist, her trademark pieces are pieces of metal that she shoots bullets through, yes a very interesting concept, this neon green piece is entitled bride's maid and goes along with a similar piece in white called bride, the names play off the idea of a shot gun wedding, I thought that was clever and a little bit funny.
This is her, she was a very nice soft spoken lady that loved to paint and loved creating art, behind her is some of her more traditional and original art work. I am always so fascinated and intrigued by the texture of oil paintings such as this one, it takes all my will power not to run my fingers across their canvases.
She had a marvelous catalog with some of her installation art in it, this one was my favorite, it is one of her bullet hole pieces installed in nature, its so beautiful how it reflects the different seasons.
After the tour we had a free afternoon dad and I decided to go to the Top of The Rock to get the best view of the bustling city of Manhattan. That city just amazes me! There are sooo many buildings, it looks like a lego land city from up above, it is simply mind boggling, but fascinating and central park is so beautiful, especially dotted with a few fall colors.
I took this picture first of all becuase that is the ball that drops every new years, such a TV celebrity, and also to locate where time square is in the crazy chaos of buildings. After we almost gone blown away on top of the Rock, we came back down to real life and visited all the famous Rockefeller landmarks. We happened to be at the right place at the right time and got to see a wedding party burst through the doors of an exquisite cathedral across the street! I love weddings! They are always so happy! I thought the bride looked amazing and her dress was gorgeous so I paparazzied a little bit to document her beautiful dress.
Tonight for dinner we dined at Becco (which means to Peck in Italian, thus their logo is a cute little chick) it was super good! Mom and I got their unlimited pasta special which consists of three delicious pastas, that night they had pumpkin ravioli, a pesto with green beans and a rigatoni with shrimp! All were delicious and they had servers walking around with huge bowls full of them and whenever you wanted more of either type of pasta you would just signal to a waiter and they would fill your plate with deliciousness! Then I got the house special for dessert, cannolis!
That night we saw A Little Night Music, with Bernadette Peters. Well lets just say we wouldn't recommend this one to anyone, total downer, no good music, kinda awkward at times just not a winner. Bernadette did a good job though but that is really the only good thing I can say about it. Wa Wa Wa
wow this trip just keeps getting better!. that food also looks great.
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