Day 2 - The Business District and MORE

We started by taking the subway to Manhattan and then walking to Ground Zero. It looks like a giant construction site; not very interesting.

We then visited Trinity Church.

The first Trinity Church building, a modest rectangular structure with a gambrel roof and small porch, was constructed in 1698. The church was destroyed in the Great New York City Fire of 1776. The fire that started in the Fighting Cocks Tavern destroyed nearly 500 buildings and houses and left thousands of New Yorkers homeless.

Construction on the second Trinity Church building began in 1788; it was consecrated in 1790. The structure was torn down after being weakened by severe snows during the winter of 1838–39.

The third Trinity Church was finished in 1846 and at the time of its completion its 281-foot spire and cross was the highest point in New York until being surpassed in 1890 by the New York World Building.

Architectural historians consider the present, 1846 Trinity Church building, designed by architect Richard Upjohn, a classic example of Gothic Revival architecture. In 1976 the United States Department of the Interior designated Trinity Church a National Historic Landmark because of its architectural significance and its place within the history of New York City.

We did not actually go in the church but instead marveled at the really old grave stones.
Died in 1796!

Grave stone for 8 children.....sad.



They really do have a lot of Yellow Cabs in NYC!


Next we walked up to Wall St. and looked at the New York Stock Exchange. They have a guard at the door so there is no way you can peek inside. Bummer.


Then, like every good tourist, I had my photo taken with The Bull.


The other end may get even more attention.


We visited the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House which was built by the federal government to house the duty collection operations for the port of New York. It is located near the southern tip of Manhattan, next to Battery Park, at 1 Bowling Green.

The building is now the home of the New York branch of the National Museum of the American Indian as well as the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

The building was designed by Minnesotan Cass Gilbert, who later designed the Woolworth Building, which is visible from the building's front steps. The selection of Gilbert to design the building was marked with controversy. Until 1893 federal office buildings were designed by government architects under the Office of the Supervising Architect of the United States Department of the Treasury. In 1893 the Tarsney Act permitted the Supervising Architect to hire private architects following a competition. The Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor picked Gilbert who earlier had been his partner at the Gilbert & Taylor architect firm in St. Paul, Minnesota. The scandal never quite blew over and in 1913 the Act was repealed.

It was constructed between 1902 and 1907. It is a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style, where public transactions were conducted under a noble Roman dome. It incorporates Beaux Arts and City Beautiful movement planning principles, combining architecture, engineering, and fine arts. Lavish sculptures, paintings, and decorations by well-known artists of the time, such as Daniel Chester French, Louis St. Gaudens and Albert Jaegers, embellish the facade, the two-story entry portico, the main hall parallel to the facade, the Rotunda, and the Collector's Reception Room. Sculpture was so crucial to the scheme that the figure groups had independent contracts. Above the main cornice are standing sculptures representing the great seafaring nations, representing American seagoing commerce as the modern heir of the Phoenicians. In 1936, during the Great Depression, the Works Projects Administration commissioned murals for the main rotunda from Reginald Marsh.

We took the Staten Island Ferry (which is free) so we could get a look at the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.

The route.

Looking back at the business district.

Lady Liberty herself!

View of the deck we were standing on.

Inside the ferry.

At the ferry station on Staten Island we saw some pigeons that had come inside to beg. The pigeons are everywhere in NYC and they are fearless and hungry all the time. We just got back on the ferry and returned to Manhattan.

Then we walked to Time Square. Now you would think that what basically amounts to an intersection could not be THAT interesting and you would be wrong. It is really amazing. It has an energy, like it’s always a holiday year round.

Here is the Times Square police station……so cute. Looks like a donut shop don't you think. Maybe that is no coincidence?!

You can see the darnedest things in NYC.

For dinner, we went to Grand Central Station and dined at the Oyster Bar.


The place seemed to be trapped in time and we were transported to 1959. I had the She Crab Soup and it was divine.




Finally we ventured into Macy's Flagship store at Herald Square. The place is enormous and they have some really cool old wooden escalators.


We took the subway home and I slept like a log despite the street light and constant noise coming in the window and the fact that I was on a strange leather sofa in a strange apartment. I was just completely exhausted.