
New York
2003
Just
after my Paris Chelsea Tour in May 2003, I flew to New York to meet with
Tom while he was there doing a trade show. We were there until the end of
May. Unfortunately it rained a lot while there, but that didn’t stop us.
This was the first time I had visited NY and wanted to see a few things
that were important to me to visit.
We
stayed in a wonderful hotel called the Warwick. We were on the 33rd floor
and had a corner room which gave us great views of both 54th street and
Avenue of the Americas.
Our
first day out was a walk through a bit of the city heading towards Central
Park. The buggies were everywhere. This year is the 150th anniversary of
Central Park so this is a park that has seen many changes and grown to
become a beautiful place to walk and enjoy the trees and plantings. In the
park there is the Central Park Conservancy garden run by the Central Park
Conservancy. Their mission is to restore, manage and preserve Central
Park, in partnership with the public, for the enjoyment of present and
future generations. There is a picture there of a sign that you can read
for more information. We enjoyed walking around the six acre formal
gardens. NY is proud of this park and the people use it from everything to
jogging to just sitting and listening to the birds.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
Next we
were off to the New York Botanical Gardens – a National Historic
Landmark and a garden that you must see when visiting. It houses the
country’s largest Victorian crystal palace and was a joy to visit.
Filled with unusual tropical and desert plants, and just outside the
doors, the Museum of Modern Art had sculpture around the water
gardens…just a delight to visit!
Some
pieces of artwork I took pictures of:
Pablo Picasso, She-Goat 1950
Auguste Rodin, Monument to Balzac 1897-98
Aristide Maillol, The River 1943
Auguste Rodin, St. John the Baptist Preaching 1878-80
There
is a beautiful building with a fountain in front of it (also a
close-up of the fountain) that houses the Ross Lecture Hall and
Mertz Library. The walkway up to this building is lined on both
sides with the Tulip Tree. The train you see is the one we took from
the NYBG to Central Station.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
The
following pictures are self explanatory, and as we approached this
area could only feel a sense of sadness. No one spoke, just looked
at the site and looked at the pictures and notes. I had the same
feeling when we visited the memorial in Washington D.C. A profound
sense of sadness and silence.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The
next picture you see is of course the Statue of Liberty on a wet
day. Mist and rain, and very quiet walking the streets. This is
Battery Park and the only people we met this day were out walking
their very wet dogs. Other pictures show parts of the walk along the
way to the ferry to take us over. Castle Clinton is where you get
your tickets for the ferry and of course there is security to go
through, plus the Statue is closed to visitors. We could only walk
around her. I was stunned as the size. It does not matter what you
see in a picture, seeing it in person is an awesome experience.
From
there the ferry takes you to Ellis Island and again I was awestruck
at the size of this place and the history behind it. The hall is all
tiled and the acoustics were incredible. We stood on the second
floor balcony in the center and the sounds of our voices carried
through. I could only imagine what it must have felt like, being a
new arrival to a new country, so tired and apprehensive and excited
about a new beginning.
London
Plane trees are planted everywhere here and were in very good shape.
I took a picture of our ferry so you could see what that looked
like. As you can see by the pictures, this was our very rainy day,
but somehow, I felt it was in keeping with the things that we were
visiting.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
Other
shots include the Sphere (with a sign to read), the U.S. Customs
house by Battery Park, an odd shaped building by City Hall (I liked
the shape of it), the Bull down by Wall Street, New York Stock
Exchange (which has been closed to traffic since 9/11 and has seen
24/7 police security), statue of George Washington in front of the
Federal Building, Church, two pictures of Tom’s favourite building,
the Federal Reserve (just look at the size of those doors!! and the
security is very tight around this area), St Pauls Chapel with its
huge memorial, pictures of City Hall Park, a huge black and gold
building that people liken to a radiator. The last two pictures are
that of Bryant Park, a wonderful respite that sits just behind the
Library and where up to 8,000 people a day take advantage of it to
have their lunch or just sit. It is run by a private not-for-profit
company and just shortly after I got home discovered that the
Library will provide rolling trolleys of books that people can
‘borrow’ to read and then return.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The
next set of pictures are from the Empire State Building. We had
tried the day before but there was zero visibility and thought we
would try again as this was our last day here before heading to New
Jersey. We were in luck. The two cone shaped pictures are those of
the very top of the building. It was a fantastic view, even for
someone who is not that comfortable with heights! You could catch
glimpses of roof top gardens and since it was also Navy Week, we got
a chance to see some ships that were docked.
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
Next I
have some pictures of Rockefeller Center with its beautiful gardens,
a hot dog vendors corner (where we had our obligatory NY hot dog),
Radio City Music Hall, and a couple of pictures showing the street
and avenue from our hotel room.
We are
now in New Jersey and Tom is at his trade show…I just wanted to
include this wonderful little cat car…too cute! Oh, almost forgot to
mention that we also made stops at Bloomingdales and Macys for a bit
of shopping! Tom found a wonderful little teddy bear (I collect
them) with the Macys logo and a rose on it…fitting reminder of a
wonderful trip.
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|