New York City, New York - Christmas

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At the Empire State Building

My employer gave me the opportunity to go to New York City for a week. My wife Catherine took vacation from her job to join me and we left on a Saturday so we could enjoy the city. As usual when I am trying to catch a flight I was in a hurry getting ready and this time I left my camera at home. This was a big disappointment because I had especially wanted to take some pictures for this site. Catherine and I caught a JetBlue flight from Oakland International Airport to JFK Airport in New York. I was again very impressed with JetBlue for having a clean airplane and good service. As I have said before, they have become my preferred airline for domestic travel.

We stayed at the Park South Hotel on 28th Street in Manhattan. After we checked in we walked to the Empire state Building that was just a few blocks away. I have been there before, but my wife hadn't and I wanted to show it to her. There was a long line and it took perhaps an hour of standing in line before we arrived at the observation deck. However it was a clear night and you could see the lights of the buildings in Manhattan all around you. If you have never been before, be prepared for the long lines, but it is well worth it. By the way if you are military in uniform you can bypass the lines.

Since I didn't have a camera with me, we purchased this picture of ourselves at the Empire state Building.

Lobby of the Empire State Building

I thought you said you didn't have a camera? More on how I got these pictures later.

Lobby of the Empire State Building

Empire State Building with red and green lights for Christmas

The next morning was Sunday and we had the entire day to explore New York City. We walked up to Macy's on 34th Street and the windows outside were decorated with Christmas scenes. In the windows along 34th Street were scenes from the 1947 movie Miracle on 34 Street with Natalie Wood. Sorry no pictures, I didn't have a camera yet.

We then went to a camera store and I purchased a Canon digital rebel XT. On another night Catherine and I took the camera back to the Empire state Building and that is how I got the pictures of the lobby and exterior. For most of my trips I have been using a Canon 35mm SLR and a Kodak Easyshare digital for backup. I was a slow convert to digital because I felt the picture quality was so much better with film than digital. I have found that the picture quality has improved dramatically and having digital pictures makes it much easier to share pictures over the Internet. I didn't have time to play around with the setting in the beginning and I just shot using the automatic functions.

Empire State Building from Macy's on 34th Street

This is one of the first pictures I took with the new camera.

We then caught a subway train to Battery Park to catch a ferry to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty.

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Ellis Island from the ferry

Statue of Liberty from the ferry

Another view of Miss Liberty

Catherine on Liberty Island with New York City skyline

Me and Miss Liberty

New York City skyline from Liberty Island

Original flame in the monument's lobby museum

In 1916 Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore, modified the Statue of Liberty original copper torch by cutting away most of the copper in the flame, retrofitting glass panes and installing an internal light. After these modifications, the torch severely leaked water accelerating corrosion inside the statue. A new torch with gold plating applied to the exterior replaced the original, which was beyond repair because of the extensive 1916 modifications. We took a tour of the Statue of Liberty and the Park Ranger told us that French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, who sculpted the Statue of Liberty originally wanted the flame to be gold with light on the outside shining on the flame and that is now how it is constructed.

Life size of the face of the Statue of Liberty in the monument's lobby museum

Life size replica of the foot of the Statue of Liberty in the monument's lobby museum

For more information on our trip please check out: New York City, New York - Part II.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy previous posts Amsterdam, Netherlands or Swiss Alps - The Schilthorn, or Baden-Baden, Germany - Bavaria.

Use the search box at the bottom of this page to find previous postings on London, Amsterdam, Japan, Germany, Austria, Yellowstone, New York, Boston, Switzerland, Alps, Plymouth Mass., Washington DC, San Francisco, Manila, San Diego or Quebec.

New York City, New York - Pictures at Christmas

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We have returned from our trip to New York City and Christmas decorations were going up everywhere. Here are a few shots until I have time to post more information.

For more information on our trip please check out: New York City, New York.
If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy previous posts Amsterdam, Netherlands or Swiss Alps - The Schilthorn, or Baden-Baden, Germany - Bavaria.

Use the search box at the bottom of this page to find previous postings on London, Amsterdam, Japan, Germany, Austria, Yellowstone, New York, Boston, Switzerland, Alps, Plymouth Mass., Washington DC, San Francisco, Manila, San Diego or Quebec.

New York City, New York - Christmas - Part IV

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Bryant Park

An outdoor ice skating ring at Bryant Park. Bryant Park is Midtown's only major green space. America's first World's Fair, the Crystal Palace Exhibition, was held here in 1853-1854.

My employer gave me the opportunity to go to New York City for a week. My wife Catherine took vacation from her job to join me and we left on a Saturday so we could enjoy the city.

The Josephine Shaw Lowell Fountain at Bryant Park

My wife recognized this fountain as the one shown on the TV series "Friends". I don't remember ever seeing the show, but later when we were at home, we watched to see if we could see the fountain and we did. Josephine Shaw Lowell is the first woman to be honored by a major monument in New York City, was the first female member of the New York State Board of Charities, serving from 1876 to 1889.

The Pond at Bryant Park

Empire State Building in red and green lights for Christmas

A scene from Bryant Park with the Empire State Building decorated for Christmas in the background.

William Cullen Bryant

Bryant worked as a lawyer in Northampton, Plainfield, and Great Barrington until 1825 when he married and moved to New York City and worked for the New York Review and then the New York Evening Post. At first an associate editor, he became editor in 1829 and remained in that post until his death. As the driving force of this liberal and literate paper, he was strongly anti-slavery.

Bryant was a lifelong political activist, initially as a proponent of the Free Soil Party, and later in life as a founder of the Republican Party. He was a fervent supporter of Abraham Lincoln's presidential bid in 1860.

Bryant died in 1878 of complications from an accidental fall. In 1884, New York City's Reservoir Square, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue, was renamed Bryant Park in his honor.

Christmas lights in Manhattan

Christmas wreath in Manhattan

Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the City of New York

The Dutch Reformed Church was organized among settlers from Holland in New York City in 1628. In 1664, the colony passed from Dutch into English hands with an approximate membership of 10,000. They were all situated in New York and neighboring states. By the terms of surrender the Dutch were granted "the liberty of their consciences in divine worship and in church discipline".

Corner store near our hotel

This is the little corner store near our hotel where we went to pick up fruit and snacks during our stay in New York City.

View of Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry

One night we took the Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island just to see the skyline of New York city. There is no charge to take the ferry, so it made for a nice an inexpensive treat.

New York Stock Exchange

When we left the Staten Island Ferry, we walked through the Wall Street area headed to Greenwich Village.

Site where George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States

On the balcony of the Senate Chamber at Federal Hall on Wall Street. General Washington was unanimously elected President by the first Electoral College, and John Adams was elected Vice President because he received the second greatest number of votes. The new President gave his inaugural address before a joint session of the two Houses of Congress assembled inside the Senate Chamber.

Christmas decorations were in many of the buildings in Manhattan

Famous Wall Street bull

Sculptor Arturo Di Modica, who created the famous flared-nostril, 7,000-pound bull that sits in the heart of New York's financial district in lower Manhattan. The bronze sculpture is one the world's best-known symbols of American capitalism and one of the biggest tourist draws in the financial district.

Greenwich Village restaurant "Home"

Using Frommer's New York City for Dummies book, we found some great restaurants, including this tiny place in Greenwich Village simply called Home. Catherine had a signature pork chop served on a bed of homemade barbecue sauce and I had a filleted-at-your-table brook trout. Both were excellent dishes.

Greenwich Village was once a rural hamlet, entirely separate from New York, its street layout does not coincide with most of Manhattan's more formal grid plan. This has resulted in a neighborhood whose streets are dramatically different in layout from the ordered structure of other parts of town. Many of the neighborhood's streets are narrow and some curve at odd angles. Unlike most of Manhattan, streets in the Village typically are named rather than numbered. It was fun for us to just walk around the Village.

Shop window in Greenwich Village

United Nations Building

Isaiah Wall in Ralph Bunche Park

It is sometimes incorrectly stated that the famous "beat their swords into plowshares" passage from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 2:4) is inscribed on a wall at the U.N. headquarters building. In fact, the inscribed Isaiah Wall is in Ralph Bunche Park, a New York City municipal park across the street from the U.N.

For more photos of New York, please check out my previous post: New York City, New York – Part III.

For more information on our trip please check out: New York City, New York V.

Use the search box at the bottom of this page to find previous postings on London, Amsterdam, Japan, Germany, Austria, Yellowstone, New York, Boston, Switzerland, Alps, Plymouth Mass., Washington DC, San Francisco, Manila, San Diego or Quebec.