New York City

Thursday, October 16th, Pier 81 to  Beekman Towers -- The weather is clear and cool.  Our Lyft driver fearlessly navigated the busy, congested streets, opting for the less traveled numbered streets to get us to the Beekman Tower on the east side, near the UN.  Happily, the apartment was ready for us and we got to check in.  We have a living room, with a dining area, a small kitchen, a normal bedroom and a bathroom.  Our apartment is in an auxiliary building next to the tall tower; it is only eleven floors high.  We are on the 7th floor, in the southeast corner, and there are only 2 apartments on this level.  We have almost a private elevator.  

After unpacking, we ventured out on a volkswalk route, which started at Bryant Park (next to the Public Library).  It ran around "mid-town" and passed within a block or two of the United Nations complex, which is where we started (East 49th and 1st Avenue). The route first went north a bit, then west around Rockefeller Plaza, then up 6th and 5th Streets to Central Park, west along the south end of Central Park to Broadway, and then up to Lincoln Center.  We stopped in at Lincoln Theater to check on whether tickets might be available for Ragtime.  They were and Betsy bought a pair for the Saturday matinee.  We left the center and returned to Columbus Circle and stopped for a snack at Tartinery Cafe.  After lunch we walked Broadway to Times Square and then east to Grand Central Station.  At this point we had had enough and returned to the apartment, after walking 7.6 miles (mostly through crowded sidewalks).

The Beekman Tower, an Art Deco masterpiece from the 1920s.

The MetLife Building behind the Grand Central Station complex, from the middle of Park Avenue.

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Inside of St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was quite busy -- they hold Masses 6 times a day during the weekdays. 

Rockefeller Plaza and the statue of Atlas.

Ditto, the famous skating rink.

The site of the annual Christmas Tree (on a very special manhole cover).

The Portland Trailblazer statue, part of some sort of NBA/NBC promotion.  There was a decorated post and ball for each NBA team.

Around the corner, past the NBC studios, we passed by the Radio City Music Hall.

Midtown Manhattan.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.  David Koch Theater (ballet), the Met (opera) and Geffen Hall (NY Philharmonic).  The Lincoln Theater is to the right, in between the Met and Geffen Hall. 

The Juilliard School, next door to Lincoln Center.

The Tartinery Cafe at Columbus Circle.

The view from our table at the Tartinery Cafe, with the Columbus Statue in the middle.

Times Square.

The Algonquin Hotel.

New York Yacht Club - note the ship sterns as the lower part of the window trim.

We rested up a bit before leaving for the 7 pm showing of the musical Bueno Vista Social Club, at the Schoenfeld Theatre on West 45th.  We stopped at the Vanderbilt Market for an early dinner, which was full of groups of young office workers drinking.  We had a Greek bowl, full of great stuff before strolling to the theater.  We filed in to the theater along with over 1000 others.  The performance was great with a simple plot line (revolving around an actual Cuban band from the 1950s), great music, and lively dancing.  The singing was all in Spanish and it rocked the house.  The piano players (there were two of them) were very skilled, as were the flutist and the lead guitarist in the band.

Main set for the musical Bueno Vista Social Club.

After the show, we walked back to the apartment passing by Times Square at night.  It is brightly lit with the multitude of jumbotrons, advertising all manner of stuff.