To start day two, we purchased coffees and wandered to the many riverside walkways for views of Manhattan. We had never stayed anywhere other than Manhattan on our trips to NYC, preferring to stay right in the heart of the action. But staying in Jersey City (and later Queens), we enjoyed the Manhattan skyline and were minutes away from via subway.

The first time we visited NYC the twin towers stood tall. The second time was after 911. So glad to see a new tower in this place.

But we were on the move again, dropping our bags at the Wyndham Midtown and deciding what to do with on an overcast day. I have long been fascinated by NYC and have taken many guided tours, wanting to see and learn about it all. It turned out that D had never experienced a double decker bus tour with the corny, wise-cracking  NY tour guides speaking over the tinny sound systems. So we were off on a quintessential tour of Manhattan.

You may not recognize the Empire State Building from this angle and without the characteristic spire in the photo. D and I had visited the building on one of our previous trips including views from the outdoor observation deck.

The spire of the Marble Collegiate Church caught my eyes with the Empire State Building spire in the background. Here is the history of the church cut and pasted from the churches website.

In 1628, four years after the founding of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, Reverend Jonas Michaelius arrived from Holland to organize what is now known as the Collegiate Church of New York, whose oldest remaining building is Marble Church. As the first ordained minister in New Amsterdam, Reverend Michaelius conducted the first worship service in a gristmill on what is now South William Street, when the entire population of the city was less than 300. The first church elder was Governor Peter Minuit, who had recently purchased Manhattan Island from the Native Americans. Peter Stuyvesant, Director General of New Amsterdam, led worshippers to Sunday service and would impose a fine on anyone who did not attend church!

When the British took over the city in 1664 and renamed it New York, they allowed the Dutch Reformed Church to continue its worship traditions. King William III granted the church a Royal Charter in 1696, making the Collegiate Church the oldest corporation in America.

The iconic Flat Iron Building. This is what I learned about it from Wikipedia.

The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story  steel-framed landmarked building located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, and is considered to be a groundbreaking skyscraper. Upon completion in 1902, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city at 20 floors high, and one of only two skyscrapers north of 14th Street – the other being the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, one block east. The building sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway and East 22nd Street, with 23rd Street grazing the triangle’s northern (uptown) peak. As with numerous other wedge-shaped buildings, the name “Flatiron” derives from its resemblance to a cast-iron clothes iron

The Woolworth Building

 Designed in 1926 by Cass Gilbert, who also designed the landmark Woolworth Building, the massive building, which was inspired by Salisbury Cathedral, rises forty stories to its pyramidal gilded roof and occupies the full block between 26th and 27th Streets, Madison Avenue and Park Avenue South, a rarity in Manhattan. The building stands 615 feet (187 m) tall and contains 40 floors. It was the last significant Gilbert skyscraper in Manhattan.

The building was completed in 1928 after two years of construction at the cost of $21 million. It combines streamlined Gothic details and distinctly Moderne massing. The gold pyramid at the top consists of 25,000 gold-leaf tiles

I have long been fascinated by the numerous water tanks on the roofs of Manhattan. This is how they came to be:

According to Kate Ascher, author of The Works: Anatomy of a City, as the city underwent vertical expansion in the late nineteenth-century, the need for technological innovation in the realm of water supply soon became evident. Prior to the escalation of skyscrapers and multi-storied buildings, the water would naturally rise to the height of six floors due to the natural pressure of the street mains system. However, with increasing urbanization, a solution quickly arrived — the rooftop water tank.

In short, the municipal water supply system delivers water to a basement pump which then sends the water to the roof. There, rings made of galvanized steel encircle the barrel and apply pressure in order to prevent leakage. Without any type of adhesive, these tanks can last 30-35 years.

Now you know too.

Of the numerous places we have stayed in NYC, our favourite is a brownstone in the East Village. We past through the hood on our tour.

We love the tree-lined streets and the low rise buildings.

We also love the fire escapes on Village apartments. I thought that this one looked like the exterior shot in Friends. See the similarity?

With the new World Trade Centre spire in the background, I love the contrasts to these in the foreground. Can you help me identify them?

The St. Paul Chapel Church that played such a key roll post 911.

I have never seen the New York Stock Exchange Bull look like the above image, only the way it looks in this image, crowded with tourists getting their pictures taken with it.

I am fairly sure that the image below is the Brooklyn Bridge but the Manhattan Bridge above also connects to Brooklyn. Is it called the Manhattan bridge?

We concluded the tour, headed back to hotel for a little break and then were off again to New Jersey to see our Winnipeg Jets play the Devils in their 2015/2016 home game opener. Jets won!

Kath’s quote: “It comes down to reality,  And it’s fine with me cause I’ve let it slide,  I don’t care if it’s Chinatown or on Riverside,  I don’t have any reasons, I left them all behind,  I’m in a New York state of mind.” –Billy Joel

Love never fails.

 

 

 

 

 

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