New York, New York!

I've dreamed of going to New York since I was in grade school and had to sing Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" for choir. The perfect time to go was when I lived in Saratoga Springs, NY. I took a train all the way to that bustling city. If you've never been there, want a refresher on what it looks like, or just want to see my perspective of the city, come with me to tour through some of it.

Passing this under-construction bridge while on the train.

The train experience was new to me too. The West Coast doesn't have many trains, especially not in rural areas like where I'm from. There were a couple of different carts on the train. One was a "quiet" cart, where people wanted to sleep. The other option was one where people could talk and have conversations. I took the latter; however, it was about five in the morning, so no one was really talking on that one either.

I arrived early in the morning at Penn Station, although this picture was taken later in the day. This was  my first view into the city. The Empire State Building, and all of the huge advertisements everywhere. Even though it so early in the morning, the city was buzzing with people. 

The first place we went to was Times Square, but I didn't take any photos. It was just so busy, and there was an extremely prevalent amount of advertisements in your face. Pretty overwhelming to say the least. None of the stores were open yet either due to it being so early. My husband and I ended up just standing and people watching, which was the best part of the trip, but that's not me saying this trip was boring. There's a reason there's a Humans of New York chapter on the internet. It was fascinating to see the hustle and bustle from the people of the city. Businessmen and businesswomen running to work, vendors coming to life, people in the streets trying to sell me a variety of random stuff. I've been to a lot of cities, but New York is the most alive and personal one I've visited to date.

The above photo is of a park we found to do more people watching. I loved the vines growing on building - being incorporated with it.

 

That wasn't the only place I saw Earth being incorporated with man-made structures. Here were some trees planted on top of a building. It gave me Singapore vibes.

 

The park I was at was called Bryant Park. I saw this statue of Gertrude Stein, who is most well known as an American novelist. 

"Gertrude Stein

1874-1946

By Jo Davidson, 1923

Bronze Cast, 1991"

Behind her, you can see these tall, antique-looking buildings. A lot of times I've only imagined New York to be new and slick, so this was a good reminder of its history. I'm happy they've kept it alive.

A statue of who I'm assuming this park is named after, William Cullen Bryant, an American poet and journalist.

"William Cullen Bryant

1794-1878

'Yet let no empty gust

  Of passion find an utterance in thy lay,

A blast that whirls the dust

  Along the howling street and dies away;

But feelings of calm power and mighty sweep,         

Like currents journeying through the windless deep.'"

I wanted to put these two photos next to one another to compare the architecture of old versus new. I personally like the old better, but the new is pretty exciting too.

Here is the Empire State Building up close and inside. It was the tallest building in the area, and it felt like I could see it from every place I went to. The golden plaque was glittering to see. Although, they wanted $30 each to go to the top of the building, so my husband and I decided not to go. $60 to go to the top of a building? I mean, come on. 

Another angle seeing it. It popped up everywhere I went. 

I walked for miles all around just this one section of the city. I only had the day there so I didn't get to see Lady Liberty or Central Park. I did get to eat locally though, and see their famous wax museum. At the end of it, I found myself back at Bryant Park relaxing. It felt a lot less busy after their lunch rush, and probably less busy than Central Park would have been. 

If it feels like this blog is all over the place, it's because I was all over the place in New York. Just staying in the general area of Times Square, there was so much to see. The one place that was the "home port" for the day was Bryant Park. Up above is a random street. Surprisingly, this street probably had less people than others. Looking at the architecture, you can see the incorporation of old and new buildings.

One of the cooler shots I got that day. It was an exquisite, smooth, modern building. Imagine, in there there's hundreds of tiny offices. 

The Macy's store was enormous. It had multiple floors, and the outside was decorated in an ancient Greek/Roman style. I didn't think I'd ever see Macy's so classy, but they really incorporated the storefront with the building around them. Nifty. 

Here was the Garden. It was right next to Penn Station. Around this area there was a bunch of small restaurants and a food court. I got a very tasty smoothie from this place. 

You can see this art piece in my third picture on this blog. I was closer to it here, but this was the same block as Penn Station, the Garden, and the food court. This art piece was titled the "Human Structures" by Jonathan Borofsky. It's a human pyramid structure, and according to the artist himself,  “It’s humanity connecting together to build our world." He actually wants people to climb about inside the structure and essentially become a part of the art piece.

This was the last piece of art I saw in the area, before I went back home. It's the Mirrored Teardrop Sculpture on Plaza #33, created by Richard Hudson. I love this photo because it represents what I saw at New York the best. On the left is the glossy, modern architecture that defines New York in the present day. On the right is the classical, old architecture that takes me back to the Great Gatsby era of New York. And in the middle is a gleaming, steel piece of art, with my husband and I taking a picture of it. 

This picture sums up my time in New York - people, buildings, art, design, food, and me on an adventure through it all. While I didn't get to see a gloss over of everything in New York, I did get see the nooks and crannies of one beautiful neighborhood from it. My advice to any readers who decide to go visit - you can get caught up in the chaos of the city and have fun, but take time to sit, breathe, and watch the people, buildings, and art around you. There's so much to see, and it's worth it to look.