As you know, I've been to NYC many times before, so this wasn't really a trip to do something new, it was simply to enjoy the city and most especially, its Christmas decorations, which are really quite lovely. It was very cold while I was there, which did limit the amount of time you could spend outdoors, but the good thing was there was very little snow, so at least I could wear shoes when I was outside, and didn't have to clunk around in boots.
Always wonderful for its Christmas decorations, here are a few from this trip:
Along 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas)
The Empire State building
Bryant Park, one of my most favourite places at Christmas in New York
The fountain in Bryant Park, getting more and more frozen each day I was there
Rockefeller Centre
The sound and light display on Sak's Fifth Avenue
And of course you have to see the Christmas windows at Macy's
Some time spent in Saint Thomas Church (Fifth Avenue) was a treat as I got to hear their men's choir. The current Saint Thomas Church is actually the fourth church for this parish - the third church, which was on the same location, suffered a devastating fire in 1905. The current building was completed in 1913 and is built in the French High Gothic style. It was a magnificent reredos, one of the largest in the world.
Something else that I really love to do when I'm in New York City is to walk the High Line. The High Line is a 2.33km long elevated linear park, created on a section of a former New York Central Railroad spur. It's on the west side of Manhattan, running from 34th Street down to Gansevoort Street (south of 14th Street). One impact of the High Line has certainly been the revitalization of this part of Chelsea, and in some cases, some very famous architects have designed projects that are directly adjacent to the park. Since the last time I was on the High Line, this is a new building by Zaha Hadid which has just been constructed.
Something else I love about the High Line is the art work. There are both permanent art installations as well as temporary exhibitions, so no matter when you go there's always something new to see. Mutations is the exhibit on right now, an open-air group exhibition that explores the relationship between humans and nature, looking at how the boundaries between the natural world and culture are defined, crossed and obliterated.
SPHINX JOACHIM by Marguerite Humeau
L'Avalee des avales (The Swallower Swallowed) by Jon Rafman
the floaters by Henry Taylor
Amulet by Jumana Manna
Salamanderbrunnen by Viet Laurent Kurz
A splash of red from a little holly bush along the track
This is a mural painted on the side of the building at the end of the High Line
After walking the High Line I hopped the subway and headed down to the World Trade Center. St. Paul's Chapel was originally built in 1766 and the original building still stands although it was renovated in 2016 in celebration of its 250th anniversary. St. Paul's Chapel is sometimes called "the little chapel that stood" having survived New York's Great Fire in 1776 and also the attacks of 9/11. Though the World Trade Center buildings collapsed just across the street there was no damage to the church.
The new World Trade Center will eventually be comprised of six towers, a 9/11 memorial and museum, a mall, a transportation hub, a parking lot, a park, a church and a performing arts venue.
The exterior of the World Trade Center transportation hub, has been dubbed "the Oculus". This glass and steel structure was designed to look like a dove in flight. Inside, is a transportation hub for the Port Authority Trans-Hudson, abbreviated PATH, a rapid transit system serving Newark, Harrison, Hoboken and Jersey City as well as lower and midtown Manhattan, and a mall which is now the largest shopping complex in Manhattan.
The 9/11 Memorial, Reflecting Absence, is comprised of two 1-acre pools with the largest man-made waterfalls in the United States. These two pools are on the footprints of the Twin Towers and symbolize the loss of life and the physical void left by the attacks. More than 400 swamp white oak trees fill Memorial plaza which surrounds the two pools.
The names of 2,983 victims are inscribed on bronze parapets on the memorial pools. The names of the employees and visitors in the North Tower (WTC 1), the passengers and crew of American Airlines Flight 11 (which struck the North Tower), and the employees and a visitor of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing are around the perimeter of the North Pool. The names of the employees and visitors in the South Tower (WTC 2), the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 175 (which struck the South Tower), the employees, visitors and bystanders in the immediate vicinity of the North and South Towers, the first responders who died during rescue operations, the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 (which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania) and American Airlines Flight 77 (which struck the Pentagon) and the employees at the Pentagon are around the perimeter of the South Pool.
One World Trade Center - also known as "The Freedom Tower"
One World Trade Center with 7 World Trade beside/behind it
Liberty Park is a one-acre elevated public park at the south end of the World Trade Center and overlooks the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. It is located above the Vehicular Security Centre.
And now for another walk through Times Square. Although it was actually quite late at night you'd never guess that from the number of people!
As wonderful as all of this sightseeing was, the main reason for my trip this time was to see Bette Midler in Hello Dolly at the Shubert Theatre! Amazing, Amazing, Amazing!!!!!
Yes I was there - and above is my "wine glass" from the theatre, which was filled to the brim!
