...BUT STILL EXPLORING

Online this morning, I stumbled onto photos of a transit hub called the FULTON CENTER down near the Financial District.  It had been rebuilt at a cost of one billions dollars, twice the original estimate. One feature is the thousand aluminium panels which reflect light down into the building.

A security guard inside told us the renovation was to make it relate more to the buildings around it and one part was "...a reference to the Sydney Opera House."

"Sydney," I said.  "We are from Melbourne."

"Ahh, Aussies.  Aussie, Aussie, Aussie," to which I replied, "Oih, oih, oih!"

This guard recommended we also visit the High Line and when I retorted it was the FIRST thing we did on our FIRST DAY, he was pleased and offered his hand to me for a HIGH FIVE.  He told us one stipulation was the rail tracks remained in place in case it was ever required to run trains there in the future!

The inside from street level is circular, with the circular dome above, all glass, chrome, clean and modern.  

Unlike most subway stations where you have flights of stairs, the Fulton Center has escalators and also a glass sided lift to transport passengers from the street level concourse down the the subway level.

We think this, a block along on street level, is the Sydney Opera House reference.  Work is still proceeding here.

But in walking closer to it, it was Robert who noticed we were right outside Century 21, a department store suggested to me by my good friend Barbara.  So in we went for a nosy around.

I think you know you have been travelling a while when the sight of really fresh food gets you excited.  This deli was close by and offered an amazing range of dishes.

We returned to the subway and headed back uptown to 23rd Street to check out Gramacy Park, mentioned in many novels.

Turns out this is the last private park in Manhattan and, being broad daylight, we were not tempted to scale their black iron fence, a la Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, in Notting Hill.  Grammy Park is ALSO the name of the neighbourhood this snooty green rectangle is set in.

So we walked the boundary, cursing softly at the lucky few inside.  Apparently, so I now know, a key to the park comes with certain local residences and is a highly prized status symbol.  These photos are all we could enjoy.

The streets surrounding the park are narrower and there is a general feeling of an upmarket neighbourhood.  It has those canvas covered walkways to the curb and doormen, plus shade trees along the streets.

We opted to stroll back to the hotel, down Park and then Lexington, where lower than 28th Street, we found a real "Little India" with many Indian restaurants, at one point five side by side, plus Indian supermarkets and sari shops.

Later in the afternoon, we headed out again.  Catching our M34 cross town bus with the aplomb of locals, we still had to walk a few blocks when the bus turned right before our intended destination.  

We saw in a car park these three promotional cars for Red Bull parked nose to tail.

Today at 1.00 pm the Mayor of New York opened the first new subway station in TWENTY FIVE YEARS, here on the corner of 34th Street and 11th Avenue.

 The ceiling of the main area after you enter and take the escalators or stairs down before you enter the turn styles features this colourful mosaic.

This escalator ride from under the mosaic takes 90 seconds to reach the lower concourse, which runs at right angles and has a series of flights further down to various platforms.  No chewing gum stuck in the floors.  No stale, smelly atmosphere.  Still new!

Here is one set of steps, with a matching set leading from the right side, and a train has just pulled into the platform.

 Above are photos of the market, just on the corner of our block.  The tall brown building to the left is our hotel.  Diagonally opposite are these huge apartment buildings where I have never seen anyone out on their balcony.

I wandered down to our tiny hotel foyer tonight, where they offer free wine each evening between 5 and 6.  Once again I was lucky enough to engage in pleasant conversation with fellow travellers.  Rod and Maxine are retired and from Sydney, then a mid 30s couple from Barwon Heads (he lived in Karingal Drive, Greensborough as a kid.

Small world!

To finish our day we dined near our hotel and toasted a great holiday.

 Then passed a sports bar on the way home, complete with two giant blow up football players out the front!

So, Jan from the 'Bool, how did we go on our last full day?

SLOWING DOWN

What do Hilary Clinton, New York Mayors Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani,Tea Leone, politician John Kerry and us have in common?

We have all eaten at Villa Berulia, an Italian-Croatian restaurant one block from our hotel.

 My appetiser was a tasty avocado, crab and shrimp mousse.  I tried Robert's vegetable soup and it  was superb.

 I then had an Italian  white fish, whilst Robert enjoyed spaghetti and meatballs.  We shared a slice of flour less chocolate cake and were impressed when it arrived on two separate plates, each garnished with a strawberry.  Fudgy, velvety delight.

We chose a bottle of wine and at one point, Robert innocently refilled our glasses.  The owner was passing and pounced on him,  "Let me do that for you.  Sorry for our service."  Soon after, we were told they wished to proved an after dinner drink.  When we finished two glasses of Frangelico on ice appeared.

 How beautiful the Empire State Building looked from outside the restaurant.   But back to this morning.  This piece of street art is right outside out hotel.  So this morning, especially for Ross and Wayne from HLG, Robert posed by this artist.

 Now we are so proficient with the crosstown bus system, we crossed the street to catch the M34 crosstown a few blocks to Macy's.  The tall building in the centre of the photo is our hotel, Affina Dumont.

Delanie would love this floor of Macy's at the moment.  For someone who loves Christmas, this would be overload!  At the stage, most of the decorations were in traditional colours, but there were unfinished trees behind screening still to be revealed.

 One thing I have noticed is this plaques on buildings, revealing surprising moments of history.  This was near Macy's so I think still on West 34th Street.

 In our rambling this morning, down a narrower street, we found completely accidentally this shop, THE CITY QUILTER.  You have to be buzzed in.  Luckily there was a chair inside the front door so Robert could sit whilst I wandered the rows of fabrics.  I didn't make a purchase, despite looking longingly at all the bolts of fabulous fabric.  Nothing really sprang out at me, so I contented myself to just gaze.

We were headed to the Chelsea Flea Market, which sounded exotic in the free New York booklet handed to me outside the Metro station last night.  In truth, there may have been bargains there, but Robert said he didn't want to touch anything in case it jumped at him.  We decided that at a flea market you might catch fleas.  Not our thing.

Virtually next door to the car park where the flea market was set up was the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral.  As the door was open, I wandered in.  In was a dark and calm place, formerly a church a another denomination which explained the stained glass windows.  This is apparently not uncommon.  On the Tenement Museum tour, our guide explained as the Irish Catholics moved in they took over the church buildings of the Protestants who were moving uptown.

 The dark interior was lit only by this large light fitting.

This large stained glass feature was high up at the rear of the church.  There was a recording of religious music playing, with those soaring female voices, so serene!

 The alter area at the front had the gold icon paintings we associate with Orthodox churches.

A little further up the street, set in a tiny intersection area, was this pop-up food venue, lots of tiny stalls with an amazing range of food options around the outside, facing in.  In the centre were some table and chairs.  It was crowded, being lunch time.

We crossed the road and sat in Madison Square Park a while.  Some people use the park to cut diagonally across; others sit on the benches a while.  The grassed areas were fenced off with signs the lawn was being rested.  Where we have occasionally seen the odd squirrel bobbing about, this park had a dozen or more scampering around.  They were quite tame as some people were even hand feeding them.

We wandered back to the hotel and I gratefully sank into bed for a long afternoon's rest.  We walked over 10,500 steps today.  But we are slowing down.  Nearly time to come home.