Momboisse Family Adventures New York City - Day Two Morning - Rockefeller Center and Central Park

Saturday, September 23, 2017
Day Two, New York City
Morning
tinyurl.com/yclyq8te 

Up early again we have much to see on our last full day in New York City.  A quick walk from our hotel Hyatt Centric to Bouchon Bakery on E 48th for breakfast.  

We watch from the bakery the taping of the Today Show with Sheinelle Jones, Craig Melvin, and Dylan Dreyer (back to us). 

Rockefeller Center 

The centerpiece of Rockefeller Center is 30 Rockefeller Plaza a 70 story skyscraper built in 1932.  It is formerly known as the RCA Building and the GE Building.

(The building is the setting for the famous photograph taken by Charles C. Ebbets, or some say possibly Thomas Kelley or William Leftwich in 1932, Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper. Fearless workers posed without safety harnesses 840 feet above ground.) 

The unknown workers of
Rockefeller Center, Time documentary. 

30 Rockefeller Center is centered behind a sunken plaza which contains Prometheus (1934) a gilded bronze 8 ton sculpture by Paul Manship. 

Art Deco icon Wisdom (center) with Light (right) and Sound (left) , created by Lee Lawrie, loom over the entrance to this main building of the Rockefeller Center.

 The promenade to Fifth Avenue is called the Channel Gardens named for the English Channel the body of water that separates England and France.  

The bronze statues and fountains that decorate the Channel Gardens were sculpted by Rene Chambellan. 

This view toward
Saks Fifth Avenue department store. 

At the entrance of 610 Fifth Avenue the La Maison Francaise (The French Building) of America & France by Alfred Janniot,

symbolizing the alliance

 between Paris and New York. 

From Fifth Avenue the French Building and British Empire Building line both sides of the Channel Gardens. (Hence the name Channel Gardens)  

I can't resist sharing this picture of my brother, sister, and mother at Rockefeller Center in 1967.  

We continue walking north on Fifth Avenue to Saint Patrick's Cathedral and 

light candles for our family.  

None of the photographs we took of the inside of the cathedral really did her justice.  But the following video by Curbed Tours does. 

  

When turning to leave the cathedral Atlas (installed 1937) is framed through the center glass window.  

The view from inside Saint Patrick's.  

It is as if Christ on the Crucifix
 is staring down the Greek Atlas.  

View from the street.

Corner of E 56th Street, and 5th Avenue,

Trump Tower,

  with heavy police presence.  

 The Apprentice was filmed on the fifth floor. 

Lobby often seen during the 2016 election season. This building was the Trump for President Headquarters as well as his primary residence.  

On the southeast corner entrance of Central Park is the Plaza Hotel.  This opened in 1907 and is a landmark 20 story luxury hotel and condominium apartment. It is currently owned by Sahara India Pariwar an Indian conglomerate.

Central Park 

On July 21, 1853, the New York State Legislature enacted a law to set aside 750 plus acres in central Manhattan to create America's first major landscaped public park.

Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and architect/landscape designer Calvert Vaux won the design competition in 1858. 

Their idea, the "Greensward Plan," began the same year.  The park was finally expanded to its current size in 1873.  

Our walking tour is about 4 miles and covers the southern end of Central Park.

We used googlemaps, and tinyurl.com/yclyq8te, a map we had created at home before our trip.  Using these tools we were able to see just about all of the sites we had planned on.  

 Inscope Arch 

The Pond

 Path to Gapstow Bridge 

Gapstow Bridge

Chess and Checker House 

The Dairy 

We missed the path to Central Park Zoo and the Delacorte Clock, ending up at the Balto Statue. 

Willowdell Arch to Literary Walk and The Mall

The Mall covered with American Elm

Friedrich von Schiller German Poet (Poet's Walk)

 to Terrace Bridge 

Bethesda Terrace 

Bethesda Fountain 

Loeb Boathouse 

The Ramble 

Bow Bridge 

Bow Bridge selfie with
 Majestic apartment in background.

Belvedere Castle was closed for renovation.
 We could not get any closer.  

Belvedere Castle from Central Park site 

Imagine 

The Dakota's 

Columbus Circle 

Next up our afternoon in Little Italy and walking the Brooklyn Bridge. 

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For an interactive map and guided walking tour covering many of our tours please be sure to download the GPSmyCity App from the iTunes store. The App covers an extensive library of articles and walking tours from over 470 cities worldwide, and now features articles from Adventures of a Home Town Tourist covering Carmel and Monterey (with more cities on the way).

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Photography and video (with iphone 5s) by L.A. Momboisse and R.M. Momboisse unless otherwise listed below:

Black and white photo "Men at Lunch" taken September 29, 1932 from the 69th floor of the RCA Building/GE Building Rockefeller Center - by Charles C. Ebbets (or Thomas Kelley, William Leftwich).
Picture of my family from 1967 taken by my father John Filippi.
Video Saint Patrick's Cathedral Curbed Tours
Color picture of Gapstow Bridge from Central Park site.
Black and white photo "Men Asleep" by Charles C. Ebbets (or Thomas Kelley, William Leftwich).
Belvedere Castle from the Central Park site.