Momboisse Family Adventures New York City - Day Three - Mass, Tours and Embarkation

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Day Three, New York City
Mass, Gray Line Bus Up Town, & Ferry Tour
Embarkation Crown Princess

First up 

an early morning walk  

through Rockefeller Center 

 to 7am Mass 

  

at St. Patrick's Cathedral. 

After Mass we have two Gray Line Tours scheduled before we embark on our cruise. 

UpTown Tour 

New York's finest in Times Square. 

Our bus tour starts near The Knickerbocker at W 42nd and Times Square. This luxury hotel was built in 1906 on property owned by businessman JohnJacob Astor IV.  The martini was said to have been invented by the hotel bartender in 1912.  After Astor died on the Titanic in 1912, his son Vincent Astor inherited the hotel. 

Central Park Carriage Rides

Balducci’s (Food Lovers Market) is located in the six-story stone base of Hearst Tower.  Completed in 1927 this was designed by architect Joseph Urban for William Randolph Hearst's headquarters.  The 46 story glass tower was added in 2006, and is still Hearst headquarters.  

William Tecumseh Sherman Monument 

Columbus Circle 

Lincoln Center 2017 

Lincoln Center 1967 

On the west side we pass The Dorilton, a luxury residential housing cooperative, built between 1900 and 1902 in the Beaux-Arts style.  

The 72^nd Street Station, which opened in 1904, is one of  the few remaining original control houses from the early days of the subway. 

The Alexandria, condo built in 1991, in Postmodern style with Egyptian motifs.

Ansonia Hotel constructed between
 1899 and 1904 in the Beaux-Arts style. 

The Dakota (1 W 72nd Street), built between 1880 and 1884, is considered to be one of Manhattan’s most prestigious cooperative residential buildings.  When it was built this area was sparsely inhabited and considered quite remote.  

John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved into the building in 1973. John  was murdered outside the south entrance in 1980.  

Bronze sculpture of Ben Franklin standing on the steps of the New York Historical Society.  

American Museum of Natural History 

West-Park Presbyterian Church,
Romanesque Revival style
 165 W 86th Street

Gothic Revival style
Catholic Church of the Holy Name of Jesus
 207 West 96th Street

Cathedral of Saint
John the Divine (Episcopal)

Columbia University
(W 116th Street and Amsterdam)

Rear of St. Paul's Chapel (Episcopal)
 on Columbia University.

Riverside Church (interdenominational), Columbia University Morningside Heights Campus. Notable speakers at Riverside Church: Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, Cesar Chavez, Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela.  

Tomb of the 18th President

of the United States, 

 Ulysses S. Grant, Riverside Park. 

From Morningside Heights our tour heads east on W 125^th Street which is considered the “Main Street” of Harlem and co-named Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.  

We pass the Catholic Church
of Saint Joseph
 and the Holy Family, and  

the Apollo Theater.  

Our tour turns south on Malcom X Blvd. past

 Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist Church, 

 some sweet brownstones, and 

Malcom Shabazz Harlem Market. 

From Malcom X Blvd we head over to 5th Avenue via 116th Street to East Harlem. 

At Central Park and 110th Street we arrive at Duke Ellington Circle where a great balancing act is taking place - Mr. Ellington and his grand piano perpetually supported on the heads of nine caryatids.  

Continuing along 5^th Avenue to the Upper East Side we find ourselves on the Museum Mile passing the Museum of the City of New York at 103^rd Street, Jewish Museum at 92^nd Street, Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design at 91^st,

Guggenheim Museum at 88^th, 

 Metropolitan Museum of Art 

from 82^nd to 86^th Streets, and 

Temple Emanu-el. 

  

Our tour turned right at 59th past the Plaza Hotel and headed back to the Times Square area. 

Ferry Tour 

After checking out of Hyatt Times Square and saying goodbye to our favorite pub O'Lunney's 

we were on our way to Pier 78 where we would catch our final tour of New York City on the Grey Line Ferry.   

We rolled our suitcases on board
grabbed a seat to rest awhile.

Heading south down the Hudson looking toward Manhattan,

flanking Pier Sixty foreground are new architecture 551 West 21st and 100 11th Avenue condos in Chelsea. Visible in background Chrysler Building and Empire State Building. 

On the right is The Standard High Line a luxury hotel in the Meat Packing district at Pier 55.  We walked this area on the High Line. Interesting to see from this perspective.  

The skyline of the southern tip of Manhattan as seen from the Hudson River shows modern additions juxtaposed with older architecture.  Here the residential neighborhood of Battery Park City is backed by One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower), 3 World Trade Center, and 4 World Trade Center. 

Museum of Jewish Heritage

Wagner Park and Ritz Carlton Battery Park

Pier A Harbor House on the Hudson

Rounding the bottom of Manhattan we are now on the East River passing a seamless array of 20-century office buildings: One New York Plaza (built 1969), 125 Broad Street (built 1970), 55 Water Street (built 1972), 

One Financial Square (built 1987), and Citibank Building (built 1968). Two tall buildings flanking One Financial Square in the background are 40 Wall Street (also known as the Trump Building - completed in 1930), and 70 Pine Street (built 1932).  

To the right of Citibank is the "wedding cake" architecture of 120 Wall Street (built in 1930) and New York by Gehry, (8 Spruce Street) built 2011 - which is one of the tallest residential towers in the world. 

At the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge is the Manhattan Municipal Building (completed 1914) and Verizon Building (completed in 1975 and renovated in 2016). 

The red brick buildings located between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge, are the Alfred E. Smith public housing complex.   

After crossing under the Manhattan Bridge

our ferry turns around and 

docks at 1 Water Street, Brooklyn by Jane's Carousel. From here it is 2 miles to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.

Five years ago we thought nothing of rolling our suitcases two miles to our destination. At our age it is time to call a taxi - except for the last 1/2 mile.  

We made it!!!! 

Time to get settled for our first night on the Crown Princess.  Our best selfie with the Statue of Liberty in the background.  

We enjoyed our first dinner on board and then took coffee back to our cabin (this would become our nightly ritual while cruising).

to watch sunset, 

 and the sail away   

under the Verrazono-Narrows Bridge.

Tomorrow Newport, Rhode Island 

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