NYC 2013 Part 3

It's been a busy few days and I haven't had time to be in blogland much! I've been "running the roads" as they say - for four days straight - two trips upriver and two weekend visits to friend's cottages. It was so darned hot and humid we had to get out of town to try and cool off a bit! I hope it was cooler wherever you are! Laura was home for one day - the last she'll be home for almost a month. We were doing errands and trying to do some trip planning and organizing for Prague. Busy busy...  But now, let me tell you a bit more about my NYC visit...

After the High Line, we strolled up through Chelsea until we reached the Flatiron Building which occupies the triangular "island" where Broadway crosses Fifth Avenue at 23rd Street. I had seen this building before but never up close, and I wanted a closer look to appreciate its facade. Originally it was to be called the Fuller Building (for the Fuller Company that built it) but because of its shape it
quickly became known as the Flatiron and the name stuck. It is only 6.5 feet wide at its "prow"! Completed in 1902, it was the tallest building in NYC at 22 storeys, until it was dwarfed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. building several months later. Many at the time thought high winds would blow it over. Because of its shape and the open expanse to its north at Madison Square Park, the wind currents around the building could be treacherous, hence the other nickname for the building, "Burnhams Folly." (Burnham was the architect.) Many were critical of its design...
As one of  the iconic New York City buildings, it is still a popular draw for tourist's photos, but it's also a functioning office building, home to several publishing companies. I was fascinated by its detailed terra-cotta facade, with classical ornamentation. Such workmanship!
With your back to the Flatiron, looking up Fifth Avenue, you can easily see the Empire State Building, 10 blocks to the north.

From Madison Square Park we walked south on Park Avenue to Union Square and strolled through the popular Green Market which is held three days a week. Here you can buy fresh vegetables, flowers, cheeses, baked goods, etc. It was filled with interesting sights, including this colorful fellow. How do you like his hairdo? Areas of his head shaved, with red spots painted on his scalp... unfortunately you can't see the lovely green stripe he was sporting on his scraggly beard.
I bought some fresh green peas in the pod from a vendor, they were so sweet and good. I love fresh peas in the summer - such a good snack...
From there we wandered east along 14th St. and ended up at Stuyvesant Square. I recall the name Stuyvesant from Edward Rutherfurd's novel - Petrus (Peter) Stuyvesant came to NYC in 1647 as the  Director-General of the New Netherland colony for the Dutch West India Company. At that time, NYC was called New Amsterdam. After wandering a bit more our feet were telling us it was time to call it a day so we jumped in a taxi to get us back to our hotel at Times Square. Warning: Some nudity ahead, stop reading now if you are easily offended...

Times Square! Now there's an interesting area! You never know what you will see. From the Naked Cowboy and Naked Cowgirl (who both should have retired "a few" years back, IMHO!!) to buskers, mimes, "painted ladies", artists who will sketch your portrait or caricature in minutes or do a cityscape with spray paint, and just about every "character" you can think of.. We saw Mickey and Minnie, Elmo, Puss in Boots, Hello Kitty, Smurfs, Batman, Spiderman, Woody, Lady Liberty, Elvis and many more.. Passing through Times Square cannot help but be entertaining, so to speak. Day or night, it's exciting and you can  always feel the pulse of the city there.

That's all for now. I will do one more post on NYC covering the Broadway Shows we saw and the rest of our trip. I am a little behind, and so busy these days. I worked on this post for several hours last night and just as I was about ready to hit "publish", I hit the wrong key and lost the whole thing.. Grrrrr...
I hope to do a Wildflower Wednesday post later today. Stay tuned...

Peace,
Linda

New York.. the city that never sleeps...