New York City - Day 2
USA
Distance 37km Climb 240m
Saturday 16 December 2017
After another good breakfast, at the Room Mate Grace Hotel. We started our day by turning left, east, from the hotel. Then turning right on Sixth Avenue and walked a couple of blocks to Bryant Park. It was only a short distance to the Geocache site, "Brit in the Park", snow still covered the site. Following the hints I could not find the cache, due to the snow my hands turned cold almost frozen. I didn't want to use my gloves in case I missed or moved the cache. Never mind I would look again later on.
Walking back through the park towards 42nd Street, we passed the fountain which was partially frozen.
On 42nd Street we turned right, east, towards Grand Central Terminal, stopping off at the Banana Republic on the way. Didn't see anyone tap dancing.
Anne had a look at the Christmas Fair in the Grand Central Terminal. Eventually we left the Terminal walking back onto 42nd Street.
Walking east I knew there were a couple of Geocaches in the area. So we took a left, north east, turning up Third Avenue followed by a second right down 44th Street. I followed the hints for "Don't Overlook It" but could not find the cache.
Continuing down 44th Street the United Nations Headquarters was directly to our front. No national flags were flying, it was the weekend after all. We turned right down First Avenue.
Walking right one block I saw the details of another Geocache, "A Stair with a View", so we crossed the road and climbed the stairs to Tudor City. When we arrived someone was at the top of the stairs so I had to hang around before I could start looking, unfortunately this was another cache I could not find.
Returning to First Avenue we turned left, north east and walked up by the United Nations Buildings.
There are a number of interesting looking sculptures in the grounds of the UN that we could see as we walked passed.
From First Avenue a right up 49th Street, a left onto Second Avenue then another right onto 50th Street. After a few blocks this took us to St Bartholomew's Church.
Crossing Park Avenue and Madison Avenue we had reached St Patrick's Cathedral.
From walking along quite streets, here there were crowds coming down West 50th Street and moving up and down Fifth Avenue. It was very crowded.
Diagonally opposite St Patrick's Cathedral is a very British looking building despite the three large Stars and Strips hanging from its flag poles. It has the British Royal Coat of Arms above the door on Fifth Avenue. Three Lions are above a door on W 50th Street, not shown on any of my maps the internet shows it as the British Empire Building.
Following a visit into St Patrick's Cathedral we came out of a side door onto Fifth Avenue. Turned right down 51st Street and turned left onto Madison Avenue. A few blocks later we turned left up E 56th Street towards Trump Tower. As you can imagine it had a lot of security.
Back on Fifth Avenue we turned right to enter Trump Tower, after a security check we had a ride up the escalators as far as we could, just to take a few photographs. Over the top for my taste, but we had to have a look. At the rear of the Tower is an open covered courtyard Obica where we had a short rest, a cake, a coffee and started planning our next part of the day.
After our break we left by an exit on 57th Street and turned left, Anne spotted Tiffany & Co. So of course we had to go in. The place was packed, I never saw anyone buy anything. I could not see any prices and there was not a lot of stock on display.
To me the best thing on view was out the window across the street.
Leaving Tiffany & Co on Fifth Avenue we turned right, heading towards Central Park. Passing the William Tecumseh Sherman Monument.
We were heading towards The Frick Collection on East 70th Street. There were a couple of painting by Hans Holbein Anne had always wanted to see, Sir Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell.
After The Frick Collection we returned to Fifth Avenue and turned left, south west. On our way we passed this memorial.
I knew there was a Geocache near here, so after a little bit of wandering up and down the street we entered Central Park on a footpath just before 65th Street Traverse.
From the directions I had I almost walked straight to Geocache "Carpe Diem #5". To me an easy find, which I recorded.
Feeling on a high we set off to find another Geocache site on the other side of Central Park. The path was very slippery what had been snow the previous day was now ice so we had to take care. We passed a statue of Balto, Balto was a sled dog who led his team to help deliver diphtheria vaccine to children in Alaska in 1925.
Walking through Willowdell Arch, under East Drive.
We reached The Mall and turned right, where we had to check out a few of the stalls.
At the top of The Mall we turned left along Terrace Drive.
At the bottom where Terrace Drive joins West Drive, I knew we were near the Geocache site. Taking the bridle path that parallels Terrace Drive up towards the Majestic Apartments I found and recorded the cache "Riftstone." Brilliant, doing so well I though I may get another site before it got dark.
Following the bridle path south west we came across The Green Visitor Centre. People were dancing in one of the large rooms.
Following the directions to Geocache "Dinosaur Train Velociraptor." We walked under the 65th Street Traverse.
After a good look around I could not find it. It was very dark now, we were tired and hungry so I had to leave it. We started back south west in search of food.
Walking down Central Park West we arrived at Columbus Circle. A large complex to our right drew us in, but we could not find anything to our taste.
Leaving the Circle we walked down Eighth Avenue looking for a place to eat. A quick look up 56th Street and we came back to Eighth Avenue. Where we found Luigi's Gourmet Grill. After a lovely meal at Luigi's we felt refreshed and continued south west down Eighth Avenue. The streets were now full of people, pushing and shoving against us. We had caught the crowds leaving the many theatres in the area.
Trying to get passed the crowds we turned down 49th Street, where it was a little quieter.
A little more right and left, some streets were busy. By strange coincidence we found ourselves looking for a bar. All the bars like the streets were packed with people, after all it was Saturday night, what did we expect. As there would be no pleasure in standing in a crowded bar, after being on our feet all day, we decided to return to the Room Mate Grace Hotel.
We were tired after all, so was a good idea. Today my watch had recorded we had walked 37km with a 240m climb. On top of that I had found two of the six Geocaches I had been looked for. I am not sure if I will write tomorrow up as a walk on my blog. I will just wait and see.
More to follow
Boz North
Details correct at time of walking.
If you have enjoyed reading my walk or found it useful you may also like to read other walks I have done in New York or other areas. Please check out the links on the right hand side.
Follow link to New York City, Day 1 15 December 2017.
Follow link to New York City Day 3 17 December 2017.
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