NEW YORK CITY DAY THREE: Rockefeller Center, Museum of Modern Art And Others

This would be a day of both plans and spontaneity coming together. We set off from our hotel to check off some mid town landmarks like Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Center and try to get to Little Italy and Chinatown. With its grid system of numbered avenues and streets New  York is pretty easy get around and Collette became quite adept at it. One of the things we enjoyed about walking from destination to destination was all the little surprises we found along the way, like this sign-slash-sculpture outside an office building that I have seen in TV commercials and movies

You could say that this picture sums up how I feel about Collette. Yes, you may "Ahhhh" now

Radio City Music Hall, home of the "famous" Rockettes was a landmark we wanted to see. You can take a tour but as we approached the building, there was a long line up waiting to go in; it was a large group of young people waiting to go on the tour. And since one of us spends her entire day dealing with young people, we were happy to just take some images and check Radio City Music Hall off the list

The Hall is actually considered to part of the Rockefeller Center which is comprised of about 19 buildings in midtown Manhattan. Now considered a national monument construction on the complex began in the 30's and there are still many art deco flourishes

The Center is home to the NBC studios and the skating rink and the famous tree though that had already been removed; apparently Rockefeller was not a redneck .. you know, keeping the tree till Easter and the christmas lights on the roof all year long. The skating rink is home to some public art, the world's slowest Zamboni and the day that were there, an Asian angel complete with red fans

Rockefeller Center was a planned stop on our trip but the next site was not; across the street was St. Patrick's Cathedral, a beautiful church built in the mid 1800's

We just had intentions of snapping a few pics of the exterior of the church but as we stood there on the sidewalk they opened the doors to the public so we couldn't resist the opportunity to go inside. It is indeed a beautiful structure, huge and imposing in that Gothic style

This day was Thursday and another nice day weather wise. We knew that tomorrow, Friday, was supposed to be cool and rainy so we had planned to make that a day we would visit some of NYC's famous museums. A couple of them were north of where we were, on either side of Central Park but we were a couple of blocks away from the Museum of Modern Art, or MOMA, so we decided to do that check mark today.

Collete and I are both fans of Expressionism and MOMA has some truly fine examples of that painting style from Matisse, to Serault to Gaugin, Picasso and our favorite, Van Gogh. To stand in front of Starry Night, the actual canvas created by the artist is a very special experience and takes the work from an intellectual enjoyment to an emotional reaction

In addition to all the beautiful artwork inside the building, MOMA also features an outdoor courtyard where is collected many pieces of sculpture from equally famous artists such Picasso and Rodin and Max Ernst. 

After a couple hours getting our culture on at the MOMA, we set off in a southernly direction, ultimately heading for Canal Street which separates Little Italy from Chinatown. Of course, there was much to discover along the way. One of them was the Algonguin Hotel. Opened it 1902 it has been designated as  New York Historical landmark. It is famous as the location of the Algonguin Round Table where, in the 20's, drunks and writers of the day, sort of pre Bohemians, meant to rag on one another

New York is a city of neighbourhoods and it seems that every neighbourhood has its square. Each is a little different but they all gave you a sense of a meeting place, a communal space where locals came to meet, unwind and breathe in some moments of almost-quiet in the big city. 

Bryant Park hosts the main building of the New York City Public Library but we enjoyed it as a quiet sunny spot on this perfect March day. It's ornate Victorian fountain was operational, rare this early in the year

Collette and I are both fans of architecture, both Gothic and Victorian and Manhattan is filled with all of that. One of the building we wanted to see was the Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building. Completed in 1902, it sits on a triangle of land flanked by 5th Avenue, East 22nd St and 23rd Street. It was, for a time, the tallest building in New York City. Toronto has its own Flatiron building and it's lovely but this one was worth of its reputation

The Flatiron is part of Madison Square and this became one of my favorite park/squares in New York City. Established in 1847, it became a shopping/residential area in the 1900's and attracted the construction of many beautiful Victorian buildings

I loved the feel of this park, it was small but filled with trees and open paved spaces, fountains and monuments and most importantly: Filled with New Yorkers. Strolling, reading, kids playing, hustling, making music, performing tai chi ... A space made alive by those who use it

And yes, that last statue is indeed Andy Warhol.

From Madison Square we walked over to Little Italy. Still a bit early in the year for the area to be really humming and a bit early in the day as well. Too early for dinner but we stopped by this very atmospheric  authentic place to have coffee and cannoli. We were informed by a customer that this cafe was rather renown for its cannoli and we found it quite by accident; the renown is not misplaced.

Canal Street separates Little Italy from Chinatown and although our feet were beginning to fade on us, we decided to take a quick stroll there. Collette bought herself a purse, not a knock off but a bit of Hong Kong leather work.  Everywhere we turned there were little curbside stalls selling bags, umbrellas, fans and scarves

We found what I thought was a perfect example of NYC Chinatown street vending; they say every food is better served on a stick; how about octopus on a stick? Or chicken gizzards on a stick? Thank god that cannoli was so filling

It had been a long day and our dogs were protesting, as they say, so we took our first NYC subway trip home.