SUBWAY ART

New York subway stations have some great art especially the Times Square/42nd Street station.

Placed amid the subway tiles lining the halls, is Times Square Times: 35 Times by Toby Buonagurio, 35 colorful ceramic sculpture tiles.  Here are three I really liked:

For photos of all 35 ceramic sculptures, click here.

Of course, one of the most famous works of art is the 53-foot long mural, Times Square Mural, by Roy Lichtenstein, a gift to the city in 1994, but not displayed until 2002.

For more information about this mural, click here.

All photos in this post were taken by me during my trip to New York City in September, 2012.

A QUIET SANCTUARY AMID THE BULLS AND BEARS

In the middle of the financial district of lower Manhattan, where Broadway intersects with Wall Street, is the beautiful Trinity Church.

In 1697, a little over 70 years after the Dutch settled in New York as a trading post known as New Amsterdam, Trinity Church was granted a charter by King William III of England.

Designed by American Institute of Architects co-founder Richard Upjohn, the third, and current, church building was consecrated in 1846. This church building is one of the first and finest examples of Neo-Gothic architecture in the United States. The Gothic arch design can be seen in the repeating arches, vaulted ceiling and arched stained glass windows. The stained glass along both sides of the nave is considered to be some of the oldest in the United States.

Above the entrance, a visitor can see the new virtual pipe organ that was installed in 2003 after the dust, ash and smoke of September 11th rendered the previous pipe organ unusable.

  

In 1976, Queen Elizabeth II was presented with symbolic "back rent" of 279 peppercorns on her historic visit to Trinity Church.  A plaque on the entrance floor commemorates her visit.

Among the gravestones of the churchyard is the tomb of Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury.  His face appears on the $10 bill.  In the photo below, his tomb is to the far left, large white marble with the urn-like structures on the corners and the flat-top pyramid on top.  Also buried in this churchyard is Robert Fulton, inventor of the steamboat.

Trinity Church is located where Broadway intersects with Wall Street. For travel information and hours of operation visit the website here.

All photos in this post were taken by me during my trip to New York City in September, 2012.

9/11 MEMORIAL

Following our visits to Liberty and Ellis Island we came back to the tip of lower Manhattan to visit the 9/11 Memorial.

Before leaving for our trip I had booked our visitors passes at the 9/11 website. Admission is free to the 9/11 Memorial, but passes are required. (I see a $2.00 service fee is now charged for passes booked through the website or via the telephone; this was not the case when I booked our passes in September, 2012.) There are also passes for same-day visits on a first-come, first-serve basis. These passes are not subject to a service fee, and must be obtained in person at the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site at 20 Vesey St.

A view of 1 World Trade Center from the visitor's entrance...

After showing our visitor's passes we zigzagged in line back and forth, turned right around the corner of the construction zone, turned left around another corner of the construction zone and finally turned right again into the memorial site.

You can see this while zigzagging through the line...

The memorial was designed by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker.  Their design was chosen from an international competition of over 5,200 applicants from 63 countries.

The memorial, opened on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, consists of two pools set where the twin towers originally stood. 30-foot waterfalls (the largest in North America) cascade into the pools which descend into a center pool.  Inscribed around the edges of the pools are the names of all who died on September 11: here, the Pentagon, the airplane that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania plus the six victims of the February 26, 1993 bombing.

The North Pool...see part of a victim's name.

The South Pool.  The Memorial Museum is the silver building on the left. The building under construction in the background is 3 World Trade Center.

The photo below gives a better view of the Memorial Museum and you can see how the victim's names are inscribed on the edges of the pools.  The museum was supposed to open on September 11, 2012, but disagreements surrounding the project’s financing caused construction delays.  I have read where it will hopefully open on September 11, 2013.

The Survivor Tree is a pear tree that was planted in the original World Trade Center plaza in the 1970s. It stood at the eastern edge of the plaza near Church Street. After the terrorist attacks, workers found the damaged tree, reduced to an 8-foot-tall stump, in the wreckage. The tree was nursed back to health in a New York City park and grew to be over 30 feet tall, sprouting new branches and flowering in the Spring. In March 2010, the tree was uprooted during a thunderstorm, but true to its name, it survived.

In December, 2010, the Survivor Tree was returned to the World Trade Center site. Just another chapter in the story of survival and resilience that is so important in the history of America.

Visit the 9/11 Memorial website here to learn more.

All photos in this post were taken by me during my trip to New York City in September, 2012.

ARRIVING IN THE USA THROUGH ELLIS ISLAND...

Over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through Ellis Island, the nation's chief gateway between 1892 and 1924. Today, over 100 million Americans can trace their ancestry to the immigrants who crossed this island before traveling the further destinations throughout the country.

After visiting Liberty Island, the ferry made a scheduled stop at Ellis Island Immigration Museum.  Due to time constraints we were not able to spend much time here.

I love the black and white photographs that are displayed in the museum. They give you an idea of all the people of different nationalities who believed that the United States was the "Land of Opportunity".

Everything they own lies in these trunks...

Unfortunately Ellis Island is currently closed. It suffered major damage from Hurricane Sandy. There is no current date when it will reopen.

  

All photos of these photographs in this post were taken by me during my trip to New York City in September, 2012.