As I mentioned in my previous post, our plan for this trip was to walk the entire length of the island of Manhattan, in 3 days, experiencing some of the history of NYC, and seeing as much of the city as possible. We woke up on the 2nd day, ate a nice breakfast in the hotel, and set out on foot headed east towards Park ave. I’m about to give you a lot of information you didn’t ask for, that we thought was fantastic!

One thing about NYC that people don’t often talk about is the history. I hear a lot who’ve visited tell about the shows, the food, the entertainment, and visiting the tops of buildings with views. I’ve experienced most of those in the past here, and agree that they’re awesome. Getting to know a little bit more about the history this time has been a great experience that exceeded my expectations. There’s SO much to know. The Chrysler building for instance – was completed in 1930. It is 1046 feet high, and the tallest brick building in the world with a steel framework. For 11 months it was the tallest building in the world, and as of 2023, is the 12th tallest building in the city (tied for 12th with the NY Times building).

If you know of Marilyn Monroe’s iconic scene with the subway grate from the movie The seven year itch, then you’ll understand why we wanted to pass by that spot. We took pictures but I can’t get those to load -so you’ll just have to trust me… “sort of cools the ankles”

We’d been walking for about an hour, and noticed a sidewalk sign outside of a coffee shop, that had a drawing of a latte with a picture drawn into the foam. This was something we’d talked about hoping to find while we were here, so we headed inside. The name of the coffee shop ( on the sign above) was Devocion, and it was an outstanding cup of coffee. Next, we headed to Grand Central Station and the whispering wall (info linked)

The whispering wall in grand central station is remarkable. You can stand corner to corner at quite a distance in this spot, and hear a person’s whisper across the echoing roar of the crowds. It’s very cool, and I hope you can catch a glimpse in the video above. Although we weren’t whispering in the video because we wanted to be able to capture the sound in the microphones on our phones, the whispering part works!

Next, we headed a few blocks west toward the NY public Library, which was dedicated on May 23, 1911. The idea for this library began as an agreement between John Jacob Astor and James Lenox, both of whom had established small libraries in the late 1800’s and both of whom were experiencing some financial difficulty. Fortunately, the late governor Samuel J Tilden had bequeathed 2.4 million dollars to the city of NY for the purpose of establishing a free library in NYC. Astor and Lenox partnered with the Tilden foundation and the NY Public library was born.

We discovered that there is a very cool “Library Way” on the sidewalk that leads to the NY Public Library on 41st Street. If you enjoy the literary world, books, and quotes, it is a great experience to read the plaques as you walk the sidewalk. Below are a few photos of our favorites of those plaques but in the link above, you can read all of them on the library’s website.

When we left the library, we made our way South past herald square to the Empire State Building. Visiting the top these days will separate you from between $44 and $140 of your hard earned money, and while I’m sure it’s entirely worth it, we opted out this time. Originally the location of the Waldorf Astoria hotel, the property was sold in 1928. Construction on the Empire state building was completed in a record 1 year and 45 days, in 1931. As of 1932 it was the world’s tallest building, and the website does not say where it stands today in the pecking order.

From here, we headed south towards Madison Square Park, which hosts a friendly dog park as well as some nice green space and park benches. It is located in the Flatiron district, just outside the famous flatiron building. From the link – “The Flatiron building is a triangular 22 story, 285 foot tall steel-framed building”. It was completed in 1902, and a survey completed in 2023 found that it was the fourth most-loved building in the United States.

On the corner outside of Madison Square Park, on the flatiron building side, at 5th Avenue and 23rd street stands one of the 100 historic cast-iron street lampposts which were designated as landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1997. According to this article, it is one of the last remaining from the 1890’s

Next, we continued south, and along the way I came face to face with a complete surprise – the NYC Harry Potter store! *

• Side note – My older daughter and her friends were huge fans of the Harry Potter books. She even had a Harry Potter Themed birthday party (her 10th), which coincided with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and a corresponding themed event at our local science center. We all dressed in theme, along with everyone else at the event, and the evening ended with everyone getting copies of the new book “at midnight” . Needless to say, I was furiously sending pictures and videos to her the entire time.

If you’re a fan, it’s a fun place to see. There’s a lot going in in there, including a Butterbeer Bar where you can enjoy your butterbeer (a delicious buttery sweet butterscotch soda) in a Tankard, a bottle, or as we did above, topped with ice cream.

From here, we continued on to Union Square, which is a historic intersection and surrounding neighborhood where 2 principal thoroughfares came together in the early 19th century. There is a large statue of George Washington and a large fountain. We opted to have a bite to eat on a patio across the street for a much needed rest break. The cafe served Korean food, and it was called Barn Joo, We enjoyed a delicious and beautiful sushi bowl, that on the menu is listed as “Sashimi Bibimbap”. This was my favorite thing we ate in all of New York! And we just happened upon it at a moment when we were ready to eat something.

In case you don’t know, Shannon’s last name is Cooper. We wanted to check out the Cooper Union for this reason, and also it was on the way to our next stop. The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art was established in 1859, and is among the nation’s oldest and most distinguished institutions of higher education. Founded by inventor and philanthropist Peter Cooper, it claims to offer a world-class education.

Our true destination on this route was McSorley’s Old Ale House. There is a lot of history and a timeline at the site linked there, and it’s worth a read if you’re interested. John McSorley arrived in NYC from Ireland in 1851, and opened an ale house in 1854. The building was renovated in 1864 to include a 5 story tenement, where John and his family moved to live above the bar. It has been owned by only 3 different families since opening. As we walked up to it, there was an older gentleman standing on the sidewalk who offered to take our photo. He told us that women were not welcomed into this bar until the 1970’s and according to their website, this is true. There was not a women’s restroom installed until 1986, and no woman worked behind the bar until 1994.

The next stop on our walk, was Washington Square park. We headed west about 5 blocks, and noted that we were in the NYU neighborhood. The park is known for it’s arch honoring George Washington, for whom the park is named, and it is also known for it’s fountain.

Once again, there was a lot going on here. The video below is a quick sweep to give you an idea of just how full of activity it was on a Friday.

Hangman’s elm, in the photo above, is an English elm located in the northwest corner of Washington Square. It is one of the oldest trees on Manhattan island and according to legend was where traitors were hung during the American Revolution.

We continued west from here through Greenwich Village, and onward to the start of the High Line. In the 1930’s, New York City developed an elevated train system due to the danger of the street level trains to pedestrians. Back then it was called the “west side elevated line”. In the 1920’s there was an increase in train-related death’s, and the railroad hired men on horses to protect pedestrians. They were known as the “West Side Cowboys” and they patrolled along 10th avenue, waving red flags to warn of oncoming trains. The line was fully operational through 1934 and was in use until the 1980’s. It was zoned as a park in 2006 and opened to the public in 2012. Today, The High Line is a continuous 1.45 mile -long greenway featuring over 500 species of plants and trees.

We exited the High Line just past Chelsea Park, around 33rd street, and came face to face with a large swarm of bees. This is a very unusual occurrence in this area, and a beekeeper had been called, had just arrived, and was attempting to wrangle them. There were hundreds of them buzzing wildly in the middle of a city block, and one thing was very clear – city folk are not used to bees. They were positively frantic. Here’s a news article someone sent to us about it, that includes a video.

• side note – my brother used to live in New York City. He lived in the Bronx, worked for the WCC at the Bronx Zoo, and played in a band called Jimsonweed. At the time, I had 2 small children at home and didn’t get up to visit him as much as I’d have liked. His band played gigs most often in Hell’s Kitchen, and I heard him talk about it a lot during that time. So of course, Hell’s Kitchen was an area I wanted to see this time!

We walked through Hell’s kitchen, and stopped at a small bar in the area for another break. The bar was Walter’s Cottage, and we happened to hit it at happy hour! It was quaint, small, had a neighborhood feel, and friendly patrons. Adequately refreshed, we made our way back to Times Square.

Thre were 2 things around Times square that had been recommended to be in the Facebook group post where I’d asked for street food recommendations that we wanted to try. 1. Was the Halal food truck on 52nd street, and the other was the New York Ice Cream truck ice cream. I had a hot dog and Shannon had a lamb kabob. The lamb kabob was Shannon’s favorite thing he ate in New York City.

The Hope Sculpture was on my list of things I wanted to see, and by the time we got to it this day, I didn’t have the energy to cross the street to get a better photo. We made one last stop to Myzel Chocolates. They have an instagram page and a facebook page, but no website that I could find to link. This fantastic place is a small European chocolate shop featuring handmade truffles and over 100 flavors of licorice. Shannon happens to love licorice and I happen to love chocolate, so it was a win-win.

We’d planned to attend a free concert at 5pm at Carnegie Hall, of a man from South America playing the accordion, so that we could say we’d been to a concert in Carnegie Hall. Although it was advertised on their website, when we arrived we were told that there was no such event. So we took our sack of licorice and chocolate and headed back to the hotel room for a quick nap before heading back out to see more on foot. Neither of us happened to set an alarm, and neither of us happened to wake up for about 6 hours, so we changed plans and called it a day. We had one more full day in New York City, and I’ll tell you all about it next!