Heavenly New York City – Part Six

Today is bittersweet, for it ends our six-post tour of New York City.

Need to catch up? Here are the other five posts.

Heavenly New York City – Part One
Heavenly New York City – Part Two
Heavenly New York City – Part Three
Heavenly New York City – Part Four
Heavenly New York City – Part Five

When we left off yesterday, I had just arrived in Battery Park via the Hop-on Hop-off Water Taxi of New York City.

And when I picture parks of New York City, this is always what I imagine. Maybe I have been mistakenly thinking that they were always in Central Park when filming movies? Battery Park might deserve some credit, too!

I’m not quite sure what this building houses, since there seems to be a plethora of entities. But I loved the building façade and the incredible giant stone tiles representing the various groups found inside.

I have always wanted to use the word “plethora” in a blog post. Check and check.

As you can see, the storm was still coming. In fact, just a few moments after I took this picture, the rain began. I think it cleared out the streets for me. But no one would be hanging out in the Financial District on a Saturday, anyway.

Except me and a few other tourists, that is.

The orange brick was beautiful against the approaching ominous storm clouds.

I found this map on a giant pole. You know that I love maps. “You are here.”

I bet that this place is packed during the weekday with all of the worker bees coming to their respective buildings. The parking structure seemed mostly empty this evening at about 6:00 PM.

I thought that this church looked ancient and beautiful. Look at those Gothic spires! How does something like this even end up on our continent?! I’m so glad that it did.

Hi, subway entrance!

These guys were helping a truck load in the middle of the road, so they blocked the non-existent traffic from zooming past.

And, though not much good occurs here, in my opinion, I thought that I should at least include some picture representing the Financial District today.

This was my main reason for coming to the south end of the island this evening. I wanted to see if I could gain access to the September Eleventh Memorial.

I couldn’t…since I didn’t arrive early this morning to get my tickets.

I was bummed but hadn’t really been expecting to get in. I quietly paid my respects from a distance. Last time that I was here, I bawled my eyes out. It’s just an emotional place to be.

They didn’t build the new tower in the exact location of the former buildings. Rather, those are being left as a gaping hole in the middle of Manhattan. Yet another reminder for us to never forget.

By this time, it had started to rain. Which made taking pictures rather difficult, since I try to keep my camera safe and new. I didn’t want it to be harmed from the rainfall just for a few pictures of buildings.

It rained for the rest of the night. It was nice at first because the temperature dropped about twenty degrees. But as I got more wet as the night wore on, I regretted not having at least a light jacket.

Dang wimp Arizonian.

I found overhangs from which to take some pictures. I even waited inside a music store for a few minutes until the pouring rain turned back into a drizzle.

There’s a dying breed…music stores.

At this point, I wished again for a smartphone that could tell me the nearest location of a subway entrance. I wandered around until I finally found one and descended the wet steps to escape the rain above.

I still had a few rides left on my Metro Card. Rather than letting them go to waste, while battling the relentless rain, I hopped on a train to take me north towards the Lincoln Center.

I waited inside the 78th Street Station for the rain to subside enough. When that didn’t happen, I braved the rain and walked to my next destination.

I wanted to visit a particular place that I had been before. I’ve even been inside before. Can you see it?

How about now? Any guesses?

Hopefully this Angel Moroni will give it away. Last time that I was able to see this building in person was actually during my last trip to NYC over four years ago. I came to visit Hubby’s aunt and uncle, who were running this building at the time. Being the temple presidents allowed them to live in an apartment actually attached to the temple!

It was a pretty neat experience entering the temple not from the main entrance. He checked my recommend first, of course.

Gratitude came for the beauty of the building this evening, as well as the overhang it provided for my protection from the rain.

I went inside but found out there that there wasn’t a visitors center. Shucks.

But what beautiful doors to the entrance! This used to be a normal chapel until they built the temple inside just ten years ago (the dedication happened in 2004). Thus, it has double walls and amazingly cuts out the noise of the city just feet away.

After I left the Manhattan LDS Temple, I snapped a soggy picture of Lincoln Center. It would be fun to attend so many of the cultural events hosted in this building, from Opera to symphony to Blues.

I continued my walk south towards Times Square, though I was several blocks from it now. My eyes were peeled for a possible place to eat dinner. There were so many lovely elements to enjoy as I walked, such as this patina light outside of a residential building.

I didn’t go inside this store since I have one at home, but I have only recently discovered its awesomeness. If you have access to one, go check it out. I would decorate my entire house from this store, if humanly possible.

Soon, I was on the southern edge of Central Park once again. This giant globe adorns the entrance to the Trump Tower.

Here is the Tower…in all of its glory. Did you know that Donald Trump even owned the famed Plaza Hotel for a few years? I think that he only made a few hundred million when he finally sold it to the next owner.

I was really loving the effect of the rain on the city streets. For one, it made it seem much later than it really was because of the dark skies.

And look at those headlight reflections in the wet asphalt! So pretty!

Man, I’m hungry. At this point of desperation, I texted my brother for directions to Carnegie Deli, which he insisted I try while in New York City. When I didn’t hear from him for over an hour, I decided to give AQ Kafe a try instead for my dinner choice.

It was a little bakery/café with all sorts of choices. And they all sound wonderful, when you haven’t eaten in hours and have been walking all over town.

I think that the rain kept people away. I loved the modern-yet-country feel of this place.

I decided to live a little and to do something that I had never done in my life…order a hotdog for dinner. With the crispy onion shoots and pickled cucumbers, I was excited to try something so new and exciting! (No shrimp salad for me, in case you’re wondering). Dry heave.

Unfortunately, the server soon came back to say that they were sold out of their hotdog. Wha?

Fine. I’ll get this tomato avocado sandwich instead. It isn’t quite a hotdog, but maybe that’s a good thing?

It was yummy. And the salad was perfectly dressed in a flavorful vinaigrette. It was a lovely meal, and I was tickled to try some place new. I hate eating at chains if I can help it. I would much rather try a local place instead.

While I ate in the safety of the café, it continued to pour outside.

Thus, I didn’t get a whole lot of pictures of the rest of my evening. My camera is too precious to risk ruining over a little bit of rain!

Hi, David Letterman!

Not a soul in the world is surprised that I found my way into the Hershey store at Times Square. They were passing out bags for the wet umbrellas at the entrance. Apparently, everyone had an umbrella except me.

Silly tourist. I live in Arizona. I don’t even own an umbrella!

Gallon-size containers of chocolate syrup? Yes, please. Some people might worry about these going out of date before being used up. This would never be a concern at my house.

I almost couldn’t lift this giant peanut butter cup container. I love Reese's. Can you believe that I left empty-handed from this store?

Yeah, me, either.

From the overhang at the Fossil store, I grabbed this quick picture of a chocolate paradise right in the middle of Times Square.

Really, there is no need to ever leave this place. I have everything that I need to survive.

Twelve years ago, I ate at this Roxy Deli with my sister. We had a sky-high deli sandwich with way too many pounds of sliced meat. But I fondly remember the brownies.

And I didn’t buy a single one tonight. I still don’t know what got into me.

This was my last picture for the night before I headed to the bus station to make the forty-minute trip back towards my hotel. I bought enough food to last me for my meals tomorrow, which was Sunday. A Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake may or may not have been purchased from Crumbs.

If, by chance, it was purchased, then it was delicious.

This concludes our multi-post tour of one of my favorite places on earth. I already want to go back to see all of the things that I simply didn’t have time to do while I was there.

It’s simply a heavenly place to visit. I loved every second. Did you enjoy this trip?