The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was something I always saw on the TV since living in America. I would sit at home in Dallas (usually on a sunny and warm November day) and see the New York crowds gathering with their steaming mugs of coffee…Read More

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was something I always saw on the TV since living in America. I would sit at home in Dallas (usually on a sunny and warm November day) and see the New York crowds gathering with their steaming mugs of coffee in the cold streets, and I would think how festive it all looked. I’m from England, so this to me was how the holidays should be-not basking in the sun. So that following year, we went to New York to see it in person and what an experience it is.

Admittedly, you really don’t get to see too much of the parades, as the crowds are dense. Certainly what you see at home, on your TV set, is superior, but I didn’t care. I was there, grasping my hot coffee purchased from a local deli, with my finger ends freezing off and fog coming out of my mouth with the cold air. This felt right--and fun!!

Also, when you see the show at home and you see all the people sitting in a grandstand, unless you have contacts at Macy’s department store, that won’t be you!! You cannot buy tickets to this event--it’s for anyone and everyone to pile into the streets and get as close to the parade route as possible.

This usually runs from 77th Street/Central Park West and ends at the Macy's department store on 34th Street and 6th Avenue and has been in operation for over 75 years now.

We have returned a few times since our first experience, as we love the atmosphere so much. In fact, right after 9/11, when everyone suggested they cancel the parade, they went on and held an even better event with all the usual gigantic balloons and floats, as well as extra ones commemorating the brave fire and policemen who lost their lives. It was enough to make most visitors and locals alike have tears in their eyes that day.

This parade started with a European link, as the first-generation immigrant workers from Macy’s department store wanted to celebrate this American holiday with some traditions of their own. It began with the employees marching on a much shorter route dressed in fancy costume, floats, bands, and live animals like goats and dogs.

The big balloons did not come into the picture until years later and obviously they were much smaller back then than what you see floating above the buildings today.

I think the only time this parade has ever been cancelled was the few years during the war and once again in 1971, when the winds were just too great.

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No trip to New York is complete without a visit to the lower Manhattan area commonly known as Little Italy. This area of restaurants, bakeries, cappuccino houses, and shops is actually very small and seems to be shrinking each year as Chinatown swallows it up.…Read More

No trip to New York is complete without a visit to the lower Manhattan area commonly known as Little Italy. This area of restaurants, bakeries, cappuccino houses, and shops is actually very small and seems to be shrinking each year as Chinatown swallows it up. There used to be 100,000 residents, and now those numbers are closer to 11,000.

The main street to look for is Mulberry Street, and this is where you will find all the most famous restaurants. Little Italy encompassed about 6 blocks on my last visit, from Canal Street toward Prince Street. Its close to SoHo, and closer still to China town.

Mulberry Street is the busiest and loudest. Restaurant owners usually stand outside their place of business trying to herd you inside, rather than see you walk on to the next restaurant. The sidewalks are packed with small and tables and chairs for impromptu al fresco dining, so it can get very crowded. However, on a weekend evening the roads are closed off and you can move around much easier.

People come here to experience the atmosphere and, of course, to EAT. You can find anything from expensive, romantic dining to homemade ‘mom and pop’ establishments. Be prepared in the latter to squeeze into tables and share with others if necessary.

I have included a small mix of places to tell you about in this review, but most people don’t come to Little Italy with a restaurant in mind. All you have to do is walk up and down the street and see what menu tempts you the most, or which restaurateur is the most persuasive.

For a romantic treat, try the IL CORTILE.This restaurant at 125 Mulberry Street is well known for its award-winning menu. There were so many Italian foods to try from, I had to have the waitstaff help me out. I eventually settled on the homemade gnocchi. At $18, it was more than I would have expected to pay in this area, but on tasting it, I had no regrets about my choice. Most of the meat dishes were between $20-$25. There was also an antipasti menu where the prices were $10-$15. If you are coming for lunch, you can almost halve those prices.

The food was obviously a great reason to choose Il Cortile, but the setting was stunning, as the restaurant has a garden room that makes you feel as though you really are in a Tuscan garden, with vines and plants everywhere and big stone fireplaces.

For a total change of pace, try LA MELA. This is a family-style Italian eatery located at 167 Mulberry Street. It’s loud and always busy, a great place to come for a party. The menu is large and is served up until 2am (3am on weekends). You can choose from the menu or opt for family-style, which will set you back about $32 per person and consists of five courses with wine. I guarantee that if you choose this option, you will be rolling out of here. La Mela is boisterous and makes you feel as though you are part of a big Italian family. If granny sits down for a few minutes at your table and strikes up a conversation, don’t be too surprised.

Don’t expect intimate surroundings here, as the tables are close together, and you will find it impossible to whisper sweet nothings!!

One more food establishment you must try is FERRARA, though this café is purely a pastry-and-cappuccino kind of place. It’s at 195 Grand street, which is between Mulberry and Mott. Ferrara Bakery has been around through four generations, with the Ferrara family making Italian/French desserts right there since 1892.

If you are reading this experience with fond memories of Little Italy or have not yet been, the website even delivers its delicious pastries right to your door (if within U.S.).

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I attended my first and only tree-lighting ceremony in the winter of 2003 at Rockefeller Center. Our company had sponsored a trip for some of the top performers in our territory to spend a couple of days in New York City. In conjunction with the…Read More

I attended my first and only tree-lighting ceremony in the winter of 2003 at Rockefeller Center. Our company had sponsored a trip for some of the top performers in our territory to spend a couple of days in New York City. In conjunction with the trip, we were promoting our new branding in New York, as we had recently opened a couple of new branches.

I remember that the weather was really cold, which was surprising due to the number of people who attended the event. I have never seen so many people in one spot, packed like sardines. Fortunately, there was a festive mood in the air, and everyone was really friendly, contrary to what the common misconception is regarding the people of New York.

If I recall correctly, the tree was a Norway Spruce and was donated by Frances and Adolph Katkauskas from Manchester, Connecticut. The ceremony was, of course, televised by NBC, as their headquarters are located right at Rockefeller Center. This ceremony has occurred every year since 1931, when workmen decided to place a tree at the worksite of the center. It has been a yearly tradition ever since.

This year, there were 30,000 bulbs used to light the tree, which was 79 feet tall, weighed in at about 9 tons, and was 50 years old. Some of the entertainment at the event were Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson; the cast of The West Wing, who dedicated the tree lighting to the American soldiers fighting for freedom; Harry Connick, Jr.; Gloria Estefan; and Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard from American Idol. Al Roker and Ann Curry hosted the event.

While attending the event was fun, I think that I will be watching it from the warmth of my living room from now on. Unless I get another free trip...

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One warm, muggy, rainy Sunday in July a group of us decided to go and see the Empire State Building. We had parked our car in one of the numerous 24-hour parking garages. The one we chose was located on West 45th Street right across…Read More

One warm, muggy, rainy Sunday in July a group of us decided to go and see the Empire State Building. We had parked our car in one of the numerous 24-hour parking garages. The one we chose was located on West 45th Street right across from the Lyceum Theatre where we had tickets to see “Steel Magnolias” later that afternoon.

The streets were fairly quiet, which was unusual for a Sunday in the city. I guess the rain that was sprinkling down, combined with the heavy humidity, kept folks away. We walked up to 6th Avenue and over to 42nd Street. As we crossed over and looked west, we could catch a glimpse of the Chrysler Building, its art-deco scalloped peak reaching into the clouds. Once we hit 42nd, a few of us had to make pit stop and take care of some personal business.

We stopped at Bryant Park, located between 40th and 42nd Streets. It looked lovely even in the light rain that seemed to come and go. There were plenty of trees and beautiful manicured bushes and flowers. Tables and benches were scattered throughout to be used for a quick picnic or people watching. Requisite tourists were taking photos of friends and family in front of the gardens. All this was surrounded by a wrought iron fence and the hustle and bustle of the city that you barely knew were beyond the park borders.

After our quick detour we continued west to 5th Avenue and made a right. On the corner of 42nd and 5th is a beautiful piece of architecture known as the NY Public Library. This has been featured prominently in many movies, including “Ghostbusters” and most recently “The Day After Tomorrow”. From here, you could just see the top of St. Patrick’s Cathedral 5 blocks west of our location.

We instead headed south 9 blocks to the corner of 34th and 5th. Along the way we dodged puddles, crazy drivers and the occasional street vendor hawking umbrellas. We came upon the entrance of the Empire State Building where a small group of people had gathered, waiting for the guides to open the doors at 10:00 am. Just as the doors opened we looked up to see how high we could follow the most famous skyscraper in NYC. Unfortunately, with the rain and clouds only the bottom half was visible.

We decided to go in and look around as we had walked all this way, although we did not expect to see much from the observation deck. The crowd moved quickly and we entered into a marble and slate foyer where we were greeted by a large mural of the building. Here you can find restrooms, the gift shop and the escalators to the top of the first level, which I am guessing is the fourth or fifth floor. A guide there confirmed our suspicions that there was zero visibility at the top. Looking at the price of admission, $14 per person for the observation deck and $20 per person for the deck view and a quick historical video. We decided to take some quick pictures and come back another day when the view would be worth the price of admission.

Although we did not get to see the view from the top, we were treated to some of the local points of interest the City had to offer and with our walk back to the Theater District we worked up an appetite for our lunch at “Carmines”.

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After leaving Grotto Azzurra totally full and waddling down the street after visiting Ferrara’s Bakery, the three of us decided to walk the couple of blocks to Canal Street, infamous for its great deals on accessories and the like. I had heard of the urban…Read More

After leaving Grotto Azzurra totally full and waddling down the street after visiting Ferrara’s Bakery, the three of us decided to walk the couple of blocks to Canal Street, infamous for its great deals on accessories and the like.

I had heard of the urban legend of the knock-off high-end brand name merchandise that can be found on Canal Street. Supposedly, if you visit the right store and mention that you are looking for a certain brand, there may be a secret room that houses such things.

If you turn south on Mulberry and follow it for three blocks you will run directly into infamous Canal Street. Here there is store after store after store selling purses, gloves, pashminas, ruwanas, sunglasses, jewelry (both costume and authentic gold and silver) and much, much more. After walking east towards Broadway, we found one promising looking storefront with a nice selection of purses. As we entered I noticed the wide variety of product, but nothing that even resembled the knockoffs we were in search of.

After a few minutes, my friend Carolyn called my name from the next aisle over and said she wanted me to look at something. Naively, I walked over and asked what she had, thinking it was a nice pair of gloves or something. She leaned over and whispered to me conspiratorially, “I asked if they sell Coach and they are going to show us what they have. Where’s Rose?” I located our other friend, Rose, near the front of the store and called her over.

We were quickly joined by one of the women who were manning the store. She quietly asked, “How many of you are there?”
“Three,” we responded. “Come this way,” she orders.

We follow her to a back wall, hidden from the front doors and windows and in my mind I am hearing the theme from Mission Impossible. You remember, dun, duuunda, dun, duuunda...Weird, I know, but I felt like we are on a secret mission. Looking around, avoiding direct eye contact with the other patrons, thinking each one is a spy...

As we come to the rear of the building I see a stack of two or three really large boxes and think to myself, “Is that it? Is that what all the brouhaha is about?” To my surprise and delight the woman moves the boxes to the side and pushes on the wall about three quarters of the way up and "click" a section of the wall opens. She ushers us inside and by this time my heart is beating a mile a minute thinking first, that the police are going to raid us at any moment and second, amazed at all the treasures that are before us. Rack upon rack of Coach, Prada and Louis Vuitton are hanging from the walls. There are even some gorgeous Chanel bags being displayed. It was like coming upon the cave full of treasure in “The Goonies”, except that this was a shopper’s paradise and the room was a lot smaller. I think the room actually glowed a little and I could swear I heard the song of angels for moment.

The three of us stood there dumbfounded for a minute and then one of us giggled, and that just set us all off. We started to laugh uncontrollably until the woman quickly shushed us.

We spent around 5-10 minutes in the room, looking at all the loot, but nothing really hit our fancy. The others thought some of the product was actually pretty cheap looking for the price. $45 for a mid-size black-on-black Coach Bag that probably goes for over double that in actual retail. I was just happy we got the opportunity to visit the "secret" room.

As we turned to leave, the saleswoman spoke into her cell phone/walkie talkie in some sort of foreign language, I am assuming to check to see if the coast was clear before we exited, which just added to our first experience in international espionage. As we were quickly ushered out, I noticed another woman being led to the sacred place we had just left. I hope she found something she liked…and also what agency SHE worked for...dun duunda, dun duunda, dundadaaa, dundadaaa...
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Before leaving New York, I had decided to make a point of visiting the former site of the World Trade Center, now called Ground Zero after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 in New York. The previous afternoon, while walking around the city with…Read More

Before leaving New York, I had decided to make a point of visiting the former site of the World Trade Center, now called Ground Zero after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 in New York. The previous afternoon, while walking around the city with my cousin Marla, I had mentioned that I was planning to go to Ground Zero on Sunday afternoon. She mentioned that, despite living in New York for over a year, she still had not managed to visit the site yet; she had mixed feelings about visiting it and wasn’t sure she could go down there. Still, I was determined to see the site.

This would actually be my second experience of seeing the site of the World Trade Center. In early November 2001, I was in Princeton, New Jersey on business. I remember seeing the smoke from the site when I arrived at the airport in Newark for that trip, just short of two months after the attacks. However, on my flight home from Newark, I was seated in the first row of first class on the right side of the plane, with four windows to myself. As we took off, heading north and then turning east, the sun was just beginning to set, and the high-intensity lights illuminating Ground Zero for the 24-hour-a-day clean-up were already illuminated. Through my bay of windows on the plane, I got an incredible panoramic view looking down, almost directly, into the site, and could clearly see the still-smoldering wreckage of what had once been two of the tallest office buildings ever built. It was quite a sobering experience, but nothing compared to what I experienced two years later when I actually set foot on the site.

So, on Sunday afternoon, I set out from the 42nd Street subway station on the train heading to the southern tip of Manhattan. After exiting the subway, I proceed south down the street toward the site. As I walked, I remembered where I was when I first heard of the attacks on that Tuesday morning nearly 2.5 years before; I remembered driving to work and being frustrated with the traffic because it was making me late for a meeting with a client. I could hear, in my mind, the radio DJ describing what was happening in New York as I sat at the corner of Richmond Aveue and Rodgerdale Street in west Houston, waiting for the light to change.

A block or two into my walk, I noticed the east side of St. Paul’s Chapel and realized I was growing closer. My heart raced as I walked over to the church and intensely studied the large timeline of the September 11 terrorist attack and St. Paul’s response to it, which is displayed outside the church’s east entrance. After viewing the timeline, I stepped inside to the 18th-century building’s sanctuary. Along the outer walls of the sanctuary, tables and display cases have been set up to exhibit the parish’s response to the tragedy across the street. One of the first displays I looked at included dozens, if not hundreds, of programs from funerals and memorial services of World Trade Center victims. I was immediately struck by the dates of birth and photos on some of these programs; many of these victims were about my age. I was suddenly hit with the thought, "This could have been me." Had history taken a slightly different course, I could have just as easily been one of the thousands who reported to work that morning in those buildings, people who had no idea their lives would be taken from them before lunchtime. In 2001 I was traveling almost non-stop for work, spending over 120 nights away from home and logging nearly 50,000 flight miles. It could have been me on one of those planes. Instantly, my eyes started to tear up; fortunately, tissue boxes were located on just about every table and pew in the sanctuary. I spent the next half hour reviewing the rest of the displays and exhibits in the sanctuary. The response of this church to the needs across the street were a reminder to me of what religion and Christianity are all about – care for others in their time of need. The parallels between St. Paul’s Chapel and my own congregation back home in Houston, Bering Memorial United Methodist, were obvious to me. In the 1980s and early 1990s, when AIDS was running rampant throughout Houston and nobody seemed to care, Bering, located in the heart of the city’s gay and lesbian community, stepped up and created counseling, day care, dental care, and hospice care for those affected by that plague. Similarly, with death, destruction, and desperation all around, St. Paul’s Chapel quickly found its place in ministry in the days after 9-11 by providing a place of rest and renewal for those involved in the rescue and clean-up efforts. For eight months, the church was open 24 hours a day. Workers came to this small church for meals, counseling, massages, prayer, meditation, sleep, and emotional support during their time of greatest need.

I then exited St. Paul’s Chapel through its west entrance into the churchyard, where many colonial residents of Manhattan are buried. I could see down the slight incline of the churchyard to the site of the World Trade Center. News reports in the days after 9-11 described St. Paul’s, but I had never really understood how close this little church was to the World Trade Center. It’s literally right across the street. When you see the visible scars still on buildings all around the site, it is absolutely a miracle that St. Paul’s is still standing. It almost seems that it would be nothing short of divine intervention that it’s not only still standing, but that it came through the destruction that surrounded it with only very minor damage. A large Sycamore tree in the churchyard took the force of the towers collapsing and shielded the church building. The stump of this tree was on display in the churchyard; imbedded in it were chunks of concrete, metal, and other debris from the World Trade Center towers. In its place, the Tree of Hope, a Norway spruce, was planted in 2003 to commemorate the site and replace the sycamore that was destroyed on 9-11.

I then walked across the street to the site of the World Trade Center. Now surrounded by a tall steel fence, the site bears little resemblance to the pictures I’d seen in books and magazines of what the area looked like when the twin towers stood here. Sign boards attached to the fence listed the names of all of the victims of that awful day. All around buildings, sidewalks, and streets bore the still-visible scars of the collapse of the towers. I was struck by the quietness of the place; an hour or so before I had been in Times Square. In stark contrast, the crowds here were small. People whispered instead of yelling. Cars didn’t honk their horns. The sounds of traffic, people, and city noise were eerily absent. Some wept while a few people knelt and prayed; nearby, a New York resident described his experience of running from the site as the first tower collapsed to some out of town friends. The feeling of being in this place, on that ground, was something I had felt only once before, when I visited the Oklahoma City bombing memorial in early 2001; a place that until 9-1,1 was the site of the worst terrorist incident on US soil in our history. Part of me was angry that this had happened, and that there was so much hatred and intolerance in the world, and yet part of me could not help but feel a spiritual presence in this place. Later, after I had returned home, I was describing my visit to a friend who had visited Ground Zero about 3 months before me. We agreed that no matter what you believed, it was impossible to visit the site and not feel the presence of a higher power and the souls of those who were taken before their time on that day.

I completed my visit to the site by walking across the skywalk to Battery Park City and visiting the Winter Garden, the glass atrium across the street that was heavily damaged by the collapsing towers. As I left the area, I couldn’t help but feel glad I had visited the site. During the previous hour, I had cried. My stomach had cramped. I had felt the experience of being in that place in every part of my body. Yet, as I walked away, I did so with the feeling that there was hope and that life does go on-and I renewed my pledge that I would always stand up against the sort of hate and intolerance that led people to do things like what happened on 9-11.

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At the intersection of 5th Avenue and 58th Street, it seems like there are literally hundreds of people trying to catch your attention. Horse carriage drivers congregate at the southeast corner of Central Park asking, "Would you and your sweetheart like a romantic ride?"…Read More

At the intersection of 5th Avenue and 58th Street, it seems like there are literally hundreds of people trying to catch your attention. Horse carriage drivers congregate at the southeast corner of Central Park asking, "Would you and your sweetheart like a romantic ride?" Name brands scream at you from every direction – the stenciled letters of Bergdorf Goodman march across a building, a Puma leaps across the chest of a skater near Pulitzer Fountain, the food vendors’ umbrellas announce, "Pretzels. Hot Dogs. Soda." Today, there is a demonstration about the persecution of practitioners of Falun Gong in China. Yes, it seems that everyone is attempting to catch your eye - yet we cannot find the one sign that we’re actually looking for.

On Location Tours is a company that offers themed TV and movie tours of New York City. The one we were about to embark on was the popular Sex and the City Tour. My friend and I finally put two and two together - the two luxury buses lined up in front of the Plaza plus the two tour guides hurriedly trying to gather the milling crowd of nervously excited women. Women, you say? Well, this was to be expected. The men were probably on the Sopranos tour!

Once loaded into the bus, our tour guide introduced herself. It became apparent that this girl knew everything there was to know about Sex and the City…and then some. She began by narrating a bit of our drive down Fifth Avenue, pointing out the Paris Theater where Carrie Bradshaw goes to see a movie by herself during her love affair with the city and the Jimmy Choo boutique where she indulges in her affair with adorable shoes. And let’s not forget the famous Tiffany & Co., or Charlotte’s trip to pick out her wedding ring.

In fact, much of the tour focuses on shopping; later, we are taken to Soho to see other stores like Patricia Field’s Hotel Venus, where Charlotte buys lingerie, and D&G, where Carrie is bailed out at the cash register by her friend Amelita after her credit card is declined. And no wonder. Our tour guide informs us that they once tracked Carrie’s spending habits during a three-month period on the show during its fourth season. She somehow managed to spend more than half her salary as a writer for the New York Star on bags, shoes, and clothes alone! But as unrealistic as some of the details of the show may be, they still make for some entertaining television – and we can dream, can’t we?

What else do the women on Sex and the City do besides shop? Why, eat, of course. Our group was curious about the location of the girls’ weekly brunch place, the venue in which some of their most scandalous conversations took place and the most scintillating secrets revealed. Not surprisingly, it was too expensive to constantly rent out restaurants for the long filming sessions, so a studio was built to recreate the atmosphere of their Manhattan brunches. Their apartments, too, are also sets, though we were able to take pictures on Carrie’s stoop, located in the West Village, where Sarah Jessica Parker actually lives with her husband Matthew Broderick. The location of Samantha’s apartment, above "Hell" in the Meatpacking District, was another noteworthy site.

Back near Carrie’s residence on Bleecker is the famous Magnolia Bakery, where Miranda noshed on cupcakes while Carrie first admitted her crush on Aidan. We sat in the park across the street and watched everyone line up around the corner to buy these delicious cupcakes, and our tour guide suddenly appeared with a box full of sugary goodness for us to devour. The giggly energy of the group of Sex and the City fans was contagious, and we found ourselves gossiping amongst each other about the characters on the show and ooh-ing and aww-ing over the familiar scenes that were replayed on video in between stops.

As good as those cupcakes were, the best stop on this tour was yet to come. I enjoyed the reaction of the proprietors of The Pleasure Chest as dozens of women stormed this 7th Avenue sex shop to see where Miranda bought her "Rabbit." I’m not going to lie – many walked out clutching little silver paper bags full of fun purchases from this place. Someone suggested that we would have had more of an adventure if we’d come directly from the bar.

But this was one of our last stops, namely O’Nieal’s Speakeasy on Grand Street. On the show, it is the bar that Steve opens and names Scout, after his dog. I actually remember the words that Carrie uses when she first enters; she says wistfully, "Aidan was everywhere." For those in the group who voted for him on the on-bus poll of who they liked the most between him and Mr. Big (I cast myvote for Alexander Petrovsky!), this must have been heaven. The beautiful polished wood bar, the deep purples and browns of the décor, the natural lighting, the bossa nova, all the way up to the small, innocuous TV in the upper left-hand corner of the bar created the perfect atmosphere for the group to kick back and drink (what else?) Cosmopolitans.

Tours are offered Mondays and Fridays at 11am; Saturdays at 10am, 11am, and 3pm; and Sundays at 10am and 3pm. For tickets ($35) call 212/209-3370 or visit the ticket website.

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"The gardens are closed." What a disappointment! There they are still, spreading down to the East River with well-kept lawns, trees that are graceful and mature, manicured shrubs, walks and paths flanked by beds of annuals and perennials—all closed. Well within eyesight, enticing as ever—yet…Read More

"The gardens are closed." What a disappointment! There they are still, spreading down to the East River with well-kept lawns, trees that are graceful and mature, manicured shrubs, walks and paths flanked by beds of annuals and perennials—all closed. Well within eyesight, enticing as ever—yet all closed. Closed because this is the United Nations compound, this is New York City, and this is the post-9/11 world.

The United Nations Headquarters compound was high on the agenda for Himself and Yours Truly during our most recent trip to New York. We’d never been, and the political symbolism of the UN is important to us. We may be many nations, but we are one world. Like most Americans, we believe in the central ethic of the UN, a body that aspires to bringing peace, justice, and prosperity to all the peoples of the Earth. It’s a noble purpose, and while we humans may quibble with many of the details, the goals themselves are easy to embrace.

We visited the United Nations on a cool, overcast day in late April. The intermittent rain meant that the flags lining the perimeter were not out, which was a small disappointment. Security was clearly evident, given prominence by those familiar barriers we all come to expect with equal measures of dread and relief. Behind the barrier stood the familiar outline of the UN—the tall, slender Secretariat building (39 floors); the General Assembly building with its low, curving roofline; and the Dag Hammarskjold Library with its pagoda-like penthouse. The fourth main structure, the UN Conference building, is tucked quietly out of sight behind the Secretariat building. After being motioned through a gate in the security fence, we stepped from the United States in the international territory of UN enclave—no passports required, perhaps because it belongs to the citizens of all member states.

Before entering the Public Lobby, we wandered about the Plaza inspecting the symbolic sculptures nearest the building. Here we gasped over Carl Fredrik Reutersward’s sculpture Non-Violence, a giant revolver with the barrel twisted into a knot and the barrel tip pointing upward. Just as eye-catching, if less startling, is Arnaldo Pomodoro’s Sphere within a Sphere, with highly polished reflective surfaces that (if one pays attention) quite literally place the viewer within the piece being viewed—hardly a happy coincidence, I should think.

The Public Lobby is a multi-function area that serves as an information center and an exhibit space. When we visited, "Empower Women: 30 Years of the United Nations Efforts to promote Gender Equality" was the featured in the main exhibition area, and "Water for Life: An Exhibition by Students from the High of School of Art and Design New York" occupied a corner of the lobby reserved for assembling tour group. Both themes focus attention toward ongoing campaigns sponsored by the UN.

Important work or art contributed to the UN by member states and individuals are also showcased in the lobby. Be looking for these, but the area is large, and it’s easy to overlook even such impressive pieces are Chagall’s Peace and Humankind, the Foucault Pendulum, and series of portraits of the Secretaries General, past and present.

The information center and ticket desk for tour groups are also located in the lobby. Visitors taking the tour should plan 45 minutes to an hour at intervals assigned at the time of purchase. Groups are kept small, with English-speaking tours offered daily from 9:30am to 4:45pm. (There are a few exceptions to this, so be sure to check ahead of time to accommodate your particular itinerary.) Each visitor taking the tour is issued a badge to wear for the duration and is advised that security concerns require that they stay with their group and not wander. Badges are counted and collected as visitors return to the public area.

Our tour occurred late in the day, and unfortunately, our guide was in a hurry. Although she seemed to make all the required stops, including the chambers used by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Trusteeship Council, and the Economic and Social Council, she began each station with an instruction that "time will be allowed later for photos" and ended each with a flourish, the briefest of photo ops, and a push toward the next stop. Despite the rush, her presentations were interesting and informative. Visitors approaching the tour cold, with little knowledge of the United Nations and how it works, will find wonderful nuggets of information to carry away. Still, too little time was provided to appreciate the drama of our surroundings—much less to acquire those treasured photos.

Other than the chambers themselves, highlights of the tour included information about various pieces of artwork on display, including The Golden Rule, a mosaic based on a Norman Rockwell painting and presented by the United States; Chengtu-Kunming Railway, an elaborate ivory carving present by the People’s Republic of China; and a 20m-long mural by Jose Zola Zanetti on humanity’s struggle to build a lasting peace, donated by the Guggenheim Foundation. Perhaps the most moving artifact shown during the tour was a stone statue of Saint Agnes that survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The statue was found in the ruins of a Roman Catholic cathedral located about a quarter mile from Ground Zero. The back of the statue is still blackened and shows signs of melting caused by the intense heat of the bomb, whereas the front side presents a serene face to the world, with St. Agnes gently holding her lamb.

Leaving the tour, visitors may opt to return to the public lobby or descend to the basement, where the coffee shop, bookstore, and gift centers are located. Vending machines and restrooms are also found on this level. Tucked into a corner of this basement level is the UN post office, where one can purchase stamps and other philatelic collectables. Cards and letters posted here will carry UN stamps and be franked with the UN postmark—another indication of the UN’s extraterritorial status.

Exiting the General Assembly building, we took a bit more time to wander the plaza to its maximum permissible limits, noting the river walk from a distance, taking in a pink cloud of spring-blossoming ornamentals and spying the far-off outlines of a handful of the statues set in the UN gardens—including the well-known Statue of Peace. It would seem that Peace, like the gardens themselves, is temporarily off limits. With the help a good zoom lens, however, one might still catch a glimpse.

Wherefores and By-the-Ways for Visiting the UN

For tour information, call 212/963-8687. Special group tours and tours in languages other than English must be arranged ahead of time.

Location:
1st Avenue at E. 46 St., New York, NY

Hours:
M-F – 9:30 to 4:45
S-S – 10 to 4:30
During January and February, tours are available on Monday through Friday only.
Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.

Fees:
Adults: $11.50
Seniors: $8.50
Students (HS/college) $7.50
Students (grades 1-8) $6.50

Children under 5 not admitted.

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See the sights from the top of a two-story sightseeing bus- it’s a view you won't soon forget. Just don’t stand up or you could get hit in the head by a stoplight! The buses depart daily from 9:00 am (Gray Line Visitor Center…Read More

See the sights from the top of a two-story sightseeing bus- it’s a view you won't soon forget. Just don’t stand up or you could get hit in the head by a stoplight! The buses depart daily from 9:00 am (Gray Line Visitor Center at 777 8th Ave.-between 47th and 48th St.)

There are three different loops (Uptown, Downtown and Night Tour). You can hop on and off as many times as you want at one of the 40 or so designated stops along the way. We had a different tour guide on each of our jaunts and they were all good. Each one provided their own unique perspective and highlights of the city. Each loop takes several hours so you can spread them out over 48 hours. Stops include; Times Square, Empire State Building, Greenwhich Village, SoHo, Chinatown, Rockefeller Center, Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Fort Tryon Park, Ground Zero (9/11), Harlem, Apollo Theater, Dakota Apartments, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Museum Mile, Metropolitan Museum, 5th Avenue and many more! Also includes the ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The price is well worth it, and with planning you can get your money's worth- best way to see it all!

All loops tour-Adult $54
Children-(5-11)$44

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What a better way to satisfy the travel bug than a trip to our own New York City. Flights to New York are inexpensive, and there is so much to do in the city. Having grown up in small town Wisconsin, I moved to New York…Read More

What a better way to satisfy the travel bug than a trip to our own New York City. Flights to New York are inexpensive, and there is so much to do in the city.

Having grown up in small town Wisconsin, I moved to New York City in 1983 and lived there until I married and started having children. Now my husband, a native of Staten Island, and I return to New York City often to see family and enjoy the great diversity and culture of New York.

During my most recent trip to New York I took my thirteen-year-old daughter into the city for a stay at the Hotel Royalton. As we walked West on 44th Street from Times Square in search of our hotel for the evening, we walked right past the very quiet entrance to the Royalton Hotel. No flags or awnings mark the entrance to this very beautiful, modern, small hotel.

After backtracking and entering the lobby of the Royalton, my daughter and I were wowed by the beautiful lounge to the left of hotel's lobby as we aproached the registration desk. The lounge was full of interesting 30-40 year olds, and the atmosphere was buzzing with people enjoying each others' company. The drink menu had twelve martini possibilities for $10.50 a piece, an extensive wine, beer, scotch and bourbon selections menu, and light eating fare and interesting desserts were also available. You can also play board games in the lobby while visiting or waiting or eating or imbibing. A nice restaurant is also on the first floor, and although we didn't eat there, the menu looked bery interesting and not outrageously expensive.

The check-in clerk was extremely nice, and treated us as though we were really paying the $438.00 for our room, and weren't there with IgoUgo's deal! The only thing he asked us to do was to spread the word about the Royalton. I was very happy to tell him upon checkout that I brought my travel agent friend into the hotel and into our room and she indicated she would most definitely recommend the hotel to her clients.

After checking in we stepped into a very dimly lit elevator and searched for our floor number, which was hard to see because of the poor lighting. The hallways were similarly very dimly lit, and I had difficulty getting my key in the lock. Aside from those minor problems, we were please to open the door to our room to a very modern and well-appointed room.

We had a queen-sized bed which was lavishly covered in white cotton sheets, comforter, and about nine plush pillows. My daughter saw the bed and flopped onto it immediately.

Opposite the foot of the bed was a windowseat lined with more nice white pillows, and although the view was of nothing more than the back of a building, it was so quiet that it was great.

Our bathroom was appointed in modern chrome and glass--the shower was all glass and I appreciated the orchid in a modern vase on the make-up spot. There were lots of neat toiletries to try, most for an extra charge, as well as a stocked refrigerator and desk accessories, all for a fee.

We truly enjoyed the quiet respite, and would definitely highly recommend the Hotel Royalton. Its location was great and it was a wonderful New York experience in itself.

We were told upon check-in that the Hotel Royalton is due to get some major renovations within the next year, including making some changes with the lighting. My only suggestion for the Hotel would have been just that--to increase the lighting in the elevators and hallways somewhat.

What a great retreat. Thanks!

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