Our fun New York vacation Part 1

We just got back from spending 2 full days and 2 half days in New York City. Not the Broadway show or shopping types when faced with incredibly lovely and warm Fall weather, we were outside most of the time enjoying the sights of many parts of the city. We didn't take any photos so the ones below are images from the internet.

We stayed at the Washington Square Hotel right in the heart of Greenwich Village and very conveniently located for subway use. Thanks to a recommendation from An Exacting Life we looked into this hotel and it turned out my husband stayed there years ago on a business trip. It worked out great.

Originally the Hotel Earle opened in 1902 as a small 8 story residential hotel.

 

The first afternoon we took a self guided walking tour of the Village, stopping for coffee and a scone at a local bakery. We also wandered through a gallery and sat in Washington Square Park for a bit. Amidst all the glorious old buildings was this wonderful building of the New School.

The next morning we headed to Rockefeller Center to check out the ice rink and plaza and meet a friend we first met 26 years ago in San Diego when she was the 13 year old next door to our first home! She was our tour guide as well as a wonderful time. We are all into architecture so we went to Grand Central station and admired the renovated ceiling, checked out the lobby of the Chrysler Building, wandered around the NYC Library especially the map room and saw the lions of course.

This picture shows the ceiling restoration in progress in 1988. They left a tiny spot of dirty ceiling so you can see what was cleaned off. The restored mural is magnificent as is this Beaux-Arts building.

The main NYC library is also Beaux-Arts architecture and the map room is glorious.

I guess I have a thing for murals on ceilings because I loved the Chrysler Building lobby one as well. It was painted on canvas and then glued to the ceiling! Love Art Deco architecture.

 

After lunch we walked through Times Square because Hubby really wanted to and up to Central Park. A short walk through the park and then into the American Folk Art Museum (free, donation requested) to see what turned out to be a rather odd exhibition of art by mental patients in Europe during the 1930s.

Since our friend lives in Brooklyn we asked to go to one of her favorite restaurants there for dinner. First we walked around Brooklyn Heights and enjoyed the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn Bridge from the promenade. I didn't take the photo below but the weather was this lovely although the trees were starting to turn. Dinner was in Park Slope and then we parted ways.

 
Stay tuned for Part 2 of our whirlwind vacation in NYC.