Escape from New York

To start off our last day in New York City, we walked with MH over to Central Park, stopping by Grabstein's Bagels on the way. We sat on a bench near the East Meadow to enjoy our picks. My toasted bagel with a schmear of cream cheese was sooo good!

After we finished eating, we walked around the reservoir. I was amazed at how many different kinds of dogs we saw in the park, and every single one was so well behaved, even off-leash!

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir

Pika has her owner well trained!

We eventually made our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, although we didn't have time to actually go inside since we had to be in Lower Manhattan by 10:00AM for a ranger-led tour of Federal Hall National Memorial. Putting it on our long list of things we should do next time!

From here, we parted ways with MH and walked over to catch the 4/5 train downtown at 86 St. We hopped off at Wall St, which put us right in front of Trinity Church just before 9:30AM. Although it bears no resemblance whatsoever to the portrayal in the movie National Treasure, I was still geeked out about the notable people who were laid to rest in the churchyard.

Robert Fulton, 1765-1815
Inventor of the steamboat

Alexander Hamilton, 1757-1804

Eliza Hamilton, 1757-1854

To view the inside of Trinity Church, we had to go through a security screening first. The original church was built in 1698 but was lost in the Great Fire of New York in 1776, and the second was completed in 1790 but demolished in 1839 after heavy snowfall caused the roof's support beams to collapse. The present building was consecrated in 1846 and is still home to an active Episcopal congregation. What a beautiful house of worship!

North churchyard

Then we walked down Wall Street, past the New York Stock Exchange, to Federal Hall NMEM, where we only had to wait for a few minutes for the doors to open.

Fearless Girl in front of the NYSE

Federal Hall

Once inside, we met the ranger who took us through a 30-minute tour of the exhibits. We couldn't actually go into the rotunda, though, because they were holding a rehearsal for upcoming performances of "The Democracy Project". 

The original building at 26 Wall Street was constructed in 1703 for the British royal governor's council and assembly and also served as New York City Hall. After the Revolutionary War, it became the nation's capital in 1785 when Congress under the Articles of Confederation met here. When the Constitution was ratified in 1788, New York remained the national capital, and the remodeled Federal Hall became home to the First Congress. 

left: City Hall (1703-1788)
center: Federal Hall (1789-1790)
right: Customs House (1842-1862) and Sub-Treasury (1862-1920) 

On April 30, 1789, George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States on the second floor balcony at this site. After the capital was relocated to Philadelphia in 1790, the building once again housed city government until 1812, when Federal Hall was demolished. The present structure was built in 1842 and was used as a Customs House until it became the U.S. Sub-Treasury in 1862. Millions of dollars of gold and silver were kept in the basement vaults, until the Federal Reserve Bank replaced the Sub-Treasury system in 1920.

Once we finished up at Federal Hall, we walked down Broadway towards Battery Park, past several shops hawking tchotchkes and a line of tourists taking pics with a certain famous bronze sculpture. Interestingly, there seemed to be more people posing at the opposite end... 

Charging Bull

We made our way through the park to Castle Clinton National Monument, arriving a little after 11:00AM. Constructed as a battery in defense of New York Harbor in 1811, Castle Clinton originally stood offshore but was connected to Manhattan by landfill in the early 1850s, creating Battery Park. Since then it has served as an event venue (1824-1854), immigration depot (1855-1890), aquarium (1896-1941), and national monument (1946-present). We didn't have time to stick around for the ranger-led tour at noon, so we just walked around on our own to check out the handful of exhibits. It seemed like almost everyone else was here to buy tickets for the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

 

To save ourselves some steps, we hopped on the 4/5 train at Bowling Green and rode it three stops to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall. When we exited the station, the Brooklyn Bridge was right there, but I didn't get any good pics - boo! Next time we'll have to walk across!

We continued up Centre Street towards Foley Square to look for District Attorney Jack McCoy on the steps of the New York State Supreme Court building (dun! dun!)...

I love "Law and Order"!

 ...and then walked over on Duane Street to the African Burial Ground National Monument and the visitor center in the Ted Weiss Federal Building. 

In 1991, during the early construction phase of the building, an archeological survey unearthed intact human skeletal remains. The rediscovery of the "Negros Buriel Ground", a 6.6-acre cemetery containing more than 15,000 intact skeletal remains of enslaved and free Africans, changed the understanding and scholarship regarding enslavement and its role in the development of New York City. The remains of 419 individuals which had been transferred to Howard University for further study were reinterred at the site in 2003. The national monument was established in 2006 to preserve part of the burial ground and commemorate African history and culture in New York City.

Grassy mounds (right) cover the reinterments

Circle of the Diaspora

Schematic of the burial ground with modern day streets overlaid

Diagram of the excavated area depicting the location of coffins

From here, we walked southeast on Worth St. to Bowery so that we could find someplace to have lunch in Chinatown. Based on a friend's recommendation (thanks, K!), we decided to try Joe's Shanghai. Everything we ordered was really tasty!  

Scallion pancakes, crispy pork chop
pan fried noodles with beef, soup dumplings

After lunch, we explored the neighborhood for a bit and then continued north into Little Italy, where we bought some delicious cannoli from La Bella Ferrara Bakery on Mulberry Street.

Since it was now after 2:00PM, we headed back to MH's apartment on the Upper East Side to grab our stuff. But first, we had to return to Grabstein's to pick up some babka to bring home with us.

We said our good-byes to MH, lugged our suitcases back to the car at Mount Sinai, and then started driving to Newark for our flight home from EWR. All of the mapping apps (Apple, Google, Waze) sent us over to the Henry Hudson Parkway south to the Lincoln Tunnel. However, traffic was really bad as we approached the tunnel, so we had a hard time getting into the correct lane and ended up going around several blocks before we were finally able to get off the island of Manhattan! It was super stressful!

Our flight didn't leave until 8:30PM, so at least we still had plenty of time to return the rental and get to the airport. We took advantage of the two free United Club passes that come with R's credit card, so we hung out inside and ate dinner, along with Richard Kind (Mad About You, Spin City) who was also on the same flight back to LAX. 

Vacations are always fun, but there's no place like home!

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