We spent today discovering a few different New York neighbourhoods. We started off in Greenwich Village, where we stopped at Washington Square Park. This park houses a large arch, a little reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, dedicated to George Washington. It was erected for the centenary of Washington's Presidency in 1889. The arch shows various images of Washington as statesman and military leader.
After our walk around Greenwich, we headed over to the Lower East Side, a much different neighbourhood. We visited the Tenement Museum here. The tenements were apartment buildings which housed poor, newly arrived immigrants to America from the 1860's to around the 1950's. Even today, this area is home to many immigrants and the neighbourhood seems much less well-off than many other parts of New York.
We did a tour of 2 apartments in this tenement building. One was kept as it was in the 1860's, when it was home to a lady from Prussia, her husband (who later ran off and disappeared) and her 4 children. They lived in a tiny 3 room apartment with no running water or electricity. Natalie (the mother) had a very tough time, especially once her husband left and then her youngest child died. However, her story ended well when she came into an inheritance and she was finally able to move her family out of the tenement.
The next apartment was set up as it was in the 1930's when an Italian family lived in it. It still had no electricity (many tenements were very late in getting electricity) but it did have running water and a requirement that each room in the house had a window! - so at least they had access to more natural light. It was interesting to see how people managed to live in those times, under such difficult conditions, but they tried to make the best of their situation.
Later that afternoon, we took a walk around Bryant Park, which is just behind the New York Public Library. It is a very impressive park, being surrounded by some pretty impressive looking skyscrapers. It was also set up for Christmas, with Christmas markets and ice-skating.
We loved the decorations on the Christmas tree inside the New York Public Library, where we stopped to read the girls some stories and to see the beautiful reading rooms. We especially loved the cardinals and blue-jays on the tree, which have become some of our favourite American birds.
On our walk back home we passed Grand Central station...
and got a great view of the Chrysler Building just as the lights turned on at dusk.
Tuesday, November 30
James made a special outing this morning to see the tomb of Ulysses S. Grant, former president of the United States, who is buried in an enormous mausoleum near Harlem. The rest of us headed off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an enormous structure of its own. James met us there soon after.
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| Sophie, Ella and Jeannie contemplate the enormity of the Met! |
In the Egyptian room, we saw a temple built by the Roman Emperor Augustus about 2000 years ago that has been transported here piece by piece, from the banks of the Nile. The temple honours the Egyptian goddess Isis and 2 sons of a local chieftan. When it sat by the Nile it was often flooded and began falling into disrepair. It was transported to New York where it was restored.
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| One of the beautiful Tiffany windows in the museum's collection. |
At night we went to the Lincoln Centre to see the New York Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. It was a beautiful performance and the dancers were amazing and so light on their feet. Ella, a huge ballet fan, loved it of course, but even Pia, who had previously declared that she was 'not keen on ballet' was impressed and really enjoyed the show. Both girls especially enjoyed the second act where all the sweets and treats come to life and dance for Marie and the prince. Pia's favourite was coffee and Ella's was hot chocolate. It was a lovely way to end the day.
I will finish up with New York - Part 3 soon. This post is just getting too long!
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