NYC series no.8: a short architectural tour

There were a handful of places I wanted to see and that Cyndi wanted to see, and show the boys, that I thought we could visit when were out and about. One was St. Patrick's Cathedral, which we visited on our first day, between the Lego Store in Rockefeller Center and FAO Schwarz, which was further up 5th Avenue, at that corner on 59th where Central Park meets The Plaza Hotel and the two squares and, of course, 5th Avenue. Ariel was with us.

I can't describe the cathedral and give it due justice. It is extremely Gothic, with high spires, and when you enter it you are first impressed with the height of its vaulted ceiling and its cavernous immensity. There was a steady stream of tourists entering and several stopped in the vestibule, where votives could be lit. We walked down the nave toward the altar and sat in the pews close under its center, where the crosses of the building's footprint intersect. From there we could take in various details, including the stain glass rose window and grand organ over the vestibule from where we entered. We walked a little more toward a chapel behind the altar and then toward a small gift shop, where Cyndi purchased a little bookmark for her mother. I think it was for St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things. We left a small donation in a box for the poor of the world.

On Sunday morning, we walked three blocks from our hotel to the Church of the Blessed Sacrament for 10 o'clock mass. The church is certainly not as grand as St. Patrick's but to my mind it was very grand. It was similarly Gothic, with beautiful stained glass windows, including a rose over the organ above the vestibule. Behind the altar were beautiful tapestries. It was their family mass, and there were many small children and crying babies. It did not seem particularly full but many, like us, arrived, as we tend to do, a few minutes tardy. The gospel that day was the miracle of the loaves and fishes, which I thought was appropriate enough.

For some inexplicable reason, I wanted to make a loop on Friday, before seeing Times Square, that included an arrival at Grand Central Station (entering the hall as though we were arriving by train) and the nearby New York Public Library. It was raining that afternoon, and the doorman at our hotel lent us umbrellas. The subway was particularly hot and humid, and it took a transfer from the Times Square station to get to Grand Central Station. We entered the grand hall and again its immensity was the wonder of it all. We exited by the least convenient exit and it began to rain in earnest. We ducked into a JCrew store on Madison Avenue during the hardest part of the rain. Cyndi could find no good sales. When the rain subsided a bit, we walked to the New York Public Library. I had wanted at the very least to sit in its reading room, but the doors between the lions were locked and so we turned the corner to Bryant Park, which was equally closed down due to the rain. That's when we followed our umbrellas to Times Square and the New Amsterdam theater and purchased tickets for Mary Poppins for the next evening.