UN mission

It's Wednesday and my 6th full day in New York. That means midday will be the half way mark. For the first time in a while I woke up feeling refreshed so I didn't waste too much time getting up and organised.

Yesterday I bought a ticket online for the guided tour of the UN building, so that was today's primary activity. I used the High Line to get part of the way and managed to see and snap some buildings and fascades I had missed until now. Then it was time for coffee and food before my UN rendezvous. 

The tour was organised very well and our guide was from Brazil. Unfortunately there has been major renovation going on and although the General Assembly Hall has been reopened, it's not accessible to the public quite yet; about another month to go. That was disappointing.  But still we got to enter one of the conference rooms while a session was in progress and visit the Security Council chamber. That was cool. Imagine the dramatic scenes that have taken place here.

Naturally, I located the Australian seat. 

This artwork is a simplification of the 30 articles of the universal declaration of human rights. I was hoping to get them in a book form but one wasn't available in the store. 

After the tour I decided to wander some of the streets I haven't yet visited. I took in Madison Avenue and Park Avenue to the North of where I was the other day. There were certainly more up market stores that end.

On the way I got the closest I've been to the Chrysler Building so I had to take some shots. 

When I got to W 53 and 6th I bumped into this guy. He looked blue. He didn't say much. I walked on.

I have no idea how someone got those flowers up there. 

Next I walked back downtown with the intention of visiting the famous Macy's. It was big, a bit old, very loud and I'm sure there would have been some great bargains; but it really didn't thrill me. I left quite soon and took the subway back to W 14 Street. 

As I was walking towards the hotel I noticed massive trailers parked along each side of the street.

Names on the doors suggested filming. 

A short time later I passed a wardrobe van and racks of clothing labelled by character.

But there were no film crews or stars in sight ... until I reached my hotel. Then I noticed lighting rigs at an intersection and mingling crowds. There was clearly some filming going on but I couldn't make anything or anyone out.

Later, when I looked out my hotel room window, I noticed more film crews, but I'm not sure if they were related. 

It's coming in a bit wet this evening. As long as the rain doesn't get too heavy I plan to go and see a French film (in 3D!) called "Goodbye to Language" directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The Village Voice says "Exhilarating ... features the most innovative 3D effect I've ever seen". It's on for a week, so if it doesn't work out for tonight I still have time to see it later.

A slow day

Another early wake up, another decent looking day, but one very tired traveller. I figure I've been on the go for nearly 3 weeks and I think it's wearing me down a little. And even though the train journey across Canada was relaxing, I didn't get the sleep needed to refresh me each day. Anyway, boo-hoo, I'm on holiday in NYC, mustn't complain. I decided to lay around in bed for a while this morning. And even though I might not be able to get more sleep I could at least do some research and stuff.

One thing I definitely did need to do was reorganise my iPad. I'm using it as a back up device so that all my photos are on something other than the individual SD cards - just to be safe. It would be heart breaking to lose any of them. As the photo count nears 8,000 I am starting to have trouble importing more. So it was time to ditch more of the apps I don't need right now and start thinning the pictures I have imported. There are a good many that are rubbish. And while I don't want to be making decisions on what to keep or trash right now, I figure it was safe to choose those I could live with losing if a disaster were to occur. 

So for the time being I have more room. Later in the trip I might upgrade the wi-fi at the hotel to get a faster line that I might be able to use to upload some to the cloud. 

It was nearly midday before I finally dragged myself off the bed and out to see what the day would hold. I didn't have big plans other than coffee and food. Those two taken care of I decided to head to Grand Central Terminal. That would allow me to check out Park Avenue also. When I got there it was grand, but somehow not quite as grand as I had expected. Sometimes things get hyped out of all proportion. 

To the east of the station was the United Nations building so I headed that way. I see they have guided tours so I might check them out and see if they're likely to be interesting. 

While walking down Park Avenue I saw this building under construction. I liked how the floor plan appears to have only a tentative regard for conventional angles.

I walked back a little way down Madison Avenue. But I must say that neither Park Avenue nor Madison Avenue seemed all that special. Busy streets in a big busy city. Maybe I'm missing something? 

Also along the way today there have been some other interesting sights that might have been worthy of a picture, but I think I've got a bit of "photography fatigue". I'll have a go later in the week. Some of the Halloween decorations in particular are amusing.

A friend from Adelaide who is also in New York was coming to the high line to meet friends for drinks and I was going to join them at the end of the day. By the time I got back to the hotel though I desperately needed a nap. I would have been socially challenged without one - even more so than usual.  Unfortunately, time frames didn't align and I ended up missing them. Still plenty of time to catch up though. Technically, tonight is still only the halfway point of my stay in NYC!

I'm going to have a quiet night in. I need to remind myself that I am on holiday which means I don't have to feel guilty about resting or taking time out.