5th Avenue Fabulous ~ Saint Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center

One belongs to New York instantly,

one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.

~Tom Wolfe

please press "play"

Heading to 5th Avenue!

Sign for the Toulouse-Lautrec show at MoMA! (So good!)

Rockefeller Center

This giant flowered sculpture, below, is actually a Jeff Koons art piece, to coincide with his retrospective at the Whitney museum. Some Tourists asked me to take their photo and offered to take one of me ...

Saint Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's is still under major renovation/reconstruction, or whatever you want to call it. You can get photos here and there where you can't tell that there are workers in hardhats around, and that there are areas you can't really see or get to ...

Our Lady of Czestochowa 

One of the oldest Icons of Mary in the world.

It was said to have been painted by St. Luke the Evangelist 

This photo, below, was taken from under scaffold, and between two large wooden posts. You normally can't photograph The Lady Chapel (which is my favorite) but the manager said since it's closed off for prayer now, I could go ahead take pictures. (Woohoo!) 

It is in the way back behind the main altar. So beautiful. Once when I was praying there, I asked for a sign and just then the lights came on. The actual lights. ;)

You can still light candles in front of the chapel ...

This gives you an idea of how much work is being done. It's very extensive.

St. Jude. I lit a candle for a dear friend.

The facade is under scaffold as well as the lower side, but above ... you have a nice little view behind the pretty trees!

Back out on 5th Avenue ...

A little trinket in the window at  BVLGARI ...

The glamour of it all!

New York! America!

~Charlie Chaplin

Window at Bergdorf's. Very hard to photograph with all the glare!

Love the groovy mod-looking coat below. Valentino.

5th Avenue at Central Park 

Not sure what the rose petals were for but I took the opportunity to show off my fading henna, as well as the 4 lovely band aids on my toes. I can never seem to avoid travel blisters!  (It was taken the last day.)

And across from the fountain, on the park, The Plaza Hotel.

As you can see, above, it had cooled off to 79 degrees but it was very VERY humid. I had spent about an hour in the park, when I realized my phone was dying and that it was starting to drizzle. I need battery power for my, mostly for my Google Maps app, so I asked a street vendor where I could charge my phone. He pointed at The Plaza Hotel.

Apparently, I was slightly misdirected. There is some kind of food court attached, or underneath the hotel? But, I buttoned myself up, slicked my hair back, threw on my lipstick and strolled into the lobby. 

There was a sign basically saying if you aren't a guest, don't hang out in our lobby. I walked up to the front desk and asked if there was anywhere they knew of where I could charge my iPhone, because I needed my Google Maps to get me to my niece, in Brooklyn.

Of course, the two gentlemen behind the desk asked if I was staying in the hotel. I answered no and they looked at each other. Then one of the guys asked me what kind of phone I had. "4S" I said.

"Well, we don't usually do this but I will plug it in behind the desk and you can come back when you think it's ready." 

Yay!!!

I walked out of the hotel and into a huge crowd under the awning, out in front of The Plaza. Apparently, I missed the text alert for flash flood warnings. The rain was starting to really  come down and somehow I ended up trying to protect myself, up against the hotel, out under a big brass lamp that was hung on the side of the hotel. 

I saw people running into the huge Apple flagship store, across 5th Avenue, so when the light changed, I bolted, stopping under a huge tree for protection, until the next light changed. Then bolted again, stepping in huge puddles soaking my Mephistos.

Into the glass column and down the stairs I went, into a sea of hundreds of people, holed up in there, trying to get out of the rain. It started coming down in sheets, and there were people that were coming in sopping wet, like they'd been in the shower fully clothed. Everyone stared up at the glass ... waiting. In the shot above, it had died down quite a bit.

What you can't see in the shot was the area below. It was mayhem. I did find out I am due for a new phone upgrade next month though. (Had to do something with the time.) 

Eventually, after about a half hour/45 minutes playing with iPads, I got impatient and went back up. A got a security guard to flag down an umbrella vendor, and I made my way back over to the Plaza (in my soaked leather sandals) to pick up my phone, charging at the front desk. The thunder was so loud! All that echoing on concrete. It was crazy, but I had places to be!

OH! And the guy at the plaza was so nice. He pulled out a map, which he gave me, and wrote directions for the subway, as well. Nice, right? Swanky.

Here is some footage from 1919 of the 27 Division Parade on 5th Avenue.

This next one is new inductees marching in front of Teddy Roosevelt, during WWI. The video makes strange noises so you might want to press mute.

Both videos are from Critcalpast.com 

Oh, and I made it to Brooklyn! 

More to come! Great art installations and NYC adventures, as well as what I have been doing in Southern California during September! I'm so behind on posting! 

When I'm in New York, 

I just want to walk down the street 

and feel this thing, 

like i'm in a movie.

~Ryan Adams

Blessings and light!!!