Day 3 - New York

Because we completely and utterly overdid our first real day in New York, our feet were not inclined to walk very far on the second. Fortunately we had managed to see almost everything we needed to see, so we just bought a couple of one-day subway passes and took a leisurely trip around the city to see the last bits.

As most wannabe photographers, I'm a huge fan of train stations, so we went to the famous Grand Central station. I realised quickly that to get any sort of successful wide shots of the place, you needed a wide lens, but I did what I could with the space I had through the lens. One example is below.


The architecture and style of both the station and the surrounding building are really amazing! Next, we headed down to the UN headquarters. There we were once again met by rigorous security measures with the now-familiar metal detector and bag scanners. On the upside, there were no queues and it was free! We didn't see much of the UN - there were guided tours at certain hours, but we didn't particularly care for one.

There was a sweet gift shop there though, with examples of gifts from all the countries of the UN. Unfortunately, Sweden obviously thinks that plastic dolls with blonde braids and traditional dresses are typically Swedish. Oh, and we had one of those horrendous pieces of glass from Orrefors with some kind of animal print on the back. Yuck. I nearly bought a lovely little lacquer box from Egypt until I turned it over and saw the $150 price tag.

The real reason for going into the UN HQ was actually because we thought they'd have decent toilets there, which they did :) Below is a shot of the building anyway. One of the very few skyscrapers you actually get a clear shot at with the camera. Most of them are hidden by other skyscrapers when you get a block or two away.


We ate at a real diner (you know, those special sofas, signed photographs of the owner with minor celebrities etc) and then moved on to explore the north end of Central Park. The park is definitely one of my favourite spots in the city, shutting out the sounds of traffic, lush and green. The air is actually noticeably cleaner! Matters were made even better by this little fella who just loved the camera:


I got lots of nice pictures of him (or her... but I think it's a he!) - it was a superb end to a quiet day!

Today, we're getting our car and moving onto Washington DC. We'll see if we can squeeze a post in from the capital tonight. Until then!