"I love New York City. Everyone is busy with their own lives - and no one is interested in some Hollywood celebrity walking past in downtown Manhattan." James Van Der Beek

There were literary quotes on  my way
to Bryant park

Today was a day to sleep in. After such a high-intensity day before, getting burned and a bit of sun stroke. I decided to take it easy. So my body decided taking it easy meant waking up at 9 instead of 8. Woo. Thank you body. I turned on my phone and tried to check to see if I had a walking tour that day but it turned out I didn't - I booked my tour for the wrong week. #TheSmoothest.

Lucky for me, it was memorial day weekend so there were a lot of tours going on! I booked a tour for the 2pm Mid-Manhattan tour since it was just around the block from me and headed out after writing a bit on the blog.

Looks like coals
on fire

When I got there, it was HOT out. The weather was hot and humid and there weren't that many people on the tour - which was nice because it meant it was a bit more intimate and I could ask some questions. The only real downside was that because I had already taken the Grand Central Station Tour, I already knew a lot of the information that the guy was telling us.

We started off the tour by talking a bit about the history of New York (which I ignored a bit haha). I found out that Times Square was actually named after the New York times! To lure the big company there, it was promised that a building would be renamed after them.

Really cool borrowing book 

Nowadays, the New York Times building no longer belongs to them, but belongs to Walgreens. There is actually so much advertising and the company makes so much money off these ads that Walgreens doesn't even rent out the building. It's pretty much empty inside. Plus people who would work in the building - I'm sure they'd be depressed, what with being unable to see outside. Ever. Thanks to the windows being so covered up.

This is where the
ball drops!

It's actually interesting because I was told that the same company that protects buildings from ads,
also requires the buildings in Times Square to have ads! Ironic.

In the building that actually drops the ball every New Years, I found out why! The idea was taken from Western Union, who had a ball that would drop at noon to synchronize all the watches in the company. The idea was taken and the ball drops every year at midnight to synchronize the lives of many and to live in Harmony. Woo.

Why is this in the middle
of Times Square?

We walked over to Bryant Park and were told that the park was named after New York Evening Post editor and abolitionist, William Bryant who always advocated positively a park like Central Park. So he got this park named after him. During the summer, there are free plays and movies on! Great way to spend an evening. Even when I went during the day, they had this cool outdoor library where people could sit outside and borrow books, newspapers and magazines and read them as they please.

The Empire State building, as we were told, is nicknamed the "Lighthouse of Manhattan" as it is a bright light that you can see everywhere! Almost a way to guide your way. 

The statues of the Gods!

As we passed by the beautiful New York Library (which I still have yet to go), I was told that it was built on two reservoirs that were originally meant to provide the city with clean drinking water (which was a big deal back in the day). La Guardia, the New York mayor during the great depression, nicknamed the two lions in front "patience" and "fortitude," two traits that New Yorkers needed during the depression. 

What a clever man, no wonder he got an airport named after him.

Beautiful building
that was built by a
horrible person

We passed by Grand Central Station and I found out that the building beside it will be TORN DOWN so that ANOTHER skyscraper can be built. You'll never be able to see light in Grand Central again... 

Grand Central actually used to be electric railways and a train depot - not a station. And in the front of the building, there is a carving of three figures, Mercury, Minerva and Hercules - God of finance, wisdom and strength, respectively. The person who designed it did all the work in France as they did not want New York to taint their views. 

Can you guess what country I'm in...

As we kept walking around, we found out that Madison street is actually named after the 4th president of the United States! And as we approached the end of our tour, we found out that the Rockefeller centre used to be called radio city. All the flags, which are usually the 192 UN country flags, were replaced by American flags for Memorial day.

As I finished up my tour, I headed out to go back home and rest up for a bit. I ended up watching part of an episode of Buffy the Vampire slayer (which I want to start watching because apparently it's amazing). I only watched about half before I had to head out and

Atlas! Carrying the
universe.

meet with my friend to go to the bar to watch Game of Thrones! Yes, that is a thing and yes, it is awesome. 

We hung out at the park for a little while and talked about life and careers and stuff like that before about 7pm when we decided to head over to the bar (Professor Thom's) and try to get seats for the show. When we got there, it was already packed and the only seats we could get were ones by the bar, which was A-OK because we could still see all the screens.

We sat there for a bit, talked and I tried so hard to explain baseball to him - he was from Brazil/Italy so he didn't really get it. 

Let me just tell you, it ain't easy to explain. I guess it's simple for me since I grew up playing softball but when you try to explain to another person... It gets hard.

GoT at the bar!

I finally gave up and the bar played the previous week's episode of Game of Thrones and man, was the bar FULL. There were so many people! I grabbed a burger and some sweet potato fries and
watched.

When actual GoT came on, it was pretty damn cool. The whole bar went silent and when I looked behind me, there were dozens of people crowded and standing around the bar craning their necks to watch the show. 

It was just amazing being there, hearing people burst into applause, make comments, cheer, awe, just such a great atmosphere, it was like being at a big Game of Thrones screening party. 

At the end of the night, we walked for a bit and then said our final good byes. 

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