New York City

NYC | Day 4 | Bryant Park, Grand Central, Empire, and Rocco’s

Today turned into a smattering of activities. We took advantage of the nicest weather we’ve had out here so far and conquered a few of our outdoor to-do’s.

Bryant Park was first on the list. There were a few statues in and around the park of influential individuals (Gertrude Stein and Benito Juarez, to name two). They were in the middle of building an ice skating rink. Unfortunately, this took away from the general view of the park, as a lot of it was closed off and the shops weren’t open either.

The New York Public Library (probably most recognized for its lions guarding the entrance, but they were also gone for an extended spa day) is on one end of the park, so we stopped in there next.

Main entrance to the library.
This is the interior of the main hall of the library, as viewed from the 2nd floor.
This was Gutenberg’s bible! Printing press-style.
This was one of the ceilings on the 3rd floor.
Under this ceiling was a special exhibit of some comic books that Adam had far more appreciation for than I did. There were several 1st edition Marvel comics, along with a few others.
OG Pooh Crew.

Next stop was Grand Central “Terminal” (I still call it GC Station). We headed in briefly to check out the architecture, but didn’t do much more than that.

The full ceiling of the main hall at Grand Central Station. This was pretty cool to see!

Next up was our own little walking tour. We saw the Chrysler Building, Fred F. French building, the American Radiator (American Standard) building, and the General Electric building.

Once we covered these architectural marvels, we stopped at a bar we found on the way called Heartland Brewery to grab a few mid-afternoon adult beverages. The whole restaurant was pretty cool, and the downstairs bar was awesome to see, especially without anyone in it at the time.

This was the bar on the lower level at Heartland Brewery.

We then headed off to the Empire State Building. Our ears popped on the way up again (just like Top of the Rock)! We were able to see the Flatiron building, which has a distinct triangle-shape to it and was one of the first buildings to use steel in its construction.

Hey there, we made an appearance again! I definitely preferred Top of the Rock for the view. Empire has the metal prison bars all over, whereas Rockefeller has huge sheets of thick plexiglass instead, so the view is less obstructed.
View from Empire.

We then headed back to the hotel, since we anticipated having to get dinner over in Brooklyn before meeting up with some of the fam damily tonight before the wedding tomorrow.

These two didn’t appear to know each other. She was struggling with her suitcase up the steps. He offered to carry it up for her. Be more like this guy.

Dinner was Adam’s choice, after quite a bit of searching, and we ended up at Rocco’s Tacos over in Brooklyn. Guac made table-side, and a giant ‘wet burrito’ that we split, and it was more than enough food. Adam also informed me that his margaritas were “very healthy” (boozey). I got a moijto, because this is almost always my go-to drink if it’s an option.

Some of the lower level/basement decor at Rocco’s.
I really liked this piece they had hanging on the lower level as well. The entire skull is beaded over.
Yes, a food picture was necessary.
If you ever think that you have enough tequila, you’d be wrong.

Once dinner was done and we felt ready to explode, we headed over to the hotel to meet up with some family from the bride and groom’s sides to mingle a little bit before the big day. We were crazy kids tonight and stayed up almost until midnight!

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