Paul & Tara Visit the National Parks

on Brooklyn Bridge, looking towards Manhattan

The Big Apple, Gotham, the City that Never Sleeps, Metropolis, the Greatest City in the World. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. New York, New York.

We had a fabulous time visiting New York City in July 2024. The past several blog posts have focused on NPS sites we visited in the city: Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island, Castle Clinton, Hamilton Grange, Grant's Tomb, and also the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

This post will feature other places we visited in the city. It was a quick trip, only four full days in the city, but each day was jam-packed.

We went to 30 Rockefeller Plaza observation deck to take in sweeping views of the city.

Radio City Music Hall

The theater, nicknamed "the Showplace of the Nation," is the headquarters for the Rockettes.

Rockefeller Plaza, aka "30 Rock"

completed in 1933, it is 70 stories tall (850 ft)

Home to NBC Studios, SNL, and the Rainbow Room

on the observation deck, known as "Top of the Rock"

looking north, towards Central Park

looking south, Empire State Building in center

although not as high as other observation decks (such as Empire State Building or One World Trade Center), Top of the Rock offers very impressive views of the city

We visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Founded in 1870, "The Met" is the largest art museum in the Americas. It holds nearly 2 million works in its permanent collection.

The Met has many Egyptian artifacts

canopic jars

The Temple of Dendur

The Temple of Dendur was built in 10 BC by Caesar Augustus near the present-day city of Aswan, Egypt (at that time, Egypt was part of the Roman Empire).

In 1960, Egypt began to construct the Aswan High Dam. The reservoir created by the dam, Lake Nasser, would have submerged many ancient Egyptian temple in Upper Egypt, including the Temple of Dendur. Fifty countries, including the US, helped the Egyptian government relocate the temples to higher ground. In recognition of their service and efforts, the Egyptian government gifted the Dendur Temple to the US. The Temple has been on display at the Met since 1978.

armor of the Middle Ages

this grand piano, built by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1720, is the oldest surviving piano in the world

a gigantic contrabass saxophone

Last Moments of John Brown, by Thomas Hovenden

section of a mural "The Tragic Prelude" by John Steuart Curry, depicting John Brown

Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Emanuel Leutze (1851)

"The Musicians" by my favorite artist, Caravaggio (c. 1595)

"Water Lilies," Claude Monet (1919)

Self-Portrait with a straw hat, Vincent Van Gogh (1887)

"A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," Georges Seurat (1886)

11th-century bronze statue of "Nataraja" - depiction of Hindu god, Shiva, as a dancer

Took a brief walk through Central Park.

Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park. Built in 1959, it depicts Alice, the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, and other characters from Lewis Carroll's classic tale.

Empire State Building lit up in red, white, and blue to celebrate Independence Day

Built in 1931, Empire State Building is 102-stories tall (1,250 ft).

This iconic skyscraper was the world's tallest building for many years.

Chaos reigns at Times Square

I loved the design of these signs at the subway stops

We took the subway to the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn and walked back to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge.

view of Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn Bridge/Dumbo

completed in 1883, Brooklyn Bridge was the first bridge to span the East River, connecting Manhattan Island to Long Island. When it opened, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world (1,595 ft)