The Journey of Lex & Ada: New York Day 1: Times Square

I am 14 months old.

Mimi and Papa are coming to Boston to visit us for July 4^thholiday. Mama planned this huge New York trip for them. It is going to be the first time for Mimi and Papa to see New York, for me as well, how cool is that!

Mama booked a hotel for Mimi and Papa. We stayed at Mama’s friends, Li Cao and Xijie’s apartment. Mama and Mimi bought beautiful flower for them.

We arrived at their apartment early noon on July 1st. After we settled down everything, we went off for our first stop in New York, Times Square. Mama's friends Qun and Regan joined us from there.

See what I found about Times Square from Wikipedia: [1]

Times Square, an iconic world landmark and a symbol of New York City and the United States. Formerly named Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in April 1904 after the New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs moved its headquarters to the newly erected Times Building, which is now called One Times Square and is the site of the annual ball drop on New Year's Eve. Before and after the American Revolution, the area belonged to John Morin Scott, a general of the New York militia where he served under George Washington. Scott's manor house was at what is now 43rd Street, surrounded by countryside used for farming and breeding horses. At Times Square, the theaters of Broadway and the huge number of animated neon and LED signs have long made them one of New York's iconic images, and a symbol of the intensely urban aspects of Manhattan.

We saw the Naked Cowboy and Cowgirl at Times Square.

Do you know what the Naked Cowboy’s name is? He is Robert John Burck who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended Our Lady of the Rosary elementary school in Greenhills, Ohio, and later earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Cincinnati. On October 6, 2010, Burck formally announced that he is running for President of the United States in the 2012 U.S. election as a candidate representing the U.S. Tea Party movement. [2]

After the intensely noisy Times Square, we walked to near the Empire State Building, whose name is derived from the nickname for New York, the Empire State. It stood as the world's tallest building for 40 years, from its completion in 1931 until construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower was completed in 1972.The Empire State Building was designed by William F. Lamb from the architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, which produced the building drawings in just two weeks, using its earlier designs for the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the Carew Tower in Cincinnati, Ohio (designed by the architectural firm W.W. Ahlschlager & Associates) as a basis. [3]

We walked past the New York Public Library (NYPL). It is the third largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries. Do you know in 1978 film, The Wiz, Dorothy and Toto stumble across the library and one of its lions comes alive and joins them on their journey out of Oz [4]? It was the one on the left!

We saw the Chrysler Building from a distance. The Chrysler Building is a classic example of Art Deco architecture designed by architect William Van Alen and considered by many contemporary architects to be one of the finest buildings in New York City. It was the headquarters of the Chrysler Corporation from 1930 until the mid-1950s, but, although the building was built and designed specifically for the car manufacturer, the corporation did not pay for the construction of it and never owned it, as Walter P. Chrysler decided to pay for it himself, so that his children could inherit it. The Chrysler Building was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. The New York Times Building, which opened in 2007, is exactly level with the Chrysler Building in height. [5]

Finally, we arrived at Rockefeller Center. Rockefeller Center was named after John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who leased the space from Columbia University in 1928 and developed it from 1930. Featured prominently in the sunken plaza at the front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza is Paul Manship’s highly recognizable bronze glided stature. It is the Greek legend of the Titan Prometheus recumbent, bringing fire to mankind. The model for Prometheus was Leonardo (Leon) Nole, and the inscription from Aeschylus, on the granite wall behind, reads: "Prometheus, teacher in every art, brought the fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends." [6]