John & Anne Wiley

Today we walked to the U.N. on yet another NYC adventure. We paused along our 42nd St. trek to admire a small city park framing the Empire State in the fuzzy distance with its top vanishing in the low clouds.

9297 Earth & Sky

We detoured slightly again passing the glorious NY Public Library. Ever a bastion of knowledge, it shines inside and out for the city and the world.

9303 NY Library Hall

We slowed to snap the sculpture adorning an entrance to Grand Central Station.

9309 Grand Entrance

Always a personal fascination for me, the Chrysler building’s adornments caught my eye and we went into the lobby for a couple of architectural design minutes.

9314 Building Hood Ornament

I’ll spare you a lot of words and pictures to focus on a major highlight: meeting a man who we believe is doing more for world peace and humanity than anyone else we know.

9336 Man Of Merit

The brilliant son of two dear friends, he now works to help world leaders solve Big Problems. We enjoy his easy, affable humility and our brief conversation in his incredibly busy day provided a bounty of substance and inspiration.

9331 Open Mind

As one would expect, yet we didn’t somehow anticipate, his assistant was another luminous source of light.

9342 Facilitator

Walking back we climbed from busy 42nd Street up the steps into a little wonderland named Tudor City Greens, pondering life amid the hope and peril of our species.

9351 Path Less Travelled

We rode today. From midtown Manhattan to New Jersey and back. Well, to the ferry, but let’s start nearer the beginning. Here’s a zoom shot from near the World Financial Center building, of the angel atop City Hall.

9091 Goverment Blessed

We rode past WTC being rebuilt, and noted all the visitors and their somber mood. We visited Wall Street, including the iconic bull sculpture where I made an Edhat photo.

9155 Bag Enigma

Tourists posing with and/or touching various parts of the creature were puzzled greatly by my gesture. You have the advantage of the Edhat link here. I thought about how a bull market ran amok in the “china shop” of our economy recently. We then rode the Staten Island Ferry for some different views of the city and Lady Liberty.

9193 Torch Bearer

We talked about how stirring she was for people about to land at nearby Ellis Island, and still inspires people from around the world. Then we rode out to mid-span of the Brooklyn Bridge for another view of the city and this cliche tangle shot of the bridge.

9247 Brooklyn Bridge

To round out the day we found an Italian restaurant and then walked (happy to be off the bikes!) over to Times Square for a look at the lights.

0512 Times Square

Now we will sleep! 🙂

Today we saw many of the papers associated with the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, and most of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library that helped shape much of the thinking behind that famous document. But the title of this post is also about the state of my mind and body. My personal constitution does not seem to be fully up to a perfect union. My feet are blistered, I’m scuffed and scraped and sore all over. Having slept in a different hotel for three nights in a row, and different states many times along our path thus far, my mind is getting fuzzy. We began today’s touring with a Capital Bikeshare ride to the Smithsonian “castle.”

8481 Cool Castle

The other time we were here, it was closed so we didn’t get to look inside. Even tho it’s an information center with some interactive exhibits for kids, I was curious about the interior design. Though nice it’s not up to the look of the outside, but now I know. And I still love these fanciful brick buildings. 🙂

8488 Brick Fancy

Then over to the awesome original Library of Congress building, built under budget and over specification with exceptional artistry added by the artisans who wanted to leave their mark on history.

8517 Two Guys

The two guys are reading by the light of torches symbolizing knowledge, one young learning for career and the other old learning for the pure joy of it. “Adult Ed,” I said to Anne, pointing at the old dude. “Lifelong Learning,” she replied gesturing at the pair.

After an inspiring tour and our own wander, we walked over to the home of the Supremes, and mingled with visitors from around the world, looking at yet more magnificent stone carving and taking photos of each other.

8543 Supreme Court View

Then back on the bikes for a glorious ride to the Jefferson Memorial, which unlike this photo was quite sharp and clear.

8554 Fuzzy Jefferson

Our memories of the remains of the day are sharp, as are pix on Anne’s camera, but this is after I dropped mine and found it doesn’t focus distant anymore. We visited the Vietnam Wall after dark, passed the White House one last time, then back to our latest hotel to prepare for a flight (hopefully) to New Haven, CT. Flying and our destination will both do much to restore my constitution. 🙂