2nd day of necessary travel - Iconic Buildings and Empty Streets

36th and  Park Avenue, looking north

April 2nd I had 2 more appointments at NYU Langone. I took my camera along again, of course!

The day before, I hadn't been able to resist the boat ride. Day 2, I knew there would be a good bit of time between meeting with my oncologist and the 3rd test that was scheduled, so I decided to do a little walking around the midtown east neighborhood where the Perlmutter Women's Imaging center is located. I've made a lot of visits up to this neighborhood since my first diagnosis in 2015, but I always had to get back to work - I would look at the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building as I came and went, and I would think the requisite oooh and aaah thoughts, but I never took a camera. This time I knew I would have time to get some nice photos of these iconic building, and I also really wanted to get some of those empty street photos that represent this strange time in NYC so well. I am going to do some descriptions on these, but click on any photo for a better view.

This second photo isn't that great, but I'm including it as it shows an experiment that only ran for around 10 days. Certain city streets were closed to vehicle traffic so that residents could use them for walking - the idea was that sidewalks could be too crowded and this would encourage residents to get out for exercise (considered an essential activity) while maintaining social distancing. It ended up not being very popular, and it took a lot of police to maintain, but it was really interesting to see Park Avenue like this during its brief stint as a pedestrian mall. 

More Park Avenue cherry trees

Looking north on an empty Lexington Avenue. Middle of the day on a weekday, this should be full of traffic!

Caught my eye as I was walking north

Heading towards the Chrysler Building

Chrysler Building

Chrysler Building and its neighbor to the south, the Socony-Mobil Building. I've always liked the almost quilted effect on the steel panels with which this mid-50's landmark building is clad.

Time to wander meant time to discover historic surprises on the side streets in the area - neat!

This was hung outside of an Indian restaurant and caught my eye, and of course I wondered what the significance was. I did a little Googling later, and it turns out to be meant to either ward off bad luck or possibly lend a healthy quality to the air around it - either one most appropriate right now. Click here for a variety of explanations on the Quora q and a website. Also found a really yummy looking northwestern Chinese place a little bit south of here - test #3 was one of those barium milkshake ones where you can't eat for 7 hours beforehand, so I just tortured myself reading the menu, then went back later, ravenously hungry, and ended up buying enough food for me and TQ for half the week! Sorry no pix but I'll give 'em a link, Dunhuang Noodles had some really scrumptious food! 

Another side street in the area

I just liked this

And last but not least - the Empire State Building. I've taken way more pictures of this one than the Chrysler Building, but hey - it never gets old!