(Photo) Grand Central Oyster Bar.

Piece 1: Grand Central Terminal. One of the most famous transit hubs, Grand Central Terminal, is located at the intersection of 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

Established in 1913, it is one of the largest and busiest railroad stations in the world.

We really enjoyed seeing the clocks at Grand Central.

The “Tiffany Clock” on the outside of the building near the main entrance is a time piece imbedded in a massive sculpture featuring Greek gods relevant to transportation (e.g; Mercury to symbolize speed).

Inside the terminal, within the main concourse, there is a beautiful clock made of brass and opal glass (located above the information desk) that has four faces.

All of the Grand Central clocks are continuously managed for time accuracy by the atomic clock at the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC.

Also on the main concourse is a European-style gourmet food market and several retail shops, some with interesting souvenir items. We bought a miniature Bozo the Clown bop bag to add to our ever-growing assortment of bobble head dolls, retro toys, and other fun (and impractical) knickknacks.

Finally, we descended to the lower (dining) concourse to visit the Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant, which has been around about as long as the terminal.

We sat at the bar and enjoyed some really delicious Manhattan Clam Chowder, which had a tomato base and plenty of clams.

The restaurant has some interesting architectural elements; one in particular is its arched terracotta tile ceiling.

UN Security Council Chamber

Piece 2: United Nations (UN) Headquarters. About a 15-minute walk east along 44th Street from Grand Central Terminal is the UN Headquarters (760 United Nations Plaza).

The campus of buildings (covering just under 20 acres) was completed in the early 1950’s and runs adjacent to the East River.

The Secretariat Building, a 39-story skyscraper with reflective glass walls, is the center piece of the complex.

The exterior grounds at the UN includes a compelling sculpture of a oversized handgun (Colt Python .357) with its barrel tied in a knot; intended to promote non-violence.

We scheduled the basic one-hour guided tour that includes a look inside the General Assembly Hall and the Security Council Chamber.

The General Assembly is the main policy making element of the UN. The Assembly Hall is a large meeting space (designed to accommodate just under 200 delegates) with a high ceiling and a beautiful blue, green, and gold color scheme.

The UN Security Council represents 15 countries and is charged with ensuring international peace and security. The Council Chamber, which is located in the UN Conference Building, has a horseshoe-shaped meeting table and the east wall of the space is adorned with a large mural symbolizing the promise of future peace and individual freedom.

We finished up our tour looking at exhibits in the visitor’s center, and could not resist the opportunity to send a souvenir postcard to ourselves from the UN…so it would be postmarked by the UN’s own postal agency.

Entrance to Sparks Steakhouse (Midtown)

Piece 3: Ford Foundation Building/Sparks Steakhouse. The international headquarters of the Ford Foundation, one of the largest private philanthropies in the world based on assets, is a beautiful 12-story building on East 43rd Street that features a variety of construction elements in its facade; including glass, granite, and weathered steel.

Inside the structure is a large atrium (accessible to the public) that includes many species of trees, shrubs, and vines; plus water features such as a reflecting pool and fountain.

There is also an art gallery in the Ford Foundation building that visitors can enjoy.

One last place we wanted to see during our time in Midtown was Sparks Steakhouse.

A highly rated restaurant in New York City, our interest in Sparks was not the food, but its place in organized crime history.

In 1985, Gambino crime family boss “Big Paul” Castellano was assassinated at the restaurant’s entrance, reputedly by family crew leader John Gotti.

After watching so many documentary films that vividly describe this incident, it was kind of eerie seeing the location in person. Chalk this tourist stop up to morbid curiosity, I guess.

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