Day Four - Bagels, Buses and Broadway

Well, the Yankees lost to the Mets 2-1 last night, but we had great seats and my friends bought me a pretzel and crackerjacks! I learned that the American national anthem is call the Star Spangled Banner, written by a man named Francis Scott Key. It doesn't sound anything like O Canada, but I liked it, especially the "rockets red glare" part because they set off fireworks in the stadium!

Today is Saturday, so I am planning to do some sightseeing. At first I went to Starbucks, because I heard everyone talking about their coffee. I didn't stay because I didn't understand anything the people in there were saying. I don't know what a "half-caff-skinny-carmel-soy-mocha" is, but I was pretty sure I didn't want it!

So, I left Starbucks, and decided to I start my day with breakfast at Tom’s Restaurant. Tom’s is famous because it was regularly used in the very popular T.V. show, Seinfeld.

I asked my waiter what to order for breakfast, and he told me if this was my first time in New York City, I had to try a “bagel all the way”. He explained to me that it is a toasted "everything" bagel (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onion, garlic) with A LOT of cream cheese, red onion, lettuce, tomato, capers (which I thought tasted like green olives), and Lox, which is smoked salmon.

At first I thought he was kidding with me, because I have never heard of anyone eating something like that for breakfast! He assured me it was not a joke, so I tried it and to my surprise, it was delicious! I told him that I really liked it, but I didn’t think I could eat one every day! My waiter said neither do people in NYC. In fact, when asked, most people in New York answer “just coffee” if you ask them what they have for breakfast. I guess that's because they are always in a hurry!  

                                          "BAGEL ALL THE WAY"

Fun NYC Factoid:

Because people in New York City drink so much coffee and always seem to be in a rush to get somewhere, the term "a New York Stir" was born. The term means that you pour your coffee in a "to-go" cup, dump in the milk, or cream and sugar and run out the door. While you are walking (or running), you plug the hole in the lid of the cup with your index finger, flip it upside down, shake it to mix the milk and sugar...and that my friends is a "New York Stir"!





After breakfast I took a tour on one of NYC’s guided tour buses.  It was lots of fun because you can get off and then get back on wherever you want! There are a lot of these tour buses around the City, so as long as you have a ticket, you can ride any bus you like!

ME ON MY TOUR BUS

On my tour I got to see Times Square where they drop the ball on New Year’s Eve. It was really crowded because it is a very popular tourist area. I didn’t like all the people because I was afraid of getting stepped on, so I got back on my bus!

ONE TIMES SQUARE

Later, I am going to a Broadway show called The Championship Season. It’s not a show for kids, but Mrs. Gauthier said that since I am 22 years old, it will be ok for me to see. I am really looking forward to it!

THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF BROADWAY!

Fun NYC Factoid:

The average temperature at midnight in New York City since the ball dropping tradition began in 1907 is 33.7 °F (1 °C). The coldest event was in 1917 when the temperature was 1 °F (−17 °C), the second coldest was 11 °F (−12 °C) in 1962. The warmest ball drop was 58 °F (14 °C) in both 1965 and 1972. It has snowed during the ball drop just six times out of 103 events, 1926, 1934, 1948, 1952, 1961, 1967 and it has rained multiple times.

Day Three - Yankees Stadium

Tonight my new friends at MSM invited me to a Yankee's game. I am very excited to see the new Yankee stadium!

ME ON THE FIELD!

The Yankees are playing another local team, the New York Mets. There is a long-standing rivalry between the two teams, much like that between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadians! When the two teams play against one another, New Yorkers call it a "subway series" because, if they really wanted to, the two baseball teams could actually travel between Yankee Stadium and City Field by riding the subway! (they don't though).

THE NEW YANKEE STADIUM

Fun NYC Factoid:

The first owners of the team now known as the New York Yankees were Frank Ferrell and Bill Devry. They purchased the franchise from Baltimore and moved the team to New York on January 9, 1903.

When they came to New York, the old Baltimore team was renamed the New York Highlanders. The Highlanders played their home games at Hilltop Park, located at168th street and Broadway. The team's name was officially changed to the New York Yankees in 1913.

Plans for Yankee Stadium began in 1921. It took only 284 days to build Yankee Stadium. White Construction Company of New York built the Stadium for a cost of $2.5 million. The first game ever played at Yankee Stadium was on April 18th, 1923 against the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees won the game 4-1.

Day Three - Back to City Hall

This morning I headed back down to City Hall to meet the New York City Comptroller, John Liu, and the New York City Public Advocate, Bill De Blasio.

MR. LIU AND ME

John C. Liu is the current Comptroller of the City of New York. He was a very nice man and he told me a lot of things about his job as Comptroller.

I learned that the Comptroller is independently elected by the voters of the City, not appointed by the Mayor. The New York City Comptroller is the Chief Financial Officer of the City of New York, which basically means he is in charge of managing the City's money. Mr. Liu's job is to ensure the financial health of New York City by advising the Mayor, the City Council, and the public of the City's financial condition. The Comptroller also makes recommendations on City programs and operations, fiscal policies, and financial transactions. 

MR. DE BLASIO AND ME

Bill de Blasio is the current Public Advocate for NYC. He also told me lots of interesting things. He explained to me that the Public Advocate is also independently elected by the voters in New York City. The job of the Public Advocate is, mostly that of a "watchdog", ensuring that all New Yorkers receive the City services they deserve and have a voice in shaping the policies of their government. The Public Advocate is also an important participant in the legislative process. The Public Advocate also influences City planning, the budget process, and the management of retirement funds.

Mr. De Blasio told me that his top priorities as NYC's Public Advocate are: giving public school parents a voice in the education system; making government more efficient and transparent; and helping New Yorkers who are in need.

Fun NYC Factoid:

There was originally no marble cladding at the back side of New York's, City Hall building becuase the architects who designed it did not expect New York to expand further north.

Day Two - My Visit to Gracie Mansion

After I finished my visit to the Mayor’s office, and Wall St., I took the 1 Train back uptown to 242^nd St. Then I took a cross-town bus all the way to the East River, to tour Gracie Mansion.

ME ON THE NYC SUBWAY, 1 TRAIN UPTOWN

Gracie Mansion is the official home of the Mayor of New York City. Built during 1799, it is located in a park at East End Avenue and 88th St.. The mansion is on the shore of the East River.

                         ME AT GRACIE MANSION

Archibald Gracie built the original two-story wooden mansion. A different building on approximately the same site was commandeered by George Washington during the Revolutionary War, as it strategically overlooked the river. That building was called Belview Mansion. The British destroyed this house during the war. Archibald Gracie then built another building, what is now known as Gracie Mansion, on the same site during 1799, and used it as a country home until 1823, when he had to sell it to pay debts.

Today Gracie Mansion house may only be used for official city business. Only visiting public officials and the mayor's family may reside with the mayor at the mansion, even for a single overnight stay.


Fun NYC Factoid:

Mayor Bloomberg has never actually lived in Gracie Mansion. He is divorced and if he allowed his girlfriend to stay at Gracie Mansion, even for one day, it would violate the rules against a political official using a taxpayer-funded home for a private citizen. Mayor Bloomberg lives in an apartment close by, and only uses Gracie Mansion as a place to stay for visiting dignitaries and to host special events.

Day Two - My Visit to Wall St.

I didn’t really understand what the tour guide was talking about when she said that Mayor Bloomberg ran for office a third time because of the “Wall St. financial crisis”, so I decided to visit Wall St., while I was downtown and see if I could learn some more.

I learned that Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the actual street which is eight blocks long. Over time, the term has come to mean the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or New York-based financial interests.

Wall St. is the home of the New York Stock Exchange. A stock exchange is a place where people called brokers buy and sell stocks for their customers. There are many stock exchanges throughout the world. The largest one is the New York Stock Exchange, often called the NYSE. It began exchanging stocks in 1792. In that year, 24 brokers got together under a buttonwood tree and signed a contract vowing that they would trade only with one another. It became known as the Buttonwood Agreement.

                 ME AT THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE

From this the NYSE has grown into the largest exchange in the world. It is located on 18 Broad Street. Six marble columns are on the outside of the building. It has 16 separate trading floors. Electronic boards on two of the walls give the latest information on the stock values. These big boards may have helped give the exchange its nickname-the Big Board.

I was very lucky that a friend of Mrs. Gauthier’s works on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, so I got to take a tour. It was very loud and a little scary! All the stock brokers were yelling and talking on their cell phones, while watching the numbers change on the big electronic boards. I didn’t really understand any of it, but it was very exciting! Then at 4:00 PM a very funny thing happened. A bell rang and all the yelling and talking suddenly stopped! They explained to me that all trading ceases at 4:00 PM every day, and the stock brokers can’t do any more work buying and selling stocks until the bell rings again at 9:30 AM tomorrow morning.

                 TRADERS WATCHING THE MONITORS AT THE NYSE

On my tour of the NYSE, I asked about the “Wall St. financial crisis”. The tour guide told me that it is a very complicated problem that was caused by Wall St. companies who got very greedy, trying to make more and more money. I asked her why it was a problem for the Wall St. companies to make more money, when it was their job to make money. She explained that there were a lot of things involved in the problem, but one of the biggest was that many of the big Wall St. companies raised the value of homes in the U.S., and then allowed people to borrow more money against their homes than the homes were actually worth. They big companies didn’t invest any of the money they made from these loans wisely, and instead, the bosses of the companies used the money to pay for vacations, cars, fancy houses, jewelry, and other extravagant things. When the time came to repay all of the loans, there was no money left and that was what caused the financial crisis that Mayor Bloomberg thought he could help fix by remaining in office for a third term.

Day Five - Sandwiches and Central Park

I got home from the theatre very late last night. The show was really good and I got to go back stage and meet Mr. Gaffigan and Mr. Sutherland. They were both really nice and they showed me around the set. It was cool to actually stand on a Broadway stage!

I slept in very late this morning and then took the F Train downtown to the world-famous Katz's Deli for lunch.

I learned that in 1888 a Russian immigrant family established a delicatessen in New York's Lower East Side, which is still know at Katz's. Long before refrigeration, smoking, pickling and other curing methods of prolonging the useful life of food had been perfected.

In the early part of the twentieth century, the Lower East Side was home to millions of newly emigrated families. Lack of public and private transportation forged a solid community. Katz's reputation for recreating the flavors of the Old World created a loyal following for many generations of residents and visitors to New York.

Fun NYC Factoid:

True delicatessens are real—and rare—because they continue a tradition of meat preparation and preservation predating refrigeration.

After lunch, I took the F Train back to Penn Station in Midtown. From there I took the 1 Train uptown to 59^th St., to visit Central Park.

ME IN CENTRAL PARK

I learned that Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan. The park initially opened in 1857, on 843 acres (3.41 km²) of city-owned land. I learned that in 1858, Fredrick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan. Construction began the same year and was completed in 1873.

Designated an historic landmark in 1963, the park is currently managed by the nonprofit Central Park Conservancy, under contract with the city government.

ME AND DAISY

While I was there, I took a horse-drawn carriage ride. My horse’s name was Daisy, and both she and her driver were very friendly. On my ride through the park, I got to see the pond, Strawberry fields, the Great Lawn, and many interesting statues. The driver told me lots of interesting things about the park, its history and the activities which take place there all year round. I learned so many things I couldn’t possible write them all in my blog, but I suggest you check out http://www.centralpark.com to learn more about this amazing place!

                                                        

Day Two - My Visit to the Mayor's Office

It’s my second day in New York City!

This morning I learned how to take the subway. I had to buy something called a MetroCard, which looks like a thin credit card and has a cash value. I swipe my MetroCard in a slot at the subway turnstile, and it allows me access to the NYC subway system.

This Morning I am taking the 1 Train downtown, to the Mayor’s office. The Mayor is the head of the Executive branch of the local government. His office is in City Hall.

                                               CITY HALL BUILDING

The current Mayor of New York City is Michael Bloomberg. Mayor Bloomberg is a very rich man. In fact, he is the 13^th richest person in the United States. He is the founder and owner of Bloomberg L.P., a financial news and information services media company. People here refer to his company as Bloomberg Radio. Mayor Bloomberg is also very short! I was surprised when I met him to find out that he is only a little bit taller than I am!

MAYOR BLOOMBERG AND ME

On my tour of City Hall, I learned that the Mayor of New York City can serve a maximum of two terms in office, each lasting for 4 years. One of the most significant and extremely controversial decisions that Mayor Bloomberg has made while in office, was to seek re-election for a third term. In October of 2008, Mr. Bloomberg announced that he would seek to extend the city's term limits law, and run for mayor a third time in 2009. He argued that New York City needed an expert in finance during the "Wall Street financial crisis".  Apparently New Yorkers agreed with him, and he won the third election by a landslide.  Many people believe that one of the reasons Mayor Bloomberg was re-elected for a third time is that, because he is so rich, he has never taken a paycheck from the City of New York.

I also learned that Mr. Bloomberg was a lifelong Democrat before seeking elective office. He changed his registration in 2001 and ran for mayor as a Republican, winning the election that year and a second term in 2005. After winning the 2005 election, Mayor Bloomberg left the Republican Party over policy disagreements and ran for his third term in 2009 as an Independent candidate.

Fun NYC Factoid:

 

Before Metrocards, New Yorkers used tokens to ride the subway. Subway tokens were about the size of a Loonie, with a hole punched in the middle.

New York City finally eliminated the use of subway tokens in May, 2003. The introduction of MetroCards did eliminate one class of criminals. When the NYC subway still used tokens, criminals who were referred to as “token suckers” would steal tokens by jamming turnstile coin slots, waiting for unsuspecting passengers to deposit tokens (only to discover that the turnstile did not work), then returning to “suck” out the token. The retirement of tokens in 2003 put the token suckers out of commission, or, at the very least, forced them to find new ways of scamming the system.

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