Spring Cleaning NYC style

The cold weather is finally gone. There was a shortened Spring...but Summer is now upon us. As we look up in this beautiful city, we see that the window washers are out in full force.

 You have to look closely.....they look like little bugs climbing up a wall!

Cleaning the windows of a residential building can be interesting. Sometimes the window washers make soap smiley faces on the windows for the children that are staring at them! 

These men brave the elements...heat, rain and gusts of wind!

When nature takes charge....all you can do is hold on and hope your safety devices work!

Imagine having to clean the windows of the 'Freedom Tower'!

In November 2014, scaffolding broke and 2 window washers dangled from the 68th floor of this Tower for hours. Finally, firemen were able to cut through a window and pull them to safety!

So how much does a guy get paid for doing this dangerous job? You would be surprised.

Starting out, you may only make $12-$15 an hour.  Not worth it, you say?

 Some make $20-$30 an hour. The average wage for a window washer in New York City is 36% higher than anywhere else in the US.

So...If you are a window washer and you have a love of heights, New York City is your town to work in!

The Time Warner Towers. Each tower takes 6 men 4 months to clean an entire building.

Since buildings need to be cleaned twice a year, so it is a never-ending job!

This is one of the tallest residential towers in Manhattan.  It is on the South end of Central Park.  They designed a multi-million dollar crane just to clean the building.  This particular day they were out cleaning.  When not in use the crane collapses and goes back inside the roofline of the building.  The cleaning platform lowers down one swath and moves and comes back up the next row of windows.  It is continuous and runs automatically.

These guys were only up about 10 stories.  Hope they get more than $12 an hour.

These two window washers are 'safely' tucked in their scaffolding platform...

 No scaffolding for this guy...He was 'jumping' from window to window as if he were Spiderman!

So, which building has the hardest windows to clean?

The hardest windows to clean in the city...the Empire State Building. Why? Because people keep throwing things out of the windows. (Yes, the windows still open!) One window washer reported that someone on one of the top floors threw out 20 gallons of strawberry preserves. It was winter; and the preserves not only drizzled down a myriad of windows but froze to them! Those windows were almost impossible to clean!

We love New York City and everything there is to do.  At the top of the list is still attending the Temple.

 

Memorial Day in Manhattan 2015

The Temple was opened today even though it was a national holiday and a Monday.  There are many who can only attend the temple on a Holiday because of work and many visiting NYC.  Stan and I were coordinators today and everything seemed to go smoothly. 
We were busy as many attended sessions and participated in the ordinances in the Temple.  It was a warm day in New York City, and afterwards we came home and rested.
This evening we went out and walked through Times Square. Our destination...to see the Empire State Building lite up in a special way.

 Times Square was VERY crowded and reminded us a lot of walking the Strip in Las Vegas. With the summer season approaching, we are not sure when we will do this again!

This was a great sight...seeing the Empire State Building in Red White and Blue.  We are proud of this great nation.  We are also so blessed to live in this great land and the freedoms we enjoy.  We are so thankful to be serving in the New York Manhattan Temple.  What a great day!

New York Philharmonic

This morning we walked across the street and attended an Open Rehearsal for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.  They were playing selections from Johannes Brahms, a 19th Century German composer and pianist.

 We arrived early as they were setting up and warming up.

I am still amazed at this unique and beautiful theater.

A quick 'Selfie'...Getting ready for the rehearsal to start.

In an Open Rehearsal, the Conductor stops and starts the selections at will. This is the very last time to practice before the show tonight.

As you can tell by the number of people attending, these types of performances are very popular with the general public. Great quality of music for a fraction of the price.

With a little moving around of the chairs, the final selections were played with great piano solos.

 Leaving the concert and looking out of the Avery Hall at Lincoln Center you see the best sight in Manhattan...the Temple.

Another exciting event going on today.  They closed Columbus Avenue to have an open market.  Something else for drivers to honk about...   Another great morning. Now it's time to get ready for the REAL reason we are here....to serve the Lord in the temple!

Walking home from the Tram, guess what we found?

We had had a great morning riding the Roosevelt Tram, exploring Roosevelt Island, watching the boats and activity on the East River, enjoying the view of a most beautiful city...and great company (it's always fun to be with Stan!), that we decided to walk down 60th Street and head toward 5th Avenue.

Look what we ran into? Serendipity!  A great little restaurant made famous by a movie of the same name.

Serendipity is famous for their large collection of Tiffany style lights and...

...their frozen hot chocolates! We decided to have lunch there and try one. It was awesome! Now...it's time to hurry home and great ready for a great night working at the temple. A great day, soon to be followed by a great night! I love this mission!

A Trip to Roosevelt Island

This morning we decided to head east and cross the East River and visit Roosevelt Island..not by subway, not by bus, not even by foot!

Today we were taking the Roosevelt Island Aerial Tramway which began operating in 1976.

Each tram has the capacity to hold 110 passengers.

These two trams make approximately 115 trips per day...running from 6 am to 2 am- 3:30 am on the weekends. It is a major source of 'people moving' from many low to middle income apartments located on Roosevelt Island to Manhattan.

This fun 4 minute ride offers great views of the Queensboro Bridge...a 10 lane bridge (4 upper lanes and 6 lower lanes) that connects Manhattan to the borough of Queens.

The underside of this incredible structure. See the tram on the right!

The Roosevelt Tram also offers great views of Manhattan along the East River.

See the structure with the red roof? If you look closer, it has a roller coaster type track on the top of it. What is it? A dog park!

The tram ride was really fun. This Tramway has been highlighted in many movies....one being Spiderman (2002 version).

Continuing our Tour of New York....

Just getting off the cruise, we continue our P-Day by making  our way to Times Square to get on a double-decker bus tour!

Dozens of double-decker buses fill the (already) crowded street of New York. Because of their favorable ratings, we chose 'Big Bus Tours USA'...and we're glad we did.

Taking the 'Downtown Tour', we had  to sit on the open level. After all, this is New York! We would be looking UP most of the time at these incredible skyscrapers.

Like I mentioned, we started in Times Square passing one of the largest digital screens (nearly 24 million LED pixels) in the world. It stands 8 stories high and is the length of a football field...that spans an entire city block.

The 'Bowtie' at Times Square. More than 300,000 people walk through this area on a given day. Many more during the holidays!

The home of the popular show 'Good Morning America' is in the heart of Times Square.

Not a bad seat on the 'Big Bus'.  This is the only way to see New York. Let me show you some of the sights we saw...

This is a 76-story residential tower whose exterior is covered with stainless steel waves that reflect the light and transform the appearance of the structure through the day.

Can't remember what this building was....but it was cool!

The Woolworth Building...owned by the five and dime millionaire, Frank W. Woolworth. It was the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1913.

VERY colorful and different!

This building looks like a 'transporter' from a Star Wars movie!

The Freedom Tower....1776 feet high (a very relevant number!)....can't help but be a favorite...and it was a gorgeous day which was reflected by this incredible structure.

New Yorkers have an award for the 'Ugliest Skyscraper'. Can you guess which building has won that honor? (It is a residential apartment building.)

As we transitioned from touring Downtown NYC to Uptown NYC, we passed a very familiar site...the globe in front of the Trump Tower/Columbus Circle. And we were on our way Uptown!

The best thing we saw on the Uptown tour was Grant's Tomb located in River Park...which was designed by the same men that designed Central Park. The Park was green and gorgeous with lots of trees, playgrounds and great views of the Hudson River. Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), the famous Union Army Commanding General in the Civil War and 18th President of the United States, and his wife are here. This mausoleum is the biggest in the USA at 8,100 square feet.

Heading back to the middle of town, we passed Bryant Park AND the only public restroom in downtown NYC!

As we returned to Times Square, we had had a full day! A cruise, a Downtown tour and an Uptown tour! We were worn out but started to get our energy back as the lights to all these wonderful skyscrapers began to appear. (Above: The Empire State Building) Yes, we had one more tour to do today....The Night Tour of NYC lights. A fun, exhausting and long P-Day!