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CLICK HERE if you'd like to see my pictures from Hiroshima, Japan.
It seems that not much has changed at the U.N. - on the surface.
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They still wear the same 50's flight-attendant uniforms. The international staff of Guards wear bell-bottoms.
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Then again, the U.N.'s basic mission is still the same...
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...To be a place where the nations of the world can work out their problems without having to resort to war...
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A place for dialogue, and action towards peace.
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The U.N. held a few surprises for me. I thought I knew a lot about them. But I had no idea what they'd accomplished.
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An original branch of the U.N. was the Trusteeship Council. Their job was to end colonialism and lead former colony-nations to self rule. They accomplished their mission in 1994, when Palau became an official U.N. Member.
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Here is the U.N. Security Council Chambers. The Ambassadors sit around the table. Each one has four chairs behind him for assistants and advisors. The windows high on the right wall are for all the translators.
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Here is an incredible ivory sculpture given to the U.N. by China.
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It shows the Chengtu-Kunming railway in incredible detail. Click on the picture to see it up close.
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This is a tapestry depicting the tragedy of the meltdown at Chernobyl.
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Finally we reached the greatest part of the tour, the U.N. General Assembly hall.
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Nations are placed alphabetically around the room.
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There are seats in the back for visitors to watch the proceedings.
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And that's my tour of the U.N.!
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The U.N. was very impressive, but my day was only starting.
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It was still early, and I had a lot to see.
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The thing that surprised me most about New York was how much of the city I recognized from playing the Spider-Man 2 video game...
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I kept coming around corners and thinking "This is where I fought The Rhino," and "This is where the Muggers hide."
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I came around one corner looking for the place where you save your game; Found a comic book store instead.
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Next stop: Chrysler Building.
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The Chrysler Building is the coolest of New York's Art Deco buildings.
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Tourists can only go in the lobby. There's no Observation Deck like in the Empire State Building.
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The ceiling had a very cool fresco on it showing - you guessed it - the Chrysler Assembly Line.
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The Chrysler building seen in reflection on the building next door.
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GRAND CENTRAL STATION. It's bigger than it looks in the movies.
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Ky thought it was funny that I recognized all the New York landmarks only in the context of how they appeared in films.
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Grand Central was full of people doing the Waltz in "The Fisher King."
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Cary Grant was here in "North by Northwest."
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The Hindenburg III flew over it in the opening of "Sky Captain."
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Also they have trains there. And stuff.
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It's hard to grasp the scale of this building by looking at tiny pictures of it on the internet.
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The ceiling is decorated with a giant map of the constellations. I'm told they light up at night.
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From Grand Central, I kept heading south.
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I didn't really have a destination. I kind of just kept seeing cool stuff and walking toward it.
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It was only a day after the great blizzard, but the streets were almost completely clear.
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There was a scary moment on Broadway when the woman walking in front of me got beaned by a falling icicle. She got a cut on her head and had to go into a store for first aid.
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New York had this amazing plan of dumping all the plowed snow on pre-selected streets, then melting it all with SNOWMELTERS.
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Snowmelters were big tanks of 60-degree water. Bulldozers would dump snow into them, which would melt and drain straight into the sewers.
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As a result, there were six-inch-deep puddles of freezing water on every streetcorner. But the streets? They were clear.
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Hey look! It's the New York Public Library. That's where Peter Parker's Uncle Ben was shot by a carjacker that Peter had earlier let escape, leading to Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man. Tough lesson, Peter.
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Finally I arrived at the World Trade Center site. This was the quietest place in all of New York.
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Visitors read the displays quietly. Commuters passed by with reverence. It was as if even the cars knew to be silent in this area.
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Next I met up with Ky to visit the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING!
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(You may of course remember this building from the movie "King Kong.")
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First we went up to the 86th floor Observatory. It was PACKED.
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Coolest part of this level? The Observation Deck was originally intended to be used as an Airship Docking station.
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You heard me right. Zeppelins. Blimps. Cruise Ships of the Sky.
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The 86th floor was set up with ticket booths, a customs office, even baggage handlers. But it wasn't going to be as easy as planned.
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The airships were to be moored atop the metal tower, 200 feet above the 86th floor.
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Passengers would have had to climb down a thin gangplank, then down long ladders to reach the elevators.
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(I'm trying to imagine an old lady in heels and a fur wrap climbing down those ladders.)
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But there were even greater problems with the airship docking plan. Like the high winds that come with being a quarter-mile in the sky.
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The airship would only be tied down from the front, with no ground lines to secure it in place against buffeting winds.
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Dropping ballast would mean dumping thousands of gallons of water on the streets below.
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Can you imagine if the Hindenburg hadn't exploded in an empty field in New Jersey, but a thousand feet over the bustling streets of New York?
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Let's just say the Zeppelin plan didn't quite work out.
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You may also recognize the Empire State Building's Observation Deck from the movie "Sleepless in Seattle."
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Now comes the real treat. Ky and I paid extra to go to the very very top of the building!
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We took a rickety old elevator up, up, up...
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...To th 102nd floor.
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It was a tiny little room, and hardly anybody was up there.
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You may, of course, remember this as the room where the giant gorilla placed Ann Darrow near the end of "King Kong." She would later climb out onto the roof and watch him punch planes.
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Here's a look down an empty elevator shaft from the 86th floor. Spooooooky....
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...And here's the directory of occupants. All billion and a half of them.
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Here's Ky in the entryway... On our way out. And with that, a long and awesome day two was complete!
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More Adventures Await in days three and four, with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Supersonic Spy Planes, and the Gameboy that Survived the Gulf War!
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