Saturday, May 27th New York City
We’ve had a relatively relaxing day in New York City today; as I mentioned yesterday, since we are staying 5 nights and we’ve been here a few times before, we don’t feel the need to rush around and see all the sites. We’ve got a rough list of things we’d like to do and today we have an idea to visit St. Patrick’s cathedral.
It was another beautiful, bright, and warm day so we strolled two blocks up 42nd Street and turned left under the bridge that carries Park Avenue into Grand Central Terminal for a late breakfast at The Tartinery Café. With a sleek modern design The Tartinery serves a variety of creative toast toppings for breakfast and lunch, there are several outlets throughout the city. Sandra had smashed avocado, and I had ham and swiss – both were very creative variations on the standard classics and excellently prepared, we both had the Sweet Ginger drink which included apple, pear, and ginger.
Suitable fortified, we set out for St. Patrick’s which is on 5th avenue 15 short blocks north – we decided to walk and take in the sites and shops along 5th avenue, it took us about 20 minutes, and I got 4 new bow ties enroute!
Though we’ve passed St. Patrick’s cathedral several times we actually have never been inside. The cathedral was constructed starting in 1858 to accommodate the growing Archdiocese of New York and to replace St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. Work was halted in the early 1860s during the American Civil War; the cathedral was completed in 1878 and dedicated on May 25, 1879. Entering through the small portal within the enormous bronze doors I was immediately impressed with the size, style, and atmosphere of the building – the match of many cathedrals we’ve visited in Europe, but obviously much more recently built.
Wondering through the cathedral I found myself in need of a toilet visit and found the public restrooms; they are installed in the old confessional booths – I’m sure this had led to endless jokes, but my need was no joking matter. Even though the line waiting to “go” consisted of only about 5 people, it moved very slowly – perhaps those lucky enough to get in to the toilet were also taking the opportunity to confess! After about 20 minutes, I too was praying – for the line to move faster, but Sandra came to my rescue by reminding me of the gigantic Saks department store right next door to the cathedral. No queue, large, well-maintained bathrooms – it’s a good tip to remember that when in need of the toilet in a large city, head to a department store.
Later I found an interesting news article regarding a parishioner who wrote an appeal to the pope in 2014 to have public restrooms installed in St. Patrick’s; apparently up until that time the restrooms were only for the use of the clergy. The cathedral was undergoing a large renovation in 2014 but the local church authorities refused to spend money on restrooms, hence the letter to the pope. I can only assume that the appeal was successful.
Oftentimes when we are spending an extended time away from home, we find that eating out all the time becomes a bit jaded and we long for something we can “prepare ourselves”. We enjoy finding good grocery stores or deli’s, picking out an array of meats, cheeses, bread, salads, and wine and taking our haul back to the hotel room for a night in – not quite “home cooked” but certainly the next best thing. On previous trips to New York we’ve had good success finding great food at the Grand Central Terminal Market; as we made our way back down 5th Avenue, we hope the market had survived the pandemic.
Relieved to find the market was very much still in business we sauntered through, picking out a variety of delicacies for our evening feast. From inside Grand Central the market is east of the main concourse near track 19, or you can enter from Lexington Avenue at 43rd Street. The market space is filled with dozens of separate local vendors selling gourmet food items, most sourced locally and range from bread and fresh seafood to chocolates and pastries – it’s exactly our kind of place! We especially recommend Murray’s Cheese where they are more than happy to let you taste a few samples before homing in on your purchase – they’ve been doing this in New York City since 1940!
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