New York City 2019 – Kevin's America

Freedom Tower

The Mets won the World Series 50 years ago – 1969 – and the Mets are celebrating that championship this weekend. That is why we planned this trip.

We decided to see how much we could do in only two days in New York City!

First stop: Freedom Tower – One World Observatory

One World Observatory.
The elevator ride to the 102nd floor was amazing!
The four walls were a video of what the area looked like throughout history, and from the viewpoint of the elevator altitude – from just trees, then Colonial buildings, then 19th, and 20th century buildings, then the missing World Trade Center.

Empire State Building.
We went to the Empire State Building observation deck 2011.

This is the “Jenga Tower”, completed in 2017.
It is 54 stories tall, and the top penthouse, at 5500 square feet, sold for $28.5 million!
The lower penthouse is 6400 square feet, and sold for $32.5 million.
The views from the top penthouse are licensed, meaning you can’t take pictures from there!
(If you ever got to visit!)

Brooklyn Bridge

This is the view I wanted to capture:
New York City on the East River.

CitiField

This is the reason for the trip – the 1969 World Champion New York Mets!

It was kind of sad to see how old these guys are, and so many couldn’t attend because of health problems, and quite a few have died.

Of course, my hero Tom Seaver couldn’t make it because he no longer makes public appearances due to dementia. His family represented him at the ceremony. His four grandsons threw out the ceremonial first pitch, each to a 1969 Met player. Pretty cool.

126th Street at Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing was renamed Seaver Way, and the new CitiField address officially changed to 41 Seaver Way.

This sign was unveiled this weekend as part of the celebration.

There was a nice video showing scenes from the 1969 season.

Seaver’s plaque in the Mets’ Hall of Fame.

The Seaver display in the Mets’ Hall of Fame.

The stage for the players who were able to attend.

1986 World Championship trophy.
The 1969 trophy was being used for the weekend ceremonies, so I didn’t get to see it.

Last year’s Cy Young Award for Jacob DeGrom.

Oh, and there was a game, against the Braves. The Mets lost 5-4 after a rain delay.

Flushing

We stayed at a hotel in downtown Flushing, which is extremely Asian! We ate at a Chinese restaurant where the workers understood very little English! The food was good, though!

Fox News Headquarters

We planned to go to Fox News headquarters Sunday morning before church, hoping that we could make it on national TV with the Fox and Friends Show.

We met and spoke with Gordon Chang, who is an expert on Chinese and North Korea nuclear issues. He is a frequent guest on Fox News and Fox Business. We actually saw him on Fox News earlier this morning at our hotel before we left! He was very nice, and even gave me his business card!

Me with Ed Henry. He was very friendly and offered to take a picture with me!

After our national TV debut, we walked 18 blocks to church. Along the way, we saw…

This is an interesting one. It looks like it is only 3 rooms wide!

6th Avenue, aka Avenue of the Americas – empty at 9 AM Sunday!

Before he became president, Donald Trump almost single-handedly revitalized Manhattan for the last three decades. His name is very prominent – because he had the visions and made them become realities! Here is Trump Parc, a high end group of shops on 6th Avenue near Central Park.

We walked through a part of Central Park to get to church. Tim Keller started Redeemer Presbyterian Church in the 1970s with the desire to reach the unchurched in New York City. It is very multi-ethnic, and there are now multiple churches throughout the city. His son is the pastor at the one here at Lincoln Square. We sang traditional hymns, and an Andre Crouch spiritual! The preaching was very Christ-centered, and was refreshing. The people here were very welcoming and friendly.

After church we walked to Trump Tower, along the way we saw…
Greystone Arch in Central Park.

The “tower” of Trump International Hotel and Tower.

I thought this was pretty funny – this side of a Central Park monument is covered with pigeons, in the shade. The other side, in the sun, had no pigeons!

Columbus Circle, Christopher Columbus statue.

Trump Tower

This was another major goal of our trip – Trump Tower, another building built by Donald Trump, and his name is prominently displayed all over this magnificent building!

This elevator was prominently in the news after Donald Trump won the 2016 election. Many people were filmed getting on these elevators to meet with President-Elect Trump as he began building his transition team.

Donald Trump leaves an elevator at Trump Tower in 2016.

We ate lunch at Trump Grill:
Shrimp Scampi for her; Trump Burger for me!

This wall is a four-story tall waterfall – simply beautiful!

This is the famous hallway to the Trump Tower restrooms.
At the end of the hall, women to the left, men to the right.

I really wanted to recreate this scene from Trump’s escalator ride in June 2016 to announce he was running for President, so…

Fifth Avenue

Leaving Trump Tower, we strolled down Fifth Avenue, window shopping and soaking in the famous buildings. We had over three hours to spend on our way back to our bus.