Brian and Jessica: Meandering through Manhattan

Surprise, surprise...we went sightseeing again. I know it gets so old....but not for us. :) So we started our adventures off in search of the Flatiron Building. We made a pit stop in a Bath & Body works store so Brian could check the map and I could smell lotion. Except one of the bottles that I picked up to sniff exploded into my nose. Yep. It was great, a nostril full of lotion and after I managed to wipe it all off I smelled Japanese cherry blossom all day. I guess it wans't so bad though...it could have been a disgusting one. We left, and Brian later told me that the security guard on duty gave him a sympathetic nod as we walked out the door. Apparently he sees a lot of men being dragged into the store by their wives.

Here is the Flatiron building which was just grand. Yes that is my new word...grand.

So its probably okay to ask someone to take our picture but we don't want to risk having our camera stolen. Hence single pictures of each of us.

I could keep going with pictures of it, but I will stop so you don't get sick of them. Here are some buildings rising above Madison Park. I love that the buildings are so much taller than the trees.

Madison Park again. This is where Brian eats lunch.

Empire State Building. I can't wait to go up to the top.

Another view of the park.

Farmers market in Union Square. It was so packed. There was some neat stuff. Lots of booths selling flowers and vegetables of all kinds. There was a booth from a sheep farm with homemade yarn dyed in all kinds of colors. There was a few stalls selling bread, which smelled amazing! We are going to go back and buy some when we get more money coming in. There was artists selling drawings and paintings of the New York skyline. Various meats for sale: goat, lamb, grass fed beef, etc. There were also a couple of fish vendors...yuck. I don't like the smell of fish. Brian says that he had never seen so many women with dreadlocks in one place, or ever for that matter. Interesting people and goods. Very fun.

Here is the Fashion Institute of Technology building. It is located by the Flower district (which is what we were there for and didn't see any flowers). So we went into their free museum. We like free. It was small and not overly exciting. But the clothes were original specimens, pieces from the eras presented. There were dresses from Europe in the late 1800's to dresses in the 2000's. It was interesting to see how fashion has changed over time.

Another picture of the city. It is so fun!

We found Madison Square Gardens. Here is a dorky picture of me in front of it.

Inside were posters of the different people and events that have taken place there. Brian posed in front a few of his favorites.

While we were taking a break outside of Madison Square Gardens, we noticed that the Hotel Pennsylvania is right across the street. Brian immediately started lecturing about the significance of the hotel:

The Hotel Pennsylvania is an important location in espionage history. In the 1950s, in order to keep pace with work being done by the Soviet Union, the CIA embarked upon a secret research program investigating the practical intelligence gathering uses for drugs and hypnosis. This program was called MK-ULTRA, and included early research into a recently discovered drug, LSD. Part of this research included dosing human test subjects (often without their knowledge or consent) and observing their reactions.

One of these test subjects was Dr. Frank Olson, an Army specialist in biological warfare who was attached to the project. At a weekend retreat he was dosed with the drug and observed. According to some reports, the experience caused a personality shift in the doctor, who now wanted nothing to do with germ warfare research, and threatened to go to the press with details of both the MK-ULTRA project and the Army's own bio-weapons programs.

The details get sketchy at this point, but what we know is that Frank Olson fell out of the 10th story window of the Hotel Pennsylvania. The CIA claims it was a suicide. Some evidence suggests otherwise. Either way, the first few details of the MK-ULTRA project surfaced as a result of Olson's death.

Brian knows some weird stuff.

Here is the Post Office. It makes the Chester, Idaho post office seem like a shack.

Madison Square Garden from the back.

Hotel New Yorker. I love the look of this building.

Shot of the Hotel New Yorker from a few blocks away.

Macy's Department store with the Empire State building in the background. We went in on the men's side and I didn't realize that. I was worried for a moment that there were only men's clothing. Apparently the women's section is in another wing of the building. Don't worry we found it. ;)