Financial District of Manhattan and the Village

B yourself--

The third of five days in New York was spent exploring the Financial District and the Village and ended at Washington Square Park, where anything can, and does, happen. (Click on the orange text within the article for links to more info!)

(View Map - Manhattan on Monday - June 9, 2025)

Part three of my New York urban landscapes with people making their way through the concrete jungle, displays the classic elegance of history contrasted with bits of modernity.

Grand Central Terminal

A majestic exterior and an iconic example of Beaux-Arts architecture.

The Charging Bull on Wall Street

For people who want to take selfies with

the Bowling Green Bull's unmistakable symbol of its virility,

the line forms at the rear

The Gothic spires of Trinity Church provide a backdrop to the city's evolving modernity

under the awning of a wine shop on Broadway. The bells from the majestic church

could be heard long before it could be seen.

The Downtown Alliance Public Safety team.

In this interview, Five Questions With Alliance Security Officer Theresa Seignious (pictured on the left), you can read about the service she provides to tourists, as well as New Yorkers. After she shared useful information about Trinity Church and local business, Theresa graciously let this urban explorer take her picture. The other two guys were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, and understandably eyed me with subtle disdain!

Trinity Church

The third Trinity Church was consecrated on Ascension Day 1846 and is considered one of the first

and finest examples of Neo-Gothic architecture in the country. With its 281-foot-high steeple,

Trinity Church was the tallest building in the United States for 23 years and remained

the tallest building in New York City until 1890. (Trinity Church.)

The grave of Alexander Hamilton

Fun Facts about Alexander Hamilton: 1) Immigrated from the British West Indies in 1772, at about 14 or 15 years old. 2) Confidential aid and personal assistant to General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. 3) At the age of 20, organized a military militia in 1776. 4) In 1781, resigned as Washington's aid and personally led an attack and charge at the Battle of Yorktown, making him a war hero. 5) Was a contributor to the drafting the U.S. Constitution and coauthored many of the influential Federalist Papers. 6) First Secretary of the Treasury and architect of the Financial System. 7) As the Secretary of Treasury, Hamilton was involved in the nation's first ever sex scandal with Maria Reynolds, which led to him being blackmailed by her opportunistic husband James. He published the Reynolds Pamphlet to defend himself from accusations of corruption, some stemming from his nemesis Thomas Jefferson. 8) Hamilton's public criticism and opposition to Aaron Burr's 1804 bid to become governor of New York led to Burr challenging him to a duel where Hamilton sustained a fatal wound and died the following day. 9) Three years before in 1801, Hamilton's son Phillip participated in a fatal duel with New York lawyer George Eacker in Paulus Hook, New Jersey (today Jersey City) a few miles from where the elder Hamilton would later be mortally wounded in his duel with Burr. The exact location of Phillip's grave is unknown, though he is buried somewhere in the Trinity Churchyard, near the graves of his parents. 10) One hundred eighty-nine years after the Hamilton-Burr duel, Michael Bay created what may be the best Got Milk commercial ever, staring Sean Whalen.

Old stone buildings provide an enduring foundation,

while modern glass and concrete aspire into the mist of a cloudy New York day.

To the woman in red having a peaceful moment of solitude in the verdant graveyard of Trinity–

YOU are drop-dead gorgeous!

The Oculus

Designed to represent Hope, the Oculus is the main transportation hub at the World Trade Center.

Inside the Oculus, impromptu jam sessions take place at a colorful grand piano.

Voices carry inside this cathedral-like building.

9/11 Memorial Reflecting Pool

A gentleman in a moment of solemnity by the reflecting pools at Ground Zero.

Quite the contrast to all the Selfie Queens obsessed with their own reflection that surrounded him.

My camera lens did not focus on them! This is a mass grave for victims of the worst terrorist attack on American soil in its young history. Yeah, yeah, I know. It was before their time.