Theater District to the New York Public Library

It was absolutely beautiful today.  The unseasonably warm temperatures in the low 60's had a lot of people out tonight.  I walked up to the TKTS booth in Times Square hoping to get a discounted ticket to the play Race.  A friend of mine saw the show this way on a weekend so I thought I'd have a good chance.  Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

I decided to walk over to the main branch of the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue.  This beautiful building is "guarded" by two lions. (I learned that they are often called Patience and Fortitude, as referred to by Mayor LaGuardia in the 1950's.)  I've been aware of these lions for years, even before I saw them in person, because I have a New York Public Library Reference Book at home that has a beautiful cover featuring them.

Several weeks ago when I walked by the these guardians of knowledge, they had "caps" of snow and one lion had snow on his nose.  I wish I had a camera to capture the image.  Of course, there was no snow tonight.

The library is enormous and not what I expected. Most surprising, with the exception of the Children's Library, this is not a circulation library.  There is a great reading room that is is 78 feet wide by 297 feet long, with a 52 foot high ceiling. There are also several galleries with changing exhibits.  I also saw the Map Room (although I couldn't go in because it was closed) that I have seen featured on CBS Sunday Morning.  There are daily tours so I'm hoping I get to do one before I leave New York.

I slowly meandered back to my apartment, carrying my coat over my arm and feeling like a true New Yorker as I lamented the onslaught of tourists that the warm weather was bringing to New York.  They were so obvious in Times Square but I am fully aware that I will be "one of them" again soon.