The day after Thanksgiving has taken on the title of Black\nFriday. Supposedly when businesses are in the black, although it was first used\nin Philadelphia in the 1960s as a term describing the high volume of people,\ntraffic (smog), hence the streets were black. Either way, people get out and\nspend big because of the sales offered by many retailers. Although it seems\nmost things are 50% off these days! We\navoid the morning rush and mid town and head down to the Flatiron district and\nGramercy. It\u2019s a lot quieter and window shopping is more pleasant in the midday\nsun. It is cold though, icy cold. We look in a few shops, picking up some gifts\nand a couple of bargains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love this district. Aside from the flatiron building, the\narchitecture is a glorious homage to the past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Flatiron Building was designed by Chicago’s Daniel\nBurnham as a vertical Renaissance palazzo with Beaux-Arts styling. Unlike New\nYork’s early skyscrapers, which took the form of towers arising from a lower,\nblockier mass, such as the contemporary Singer Building (1902\u20131908), the\nFlatiron Building epitomizes the Chicago school conception: like a classical\nGreek column, its facade \u2013 limestone at the bottom changing to glazed\nterra-cotta from the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company in Tottenville, Staten Island\nas the floors rise \u2013 is divided into a base, shaft and capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are so many other great buildings to explore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After walking around for a while, we enjoy lunch at Lilie\u2019s\nVictorian Establishment. An English Victorian styled pub just of 5th<\/sup>\non !7th<\/sup> St. The menu is largely Tex Mex, not Victorian at all,\nalthough there is Pot Pie. We share a Nachos and a queasadella. The music\nplaying in an interesting mix of Christmas carols, jazz and some Pogues\n(English Punk Celtic) thrown in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After some more window shopping and wandering we head indoors for awhile. Did I say it was cold. There was an icy wind blowing and the real feel was about -5C. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We venture out again a little later and wander the Bryant Street market for some interesting dinner options. We don\u2019t find anything. We settle for some street food. Afterwards I was planning on doing some night photography, but the weather won, and we packed up and went home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n