Day 74 of Mentor on Road, USA

“God Gave Me Nothing I Wanted. He Gave Me Everything I Needed.”
― Swami Vivekananda

Day 74 of Mentor on Road, USA is a rest day in New York. Since there are no meetings or events scheduled for today, Mentor on Road has decided to take a break from work and enjoy the tourist sites of this beautiful city.

The first point that we visited in New York was Bryant Park. Mentor on Road enjoyed taking a walk in the park and witnessing the serene views of the city.
                     
Bryant Park is a 9.603-acre (38,860 m²) privately managed public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. Although technically the Main Branch of the New York Public Library is located within the park, effectively it forms the park's functional eastern boundary, making Sixth Avenue the park's primary entrance.

Bryant Park is located entirely over an underground structure that houses the library's stacks, which were built in the 1980s when the park was closed to the public and excavated; the new library facilities were built below ground level while the park was restored above it.

Even though it is part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Bryant Park is managed by the private not-for-profit corporation Bryant Park Corporation. The park is cited as a model for the success of public-private partnerships. The park was redesigned in 1988 by landscape architect Hanna/Olin Ltd. and architect Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates.
                                                    

After this, Mentor on Road headed towards Times Square which  is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment center and neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue. 

Times Square is sometimes referred to as "The Crossroads of the World", "The Center of the Universe", "the heart of The Great White Way", and the "heart of the world". One of the world's busiest pedestrian areas, it is also the hub of the Broadway Theater District and a major center of the world's entertainment industry.

Formerly known as Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the newly erected Times Building – now One Times Square – the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop which began on December 31, 1907, and continues today, attracting over a million visitors to Times Square every year.

Times Square is the most visited place globally with 360,000 pedestrian visitors a day, amounting to over 131 million a year. Even excluding residents from the visitor count, Times Square is the world's second most visited tourist attraction, behind the Las Vegas Strip.

An immediately recognizable location, Times Square has been featured countless times in literature, on television, in films, in video games, and in music videos.

                                          

In the evening, Mentor on Road headed towards Pennsylvania Station which is also known as New York Penn Station or Penn Station, is the main intercity railroad station in New York City.

Serving more than 600,000 commuter rail and Amtrak passengers a day, it is the busiest passenger transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere. Penn Station is in the midtown area of Manhattan, close to Herald Square, the Empire State Building, Korea town, and the Macy's department store. Entirely underground, it sits beneath Madison Square Garden, between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue and between 31st and 34th Streets.

The original Pennsylvania Station was built from 1901 to 1910 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, and featured an ornate marble and granite station house and train shed inspired by the Gare d'Orsay in Paris (the world's first electrified rail terminal). 

After a decline in passenger usage during the 1950s, the original station was demolished and reconstructed from 1963 to 1969, resulting in the current station. Future plans for Penn Station include the Gateway Project and the possibility of shifting some trains to the adjacent Farley Post Office, a building designed by the same architects as the original 1910 station.

Overall, Mentor on Road thoroughly enjoyed the day visiting the famous touristic sites of New York City and meeting friendly and humble tourists from across the world. Mentor on Road would like to conclude with a well-known quote of Eileen Caddy, “Live and work but do not forget to play, to have fun in life and really enjoy it.”

Looking forward to a constructive day tomorrow. 

Jai Ho! (Let victory be yours)