After a great start to my trip to NYC, my second day was composed of a random walking exploration of midtown Manhattan. I began by walking up 5th Ave to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Then I went over to Rockefeller Center. I decided to go up to The Top of the Rock where I got a great panoramic view of Manhattan: Central Park to the north, and the Empire State Building to the south. It took a while to get used to the height (~66-68 floors up), but it was a great view. Being way up there on that tall building I got a new perspective on the destruction of the twin towers on 9/11. They were probably 50% taller than that building, which seemed extremely tall, and it made me have a more realistic sense of what it meant to have them collapse. I spent quite a bit of time up there, and took a lot of pictures.
After grabbing a quick bite of lunch, I decided to go to the United Nations. As I walked down there, I passed an area where they appeared to be closing streets for some sort of Turkish parade. When I finally reached the UN, it was fairly underwhelming. There were no flags up (I later learned they only fly when the general assembly is in session), and the building itself was kind of dirty and showing signs of reconstruction. I did come across a nice little plaza named for a long time director for UNICEF that provided a nice shady place to sit down and rest for a while. 
As I made my way back towards the hotel, I crossed a section of 3rd Ave that was closed for a street fair (or just a street market) that was kind of interesting. I bought myself a cheap NYC souvenir T-shirt.
After stopping back by the hotel, I went into the International Center of Photography, which had some interesting exhibits including some photographs from right after the dropping of the atomic bombs in Japan. After the gallery, I walked over to Bryant Park where I watched some people playing on the petanque court. There was also a guy on the street playing bucket drums … but he was way more amazing than many other people I’ve seen doing that.
I decided to grab some pizza for dinner at a place across from my hotel. I was hoping to experience a true NY pizza by having a slice. Maybe I did. It was good, but I still like by California style pizzas better than anything I’ve had out east. After dinner, I headed to the Music Box Theatre for another Broadway play that I’d gotten a ticket for at the last minute, Jerusalem, staring the noted English Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance. It was another amazing performance. My third play in three days. Making my way back to the hotel after the play I again passed through the throngs of people haning out in Times Square. Part of me wanted to hang out late into the night, but after a very full and satisfying day I went to bed and got some rest.