New York - Midtown

Today - Friday - our first full day in the city. A gazillion things we wanna see and only 5 days left.
It's true that New York was built (and made) by the immigrants that entered this country, but a few individuals provided the $$$. One such fellow was Mr. Rockefeller and we did an interesting tour of the Midtown district, with over 12 of these skyscrapers having been owned and build by this philantropist. Back in 1930 he had a budget of $160 million to build the Rockefeller Centre.
There is a richness in art, symbolism and family history here. When the Stock Market crashed in '33, Rockefeller Jr. bought an oilfield in Texas (tax purposes) and promised his 8000 employees that they'll keep their jobs. They did and he paid them.


We also visited the NBC Studios, where David Letterman, Conan O'Brian and the national news studios are situated. Big letdown - tourist trap and we would have spent our time better sitting in a cwoffee(New Yorkian) shop with a bagel people watching.

The afternoon took us to the East side and the United Nations HQ. Garments and robes and languages from all over the globe was apparent - Sarah was in seventh heaven.
Did a very interesting tour.
Each of the 190-something member countries pay monthly membership fees according to their gross national income. This is bad news for America, the richest country in the world. Basically this means they carry the 150+ poor member countries. Very generally speaking, that is. I thus understand the vibes of irritation and frustration in Washington towards this less then efficient global organisation. As a permanent member, the US's plans and policies are more often than not veto'd by either China or Russia - despite the country's huge fiscal contribution.