Monday, April 20, 2015

An Impromptu Visit to United Nations Headquarters...Because, Well, Why Not?!

April 20, 2015
New York, NY


It was Saturday, and we were eagerly anticipating our friend John's arrival from Detroit for the weekend.  After cleaning up the apartment, we had 2 -3 hours to kill before John's flight was due in at JFK.  It was a beautiful spring day (finally!) - really more like summer - and we decided on a walking route along the East River going uptown. (We had done the riverfront path in the downtown direction together when there was still still snow on the ground, back in March).  This route takes you away from the riverfront and onto 1st Avenue in the vicinity of the United Nations headquarters, for security reasons, I am guessing.  

As we were passing by the entrance to the main UN building, we saw some other tourist-looking people talking to a guard and then entering.  So we followed them.  I handed over my snazzy New York state driver's licence to the foreign-accented, uniformed personnel and got a badge with my ID photocopied onto it for all to see.  Scott received a purple wristband (no idea why we did not get the same thing) and we went through the airport-style metal detectors with a conveyor belt for purses, backpacks, keys, watches, and the like.  In no time at all, we were in!  When we entered we were informed that very little was open since it was a weekend, and we still really don't know what goes on at the UN but here's what we saw.


After you exit the security area, you end up in a large, spacious sculpture garden fronting the East River. Unfortunately there were a lot of barricades in place and construction going on.
We made a bee-line to check out the knotted gun sculpture , a gift from Belgium
Knotted gun selfie!
We really enjoyed the mirrored brass globe...
...posed with it...
...and photographed it from all angles!
In the main space inside that was open for touring, there was a mildly interesting exhibit concerning land mines, titled "More Than Mines"
While intriguing, it was rather sobering to be confronted with the various landmines on display
"More Than Mines" exhibit
I had my picture taken in front of the wall of diplomat portraits with Boutros Boutros Ghali, for whom Scott has some unexplained (to me) fondness
Strolling the riverfront pathway in my awesome UN name-tag before rushing home to meet John.  Oops, his plane was early and we were late!

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