Day 5 - Peace in our time

Feeling guilty about our hedonistic lifestyle, we decided to do something good for the world.  Being in New York, the site of the United Nations headquarters, world peace seemed like a worthwhile goal.  To help achieve this we called once more on Jan Muir, whose advice and support have been fantastic, and she organised for us to visit the UN. 

While at brunch on Saturday, Jan invited Amanda (an Aussie working as a waitress at the restaurant, when not making documentary films or working as a photographer) and Amanda's father Rob (visiting from Australia) to join us on the tour.  Jan met us outside the UN and escorted us in.

Richard, Rhonda, Jan, Amanda and Rob



After signing in and receiving our visitors passes Jan took us to the gardens to look at some of the statues and sculptures donated by member nations of the UN.  These were very interesting and quite moving.

A section of the Berlin Wall

Part of a sculpture commemorating refugees

Then it was on to the serious stuff.  Jan showed us the Economic and Social Council Chamber, the Trusteeship Council Chamber, and the Security Council Chamber.

Economic and Social Council Chamber

 

Trusteeship Council Chamber

Security Council Chamber

We were mildly surprised, given the troubles in the world, that the Security Council wasn't dealing with anything while we were there, so we headed off to the (temporary) General Assembly (the proper one is being renovated at the moment) where I called for more effort for world peace.   



Richard speaking to the General Assembly at the UN

The entire audience (of 5) agreed with my resolution (Jan will be impressed that I remembered the term 'resolution') and Rob and Amanda represented Australia with dignity and a steely resolve. 

 



Rob and Amanda voting support for Richard



After our tour Jan took us to the staff canteen for lunch and then we visited the visitor centre and souvenir shop.  We were all very impressed by the UN precinct and have a much better understanding of how things work.  Jan was a fabulous host and very generous with her time (it was a normal workday for her).

We said a fond farewell to Amanda and Rob and set off for the hotel.  On our way we stopped at the north-western corner of the UN precinct to look (through the fence) at one final sculpture.  It is a very large (pretty much full size) elephant, shown below.

The elephant is surrounded by a 'modesty hedge' because, apparently, it is a bull elephant with a very large appendage (we kid you not).  During our stroll back to the hotel I noticed the following sign in the window of a tailor shop.

It would seem that they have branched out into the field of plastic surgery.  After a short rest at The Hotel (close to Times Square) we set off to Pier 62 to meet up with Jan for a sunset champagne cruise around the bottom half of Manhattan Island.  It was fantastic.  The crew were welcoming, the boat comfortable and the views of Manhattan, and the Statue of Liberty, were amazing.  Seeing the lights start to come on as the sun set was beautiful.  Some happy snaps are below.

Our boat - thankfully not the "Minnow"

 

 

 

All in all another great day.  Tomorrow we're becoming more cultural, visiting the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA - not to be confused with the Metropolitan Museum of Art [MMOA], we'll be there the day after tomorrow) and attending an Off-Broadway play.