Tim and I love showing off NYC. And we love the opportunity to play tourist because we always find something new and amazing. This past weekend, we played tourist with T's brother and his lovely wife. Taking advantage of a bit of sunlight and some 40 degrees (practically tropical!)the four of us laced up our sneakers and put together a wacky and weird NYC walking tour.
We took the Highline downtown. Next time, I'd like to walk the whole thing. A raised platform that once carried freight trains, it is now an elevated walkway, designed with meandering walkways, indiginous plantings, seating, and fabulous views of the West Side of Manhattan. 
The first stop on the list was the Ghostbusters Fire House. Located at 14 N. Moore St, this was the exterior of the Ghostbusters HQ.
Just in case, you weren't sure...
We goofed around here for a while and then headed on to this oddity.
141 Wooster St. The Earth Room. Really, it's just what it claims. A room. Full of dirt. 280,000 lbs of it to be exact. It resides on the second floor and there are no tenants underneath. The man at the desk informed us that they water and rake the dirt 1-2 times per week. Oh, and it's been there since 1977. Say what?
After escaping the humidity in the Earth Room, the four of us wandered through the fresh markets in Chinatown. My sister in law was on a quest for a Chinese bun so we ducked into a local bakery which was an adventure all in itself. I picked up a bun filled with bean custard and ate that on the way to our next stop, The Giant Buddha.
This was an illegal photograph but it had to be captured. This is a Buddhist Temple that used to be a porn theater. Located at 133 Canal St, this 16 foot tall Buddha guards the building that used to be the Rosemary, which ran porn movies through the mid 90's. Nowadays it watches over a mix of tourists and worshippers.
We continued downtown to Wall Street to check out the pockmarks in the original JP Morgan Chase building. It took us a little while to find them in the dark, but were finally successful. The marks were left there by a bomb explosion in 1920 that killed 38.
This one isn't weird or wacky, but it is one of my favorite buildings in New York, the NYSE.
