Famous Ankles

I hope that James T. of Falls Church is enjoying this series. He sent me Flat Stanley and asked for pictures.

James T. lives next to Washington D.C. That’s the current capital of the United States, but I wonder if he knew that New York City used to be the capital of the United States. When George Washington became president of the United States, this is where he took his oath of office. It is called “Federal Hall”.

Falls Church Virginia is named for its famous “Falls Church”. When he was president of the United States, George Washington would go to Church at St. Paul’s Chapel in New York City. They have saved where he used to sit. Here’s Flat Stanley in front of it.

Actually, George Washington was president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. New York City was the capital only from 1785 to 1790. So George Washington wasn’t in New York City for all of his time as president.

St. Paul’s Chapel is very old (it was old when George Washington went to it). But it is famous for other reasons than being old and being where George Washington went to Church. In 2001, after the World Trade Center was destroyed, St. Paul’s Chapel served as a headquarters for the rescue teams. There are lots of memorials for what happened there. Inside St. Paul’s Chapel, one os them is made of badges from firefighters all over the world who came and helped.

-H

My continuing adventure with Flat Stanley on behalf of the fine and noble James T. of Falls Church, Virginia.

My next stop took me to a very famous location New York: Wall Street. That street is famous for the New York Stock Exchange which is where lots of people buy and sell shares of stock. When lots of people are buying, it is called a “bull market”. That’s always viewed as a good thing on Wall Street, so an artist created a statue of the bull. It was built in 1989. It is 11 feet tall and weighs 7,000 pounds.

Flat Stanley also posed in front of one of the entrances to the New York Stock Exchange.

-H

I decided that I needed to take Flat Stanley to see the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is 305 feet tall and is located on a small island in New York harbor. That’s south of the island of Manhattan. The island is located pretty far out in the harbor.

When I got to the southern tip of Manhattan, I found two nice kids who were happy to pose with Flat Stanley. (The girl had just finished reading Flat Stanley’s book and was a big fan of his.)

The problem with the picture is that the Statue of Liberty is very far out, so it isn’t very big on the picture. I didn’t want to spend about three hours to get out there, so I needed to find a quick solution!

So, I found another Statue of Liberty just a one minute walk away. There are lots of “street performers” who do strange things in Manhattan, and this is one of them. She poses for pictures all day long with tourists. She wasn’t 305 feet tall. Actually, I’m not sure she was 5 feet tall. But she was very nice.

You always know the ones that aren’t the real Statue of Liberty because they like to wear sunglasses. And they aren’t 305 feet tall.

-H

I received a letter from James T. from Falls Church in Virginia. In his letter, James sent a famous person to meet Famous Ankles! I’m honored to host a visit from Flat Stanley and show him around New York City.

The first thing I did was take Flat Stanley to see the United Nations Building. It is often called the “U.N.” and it has hundreds and hundreds of people from countries all over the globe. You have to have a special pass to get inside, so we only looked from outside.

Nearby, there was a small park called “Tudor City Greens” where there was a lot of music and singing going on. It was a concert featuring a lot of singers called caberet singers. Flat Stanley liked it. Especially the singer right behind him in the next picture. Her name is Julie Reyburn.

After she sang, she came out into the crowd. Flat Stanley and I asked her if she knew about him, and she said “I love Flat Stanley!” She even posed for a picture with him.

Stay tuned James, for more adventures.

-H