Everyone has different ideas about what the most iconic New York City place may be, but the one place I never get tired of seeing, even after 15 years living in the city, is Grand Central. Terminal or Station, call it what you will, but a visit to NYC is not complete without a stop inside it. This virtual will not provide a full fledged tour per se, but will take you through a few spots inside Grand Central, enough to give you a good experience I hope and encourage you to explore more on your own if you got the time. In a hurry you can probably gather the information required to log the cache in 15 minutes or so, but expect to spend a bit longer, taking pictures, visualizing the scenes from various movies that you've seen filmed here, or waiting for a flash mob to maybe happen. Note that Grand Central is closed between 2am-5:15am. To log the cache, you need to:
- Post a photo of yourself or of a sign with your geocaching name when you are by the Whispering Gallery (your face does not need to be visible in the photo).
- Send the answers you collect below or verify them on the provided checker. You can message me (using Message Center only, please) the 4 answers to the questions below, or you can just enter them in the format described in the certitudes checker provided below. If you use the checker, make sure you are logged in, so that your name is visible on the "solvers" list, otherwise I cannot tell that you checked it. If you have trouble obtaining any of the answers, just take pictures and reach out via message center and we can work it out - most important is that you visit enough of Grand Central and hopefully enjoy it.
The "main" entrance to the station can be considered to be through the Vanderbilt Hall from 42nd street, just from under the bridge. And it is perhaps the best way to start your visit, as the Hall gives you a great first glimpse at the architecture you will see throughout. No questions related to this area, as it is sometimes closed off due to events/exhibits/etc. Make your way to the main hall and... enjoy the view. See the famous clock above the information booth, but then look up and admire the ceiling depicting the Zodiac constellations plus 2500 stars painted in gold leaf, some of them lit up with LEDs. Focus on the NW corner and right by the Cancer constellation and notice a rectangular "brick" of a much darker color than the beautiful blue of the restored ceiling. This was left intentionally this way during the 1998 ceiling restoration to not only show the effectiveness of the effort, but also as a warning: the dark color turns out did not come from locomotive fumes or any other factor one might consider associated with the train station, but from... cigarrete smoke! Head under the archway in that corner and by Track 32 you will see a plaque. Take note of the 11th word on this plaque.
Make your way downstairs where you will be greeted by a variety of food options, but look for signs towards the Oyster Bar and make your way there. It's not the oysters we're after though: the area in front of the entrance is called The Whispering Gallery. If you are with someone, split up and go in opposite corners of the arched hallway and, facing the wall, speak in normal or even low voice into the wall. The other person should be able to hear you as if you were right next to them! Once you had enough fun, or as you wait for a stranger to accost and ask them to join in the fun with you, look for the plaque that's by the NE side of the gallery, towards the food area. Make note of the last name listed on the plaque. If the full name is Edward B Johnson (as an example), just Johnson is what we are looking for.
Make your way back upstairs and take the corridor on the NE side, walking by the Graybar building passageway, and going all the way out of the station onto the street. There move a bit to the side and look up above the canopy that you just came underneath from. On some ropes you should be able to see some animals climbing up... How many and what are they? The answer should be written like this: "4DOGS"
Finally, in your walking around you may have spotted some cool ornate mailboxes around the station. You passed one as you walked in, there was another in the NE corner of the main hall, and I think a couple of others in various places. Find one of them and write down the city engraved on it.
If you use certitudes, your final answer should look like this: "ARABESQUE JOHNSON 4DOGS BALTIMORE". If you write in the answers, don't worry about the formatting.
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.