A building as ornate, antique, and frequented as Grand Central Station is not without its secrets. One is a system of pulleys used to open the ancient dusty windows we found when we took the wrong elevator. We found our way to a stairwell that had fallen out of use long ago. Dust from the rails quickly collected on my palms before a Metro North employee told us that we were in the wrong place.

Rather than removing us, he walked us down to the concourse and, after glancing back toward the offices, took us deeper into the marble and carvings under the station.

There, he had us each stand in one of the four corners and speak into the walls. Hollowed out, we could hear each other clearly though we were too far away for any kind of normal communication. It was very surprising, very impressive. We laughed and thanked him.

You know, maybe it's information you can get out of any guidebook. But to be honest, I'm glad to have discovered it this way.