December 2017January 2018 February 2018

01/30 - Newark Airport to Seattle

We had an early flight out of Newark. The airport is in an industrial and shipping area and looked surreal in the early morning light.

Terminal B at Newark

Airplane and arch bridge

Cargo cranes

The Manhattan skyline

More cargo cranes

Take off

Early light

Just fifteen minutes later, the light had changed.

Then we were flying home over the snow covered Rocky Mountains.

Keywords: new york city


01/29 - New York City - 8

We went to two museums on our last day in the city. At the Museum of Art and Design, we saw a rather touching exhibit Unpacking the Green Book. The Green Book was a guide for African-American motorists first published in 1936. It listed hotels, restaurants and other facilities for motorists and travelers who were not allowed to use the hotels, restaurants or other facilities available. There was a whole parallel world of places where one could explore and still be safe and welcome. The last issue of the guide was published in 1967 after the Civil Rights Act was passed.

There was also a more light hearted exhibit mixing electronic art and sound, Sonic Arcade. Then, we went on to the American Museum of Natural History for some comforting time with the dinosaurs and marine mammals.


A sight and sound jukebox

Another jukebox that looks like a pastry tray

The Sonic Arcade, like living in an old fashioned video game

Marine mammals

One of the dinosaurs

The Green Book

One of the collages in Unpacking the Green Book, a safe place

Keywords: new york city


01/28 - New York City - 7

We took a long ride through Times Square and then out to Brooklyn for dinner at Peter Luger in Williamsburg. There were policemen in full SWAT gear armed with automatic rifles across the street from Peter Luger, but they reassured us that there was nothing to worry about. Peter Luger has a reputation as an old fashioned steak house, and that reputation is completely deserved. The menu was simple, steak, fries and a few other things. We didn't notice a vegetarian special. We ordered a gigantic serving of aged porterhouse steak. It was wonderful. We ate every bit, and we gnawed the bones.

Approaching Times Square

The great white way, except with colors now

Closer to 42nd Street

More intense

Approaching the heart

Is that Pandora the music service? Why do they even have a store?

More lights and signs

Past Times Square for a glimpse of the Empire State Building in a patriotic mood

Over the Williamsburg Bridge

Across from Peter Luger

What we ordered

Keywords: new york city


01/27 - New York City - 6

During the day, we took a walk through Central Park, and, in the evening, we walked through Times Square.

Central Park

Alice in Wonderland

Hans Christian Anderson and the Ugly Duckling

Balto, the dog who saved Nome

A catamount

Times Square at night

More Times Square

Keywords: new york city


01/26 - New York City - 5

We visited the Thinking Machines exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art which highlighted art and computing from the 1950s through the 1980s. There were a lot of old favorites there including works by Ken Knowlton, the first computer animation of a hummingbird in flight and an old Thinking Machine, a highly parallel computer from the 1980s and a physical work of art in itself. Just as the industrial revolution produced its own art of the assembly line, the dynamo and internal combustion engine, the computer revolution produced art of variation and precision, the hallmarks of the computer age.

We also wandered around in the evening and took pictures of the sunset light and the city streets.


A thinking machine

Evening light

The Empire State Building at sunset

More evening light

Drama

Evening sky

Twilight

Keywords: new york city


01/25 - New York City - 4

Probably two thousand years ago, my grandparents moved their family from the crowded, noisy Lower East Side up to a steam heated apartment in the South Bronx. The South Bronx went through some hard times, but it has been recovering. Realtors call it SoBro, but it is not the new SoHo. The Lower East Side too went through some hard times, but it has been reviving nicely as a new trendy neighborhood.

Some stalwarts, like Katz's and Russ and Daughters are still there, along with some clothing shops from back in the day when everyone worked in a sweatshop or sold clothing from a small shop or pushcart. Amazingly, Katz's seems unchanged from the 1960s, and back then one was sure that those salamis were getting sent through a time warp to our boys at Anzio or on Corregidor. The sandwiches are as good as ever. Go for the pastrami. It's a work of art.


Katz's unreconstructed

A touch of the old neighborhood

The streets were once lined with clothing like this

One of those big city conveniences one doesn't realize one needs until 2AM one morning

Pop up stores are an industry in the area

Keywords: new york city


01/24 - New York City - 3

Another one of our favorite walks in New York City is the Brooklyn Bridge. Usually we turn around before we actually set foot in Brooklyn, but this time we went on and explored Dumbo, Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. The Manhattan Bridge is the next bridge over from the Brooklyn Bridge.

Dumbo used to be a ratty industrial area, not far from the old Brooklyn Navy Yard. Now the waterfront has been redeveloped a bit. There's a park, new housing and lots of new businesses have taken over from the old factories and warehouses. There are still a few cobblestone paved streets, some with the old train tracks from the area's industrial days.


Heading towards the Brooklyn Bridge

A fashion shoot - we think - on the bridge

More fashion - It's an industry in this town.

The view back to Manhattan

Dumbo streets are paved with cobblestones.

A glimpse of the Manhattan Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge from the street

Another view of the Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan from the park

Dynamic city - power switching station with construction across the river

Two bridges

An amateur photo shoot on the Brooklyn Bridge

Keywords: new york city


01/23 - New York City - 2

After the High Line, we continued our walk south along the Hudson River. This was once a working waterfront with the river blocked off by piers and warehouses and the sky blocked off by the elevated highway above. Now it's a park running along the river, and one of our favorite places in the city.

The view south to the new World Trade Center

The Holland Tunnel ventilation system and some of New Jersey

Urban gardens

You can almost forget you are in the city,

at least for a few seconds at a time.

Another skating rink

The Palm Court, a great resting spot along the way

Keywords: new york city


01/22 - New York City - 1

We just returned from a trip to New York City to spend time with friends and family and to just wander around and enjoy a serious dose of urban life. We did the usual tourist things, wandering the streets and visiting museums. There was construction all over the place with scaffolds, cranes and construction workers. Despite all this and less visible economic forces, we were pleased to see that the urban fabric still holds.

One of the nice things about wandering the city is that it is full of surprises. Our very first evening, as it turned out, was the last evening for the Christmas tree at Bryant Park. This was once a rather disreputable park behind the main public library branch, but is now adopted seasonally. In the winter, that means an ice skating rink. It was a cold night, as you can see from the icicles on the fountain. The next night was warmer, and the Christmas tree was gone.

We took a walk along the High Line, an unusual park that was once an elevated railroad right of way. It is landscaped with grasses, but the real attraction is the unusual view it offers of the city. Well above the ground floor, one can look down at store fronts and city streets and into people's back alleys. There are glimpses of the skyline and of the Hudson River which it parallels.


The winter skating rink at Bryant Park

Michaelangelo's Brutus at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The High Line, an urban fantasia

Some snow among the ornamental grasses

Neither heaven nor earth, it's the High Line

A view into the urban fabric

An elevated park

Another city street view

Part of the vanishing industrial landscape

The new city being built

Across the Hudson

Keywords: new york city


01/04 - Winter at Marymere Falls

Now that construction on 101 along Lake Crescent has stopped for the winter, we went out to Marymere Falls. There was a bit of snow on the ground, and the forest was in its wintry colors. Barnes Creek was silver blue and running freshly. It wasn't a long walk. The loop to the falls takes less than an hour, but it was nice getting out to an old favorite hike.

Marymere Falls

Looking down at snow and Barnes Creek

Winter water

The footbridge, free of ice

Another look at the winter creek

Just a bit of snow

Walking through the woods

Keywords: barnes creek, lake crescent, marymere falls, winter


December 2017January 2018 February 2018