I managed to post a few photos and a video of our first day in NYC, last friday, feb. 24th. i used my cell phone to do the posting, and it was a little bit challenging, but somehow i did it. but here are a few more photos of that day.
but first, this is our back fenced yard, before we left. i was struck by how incredibly green the deck now looks. hmm, it desperately needs some power-washing and painting. lots to be done this summer. but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, ok, mrs. crazy hughes?
les, always looking for something in the water.
anyway, NYC…we got to bev”s daughter erin’s apartment on thursday night and ordered in pizza. as i mentioned, we were there to help her move, but then she didn’t move after all, so we had a lot of free time to do stuff.
even though we didn’t have to walk up and down steps for the move, we somehow managed to do a whole lot of walking anyway. on friday we headed to the South Street Seaport, an area in lower manhattan. i’d been to a mall on Pier 17 quite a few times; it had lots of shops and ice cream and i knew where the bathrooms were, something that’s very important to me.
but when we got there…the mall was gone. quite a mystery.
here’s us, with the brooklyn bridge in the background.
bev asked somebody, who said the mall had been closed four years ago, after Hurricane Sandy. i just read online that the mall had been there for 30 years, and they demolished both the mall and the pier itself. they’re in the process of building a new building, one that supposedly will be more for new yorkers instead of tourists, but it’ll have shops and i’m sure ice cream and bathrooms…
we found a little market and sat down for a rest, after i took a photo of this fabulous wall of bob’s red mill products. who knew they had that much stuff, and where else would they have such a giant selection?
we headed over towards the 9/11 stuff, and here’s the new One World Trade Center. it’s the tallest building in the western hemisphere, and you can go up to the top, to the observation tower. i wouldn’t want to do that. but it’s a beautiful building, and it’s amazing all the buildings that have gone up around there.
now this was a very cool place – i didn’t know what it was when we approached, but it’s the transportation hub. it’s called the Oculus, and the spanish architect who designed it, santiago calatrava, said that it’s supposed to look like a bird being released from a child’s hand. he initially wanted to the top to open up somehow, but i think this was too costly plus not very safe. there are plenty of critics who thought it was lovely, but then of course others complained about it being terrible.
here’s the inside, which also includes a place called the Westfield Trade Center Mall. it’s funny; i remember, 30 years ago, walking through the old subway station there, and it was filled with lots of kind of junky stores. it’s very sleek and modern now.
here’s a couple more photos of the memorial pool.
this is the base of the trade center.
we walked around a lot, and i took photos of the fire station with the mural on the side, and we were fascinated by the barrier in the street that looked permanent, but then lowered for official vehicles to pass. it’s all in my previous post.
we got back to brooklyn pretty late, and went to a delicious restaurant that had all kinds of fresh pasta on the menu. erin is taking a photo of something involving ribs.
whew, a busy first day. i’m so glad we saw so much of the 9/11 memorials, and want to take kevin back there soon.
ok then,
mrs. saturday morning hughes.