Week 24
June 20, 2016
Alabaster Books
Greenwich Village
Train In/Out: Milford, CT
Miles walked: 6.75 (aka me taking it easy)
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1 with m.Zuiko 17mm f1.8, m.Zuiko 8mm fisheye PRO
I'm curious to hear what you think of this week's post because I felt a bit off on this day. Mostly because I'm having some ankle/tendon issues which is freaking me out a little. Six months of walking 7-9 miles every Monday may have tweaked a little something despite my having a good fitness level. I tried to take it easy, walked more slowly, took more breaks. The good part of wanting to walk less is that I was movtivated to TAKE A BUS! Woo hoo! I've never taken a city bus in New York. I studied my Google Map on the train and figured out that an M1 / M3 bus would [most likely?] get me where I wanted to go. I was a little confused looking at the map as to why the bus stops were on both Madison and 5th. And I felt a total DUH when I realized that 5th avenue runs south (one-way) so of course you have to catch a bus going south on 5th. Lightbulb moment for this suburb girl.
Onward.
In search of the bus stop, I came across this sculpture, a tribute to city firefighters.
Kind of a weird story around this scuplture. Committee members of the Fire Fighters Memorial Foundation of Missouri wanted to create a memorial to honor fire fighters lost on active duty in their state. In October 2000, Matthews International Corporation of Pittsburgh received the commission to create the bronze statue. It was completed almost a year later, in August 2001 and air freighted through New York City to guarantee the delivery deadline.
The statue never made it to Missouri.
The crate arrived at Kennedy Airport on September 9, 2001 where it was held for customs clearance. Two days later, 9/11 happened. 343 New York City firefighters lost their lives that day. The Fire Fighters Memorial Foundation of Missouri joined with Matthews International and offered the statue to New York. On September 17, 2001 the day that the Kneeling Fireman was released from Kennedy Airport, the New York Post published a full-page photograph of a New York City firefighter kneeling in the ashes of the Trade Towers. The photograph was nearly identical to the bronze sculpture (that no one knew about yet). Spooky.
Hey, I found my bus stop. Sort of. There were two bus stops about 30 feet apart. One had M1 and some other bus numbers. This one had the M3. According to my calculations, either would get me there so I kinda stood between them. :)
On the bus! View of the Empire State Building from the bus.
Me saying goodbye to my bus. It didn't exactly stop where I thought it would but close enough (10th St / 5th Ave). A few weeks ago the subway didn't stop where I expected it to, either. I'm flexible that way.
East Village / Greenwich Village area.
Germans and Jews, I had not heard of this movie, quite the title. A little Googling tells me that it's a brand new documentary film. There was a screening the evening I was there with filmmakers in attendance. Hmmm...maybe I should have Googled while I was there and stayed for that. Some info here: http://germansandjews.com
Welcome to the Interesting Things page...
"Teeth Soup"
There is this funky church like building right in front of an NYU dorm. I tried to find some info on it, but so far no luck. It's very narrow, one room wide from the look of it. All locked up.
Destination #1 of the day, Alabaster Bookshop. They specialize in hard to find used books. It's right around the corner from the huge Strand Bookstore which I vistied in Week 9.
This was a dedication inside a [very boring IMO] photography book with B/W images shot in the fields of the midwest years ago. The dedication actually says "some viewers might find them dull". This was the best the author could do for a dedication? Kinda funny.
I'm at the back of the bookstore, it's very small.
This cracked me up.
At this point you've probably figured out it's Black & White blog day. Figured I would mix things up and process everything in black & white today. This place has beautiful red neon signs...but they look pretty good in B/W, too!
Another excessive amount of sidewalk grate area. We meet again. Only this time I could clearly hear a subway rolling underneath as I walked by. Extra terrifying.
Aaargh.
"Cause that's how I roll."
Am I doing great? Because today I'm dragging a bit.
An interesting part of this project is documenting graffiti because it often reflects current events. This one referencing the Orlando shooting (which in a year or two will be distant news, except for those poor victims and families).
Fine. I had to look up the word. Paideia: (in ancient Greece) education or upbringing; the culture of a society.
I would keep my vehicle cleaner with a plate like that.
So if a cop stopped you as you were throwing out your cactus, to avoid the fine you would need to explain how you always carry around a cactus, along with your slurpy, and then toss them when you're done.
You grow water?
Lunch. Ben's Pizza. Now their sign said they were "Nominated for Best Sicilian Slice in New York", that seems lessy braggy than some "we're #1" for a random magazine.
Old school.
I watched this poor doggy walk by as I ate my slice of pizza (which was EXCELLENT, btw! Apparently I'm a big fan of Sicilian pizza, second slice in the city that I've really enjoyed). Anyway, this poor dog didn't look that old to me (?) but he was not wanting to walk. At all. The owner was kind, wasn't pulling, but the dog was walking slower than a turtle.
She was doing a full pedicure on her dog on the hood of her car. He was thrilled.
Stopped into Shrine Church of St. Anthony of Padua. From the outside it had a beautiful round window. It's interesting to look at this in B/W because there was beautiful colorful stained glass.
Looking towards the front door, the round stained glass window above.
And yes, when I first walked in and started to walk around, the cardboard Pope startled me! I thought someone was standing there staring at me.
Obviously I'm no longer at the church, ha ha.
As I walked by, he totally leaned back (and I don't think it was to avoid my camera, it was just a random stretch). I think the image works. A tad hard to see the "N Y", but it's implied. A favorite of the day.
All dressed up in his Carvel t-shirt and baseball cap for a portrait session.
Destination #2, Washington Square Park. Chess lessons. I love the mix of people who learn from each other in the parks.
But first, let me take a selfie!
Handstand push ups.
She seems to be enjoying the New York City sites her parents worked so hard to take her to for the family summer vacation.
What I loved about this situation is that the woman was Asian, the man was not. He used chopsticks for their sushi, and she used a fork. (I have zero chopstick skills.)
My personal favorite image of the day.
Subway back up to Grand Central because, waaa!, I have to not walk too much this week.
FYI they opened the new food court on the upper level of Grand Central! Vanderbuilt Hall. It seemed nice...fancy. A little sad to see the open space used like this but I suppose they need to generate more money.
I will sneak in one color photo for the day. I had a few minutes before my train so I put on the 8mm fisheye and played with some art filters on my Olympus E-M1 camera. This art filter is called "Dramatic Tones".
I hope you enjoyed today's Black & White version of 52MM! Feel free to leave me a note below. Thanks so much for taking a peek at my day. :)
Until the next Magic Monday!
xo,
~MC
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