The air conditioner was turned off, the window was opened, the birds were a bit upset that I woke them up before the soon to arrive sunrise. I fell back into the blue sheets and then soon rushed across the park to the other side which now appeared to be turned into a place that reminded me more of Heidelberg than anything else.
The botanic garden was gone, instead there was a steep, wooded hill, frame houses on that hill, many trees, then a narrow street. Now things looked more like Geneva. Geneva early in the morning perhaps. Then maybe Kassel? Karlsruhe? Or was it Sachsenhausen?
It was to be expected that the front page of the New York Times would feature a large photo of fireworks on July 5th. Fireworks in motion and the frozen fireworks of the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop.
Below the fold was an image of Frank Gehry's preliminary sketch of what he thought the new Brooklyn skyline might end up looking like. Buildings exploding out of buildings exploding out of giant billboards, exploding out of the ground. Fascinating images of boxes covered with crumpled up paper. Obviously first thoughts. Not bad thought for that, I guess.
It is going to be nice to drive into Brooklyn in a way that it probably should be driven into. There should be some sort of entrance, some sort of man made valley, some sort of gateway.
Those who oppose the transformation of downtown brooklyn might want to take a bus from dumbo to park slope. It is an interesting ride. It appears to be taking place in a different time and in a different country. Or maybe it does not. Maybe it is just my mindset...
When looking at the first macy's parade, I was surprised about the gaps in the lineup. Once I saw the same parade on television, I realized that the gaps were there for advertising.
It was a very odd experience to drive to Washington DC with a car. I asked myself if there were some very special route that international delegations would take. Was there a route from the outskirts of the capital to it's polished center that did not feature empty blocks and burned out houses?
(Once I started taking the shuttle in, things in Washington DC looked rather beautiful and orderly... some cabbies would actually take me on a route right by the military cemetery. Here were those fallen for the freedom I was experiencing. We were all thankful.)
There is an abandoned building on the very same block where I live (I hear it is because of a dispute in the family that inherited it). The building right next to it is for sale for something like three million dollars?
Two hundred years ago, the place where I live now was a field, ready to become a battlefield, ready to become a community of human proportions, slowly...
So many of the images related to this place here are somewhat fiery. The heat of NOW is that manly, most celebrated factor here, it seems.
A city that appears as if it were a frozen explosion, more architecture to be added to the mix that is just that. A country that celebrates a moment in its history in which it was not yet free, nor complete... I think this might be all somehow the beginning of something wonderfully magnificent.
And it already is, and it will probably be even more so.
And the Brits got their Olympics in 2012, and they probably actually saved our lives. That "plan X" on the NYC2012 website, looked to me like a gigantic target, including the approximate range (10km) needed to hurt a majority of the city's population.
I somehow really love New York. And I really very much love this vast America... and if we are careful, all of this here is going to be even more magnificent in the next 250 years or so... no?...
And I ran across the park and the buildings reminded me of Europe...
or maybe it was not a reminder of anything.
and maybe this entry should be whispered and not even read...
how would one do that?
No TrackBacks
TrackBack URL: http://www.witoldriedel.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1407
Search
About this Entry
This page contains a single entry by Witold published on July 6, 2005 9:18 AM.
right in the very center of the universe. was the previous entry in this blog.
it would be nice... is the next entry in this blog.
Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.
Categories
- 360x360 (103)
- Bavaria (3)
- Birds (7)
- Brooklyn (35)
- Castles (1)
- China (1)
- Death Valley (8)
- Denmark (1)
- Design (3)
- Fish (1)
- Flying (2)
- Germany (4)
- Hinting at Work (6)
- Irrelevant Adventures (1)
- Los Angeles (1)
- Moleskine (1)
- New York (197)
- Newark (1)
- Palmed (10)
- Photography (54)
- Poland (4)
- SAS (1)
- San Francisco (1)
- Star Aliance (2)
- Travels (9)
- art (52)
- diary (7)
- drawing (13)
- filofax pages (10)
- home (7)
- just a story... (7)
- just remembering (19)
- just thinking (216)
- nerdy (1)
- observations and experiments... (40)
- on the computer (1)
- personal (9)
- turtle (2)
- web travels (94)
Monthly Archives
- September 2010 (4)
- August 2010 (1)
- June 2010 (2)
- May 2010 (2)
- April 2010 (1)
- January 2010 (3)
- September 2009 (2)
- August 2009 (2)
- May 2009 (2)
- March 2009 (1)
- February 2009 (2)
- January 2009 (4)
- December 2008 (2)
- November 2008 (4)
- October 2008 (1)
- September 2008 (4)
- August 2008 (6)
- July 2008 (6)
- June 2008 (2)
- May 2008 (3)
- April 2008 (5)
- March 2008 (4)
- February 2008 (2)
- January 2008 (6)
- December 2007 (2)
- November 2007 (2)
- October 2007 (7)
- September 2007 (1)
- August 2007 (1)
- June 2007 (5)
- April 2007 (7)
- March 2007 (5)
- February 2007 (4)
- January 2007 (5)
- December 2006 (2)
- November 2006 (1)
- October 2006 (4)
- September 2006 (5)
- August 2006 (6)
- July 2006 (5)
- June 2006 (1)
- May 2006 (5)
- April 2006 (11)
- March 2006 (7)
- February 2006 (4)
- January 2006 (7)
- December 2005 (23)
- November 2005 (8)
- October 2005 (13)
- September 2005 (9)
- August 2005 (3)
- July 2005 (13)
- June 2005 (5)
- May 2005 (11)
- April 2005 (15)
- March 2005 (13)
- February 2005 (11)
- January 2005 (11)
- December 2004 (14)
- November 2004 (11)
- October 2004 (22)
- September 2004 (28)
- August 2004 (23)
- July 2004 (25)
- June 2004 (33)
- May 2004 (27)
- April 2004 (35)
- March 2004 (54)
- February 2004 (43)
- January 2004 (38)
- December 2003 (40)
- November 2003 (50)
- October 2003 (38)
- September 2003 (33)
- August 2003 (81)
- July 2003 (65)
- June 2003 (70)
- May 2003 (56)
- April 2003 (59)
- March 2003 (62)
- February 2003 (51)
- January 2003 (49)
- December 2002 (43)
- November 2002 (68)
- October 2002 (62)
- September 2002 (59)
- August 2002 (73)
- July 2002 (84)
- June 2002 (112)
- May 2002 (133)
- April 2002 (105)
- March 2002 (111)
- February 2002 (56)
- January 2002 (35)
- December 2001 (19)
- May 2001 (1)
- April 2001 (1)
- December 1995 (1)
- May 1995 (1)
- March 1995 (1)
- February 1994 (1)
- June 1993 (1)
- January 1993 (1)
- September 1992 (1)
- August 1991 (1)
- July 1991 (1)
- February 1991 (1)
- December 1981 (1)
- November 1976 (1)
- August 1973 (1)
Pages
- Welcome to our new website!
- About
- Contact
OpenID accepted here
Learn more about OpenID
Leave a comment