It's a beautiful day and I'm sitting on the stoop right in front of my house. Why don't you come on over and sit next to me as I go through the photos that I took during my six mile walk in NYC last Friday? I took over 300 photos, and I printed contact sheets as it can be pretty overwhelming without them. Ready to listen to my story? Okay, let me give you an advance warning - some of my comments may be either highly personal or even a bit depressing. Having said that, let me begin the story with my I woke up about 6 am in the morning, took a shower, ate breakfast and drove to the Veteran's Memorial Park to park my car there. I walked past the station, and bought an one-way train ticket to Hoboken from this machine - the blue & orange colors reminded me of New York World's Fair logo. As I was waiting for the 7:37 am train, I walked around and noticed the same stickers in two different places. They look like stencils, and I am not familar with "POINTBLANK". The train came, and I hopped onto it. I arrived in Hoboken around 8:18 am - the train was full of mostly commuters. Instead of taking the PATH train from Hoboken to World Trade Center, I decided that I would take the ferry forWhenever I arrived at Hoboken Terminal, I often had to walk to the left of the waiting room to walk down the steps to the PATH station. This time, I turned to the right to get to the ferry terminal, and it was the first time I am taking the ferry. I bought the ticket and hopped on 8:30 am ferry to World Financial Center in Battery Park City. The ferry left the terminal which is a domed white tent (yellow arrows in photos above and below). I am not sure what the openings inside the building used to be. The ride across the river was very nice and I looked around a lot. Most of the commuters were either buried deep in the newspaper, sleeping, or checking the messages on the cellphones. Not my kind of lifestyle. I was really looking forward to on the Battery Park City. At 8:30 am, the ferry arrived at what it appeared to me a relatively new ferry terminal. I went to the restrooms, and I experienced some sort of slight imbalance. I thought to myself, "Am I having a dizzy spell, imbalance, or what?" After I got off the terminal, I realized that the whole place was built on a floating platform. Wow. From the terminal, I walked straight ahead to the Irish Hunger Memorial. I have visited that spot before, but the building in front was not even built when I was there. The above photo is actually the back of the park. Below is its south side. The entranceway in the back allows entry to the "ruins" but it was closed. So, I walked to the front and it does look like the country in Ireland. I like this place very much - I guess it's because I'm part Irish. I went back to the esplanade and walked to where the pylons are. Looking through between the two "North Cove Pylons" which were created by Martin Puryear (1995), I saw several landmarks across the Hudson River. I continued down south on the esplanade to the World Financial Plaza, and enjoyed the reflections on the buildings. That white-lettered name on the red ship reminded me of someone I know who lives on that island. As I walked further south, I noticed this flyer on the board. Interesting, I never have to create a portfolio of my own works when I applied to three different schools for bachelor's degree in industrial design. Other design schools require portfolio review. I strolled further down the esplanade and took a detour to Ned Smyth's Upper Room located at the end of Albany Street. I later found out that he happened to be the same person who created World on Track for the train station in Ramsey, NJ. The next art installion that I viewed was R.M. Fischer's The Rector Gate (at end of Rector Place)Battery Park City is very well marked with maps and signs, so it is pretty impossible to get lost in this area. The photo below shows a small section of the park beautifully designed by a team of professionals: Mary Miss, Stanton Eckstut, and Susan Child. The whole place looked so natural I found it hard to believe that it was actually planned and designed. Lots and lots of daffodils were in bloom. This building is Jewish Heritage Museum, and I have been inside of this building several years ago. I am very fortunate to have been born here in US instead of Germany as I knew that if I was born there few years before World War II, I might have been sent to the concentration camp and be put to death because of my deafness. Yes, there are evidences and documentation on the genocide of the deaf Germans. Anyway, let's move on... This building is just stunning, and I plan to visit this museum again in the future.The other three art installations that I saw in Robert F. Wagner Park (south of the museum) were: 1. Jim Dine's Ape & Cat (at the Dance); 2. Louise Bourgeois' Eyes; and 3. Tony Cragg's Resonating Bodies. I love this area as it is so full of art, gardens, and great landscape architecture. It's also quiet - away from the hustle and bustle of both midtown and downtown. Battery Park City Authority has an excellent guide to public art - I would recommend that you read it before you come to this area as I did not realized how much I have missed until I read this guide today.Right after I went though the last section of Battery Park City (Robert Wagner), I encountered this beautiful structure (Pier A) once again, and I have been wondering as to when the restoration will be completed. As I was walking on my way to the Castle Clinton, I saw several large photos printed on the heavy duty canvas that was hung on the fence around this pier. I thought the prose (below) written by Helen Keller was well said, and I can relate to it. I am amazed at her writing ability - she was both deaf and blind and yet, her writings were way better than mine. Anyway, let's move on to this "castle" where my paternal grandfather came to America from Switzerland when he was three years old. It used to be called Castle Garden, and it was used by the Federal government for immigrant processing before Ellis Island was opened on January 1, 1892. My grandfather and his family (parents and sister) were vaccinated on July 16, 1884 - these cards below are their proof of vaccination. They arrived at Castle Garden on July 24, 1884, and I can't imagine what it was like for them to be living here in NJ as Swiss immigrants. After I passed the castle which was full of people buying tickets for the ferry to Statue of Liberty, I encountered this wild turkey and was surprised to see it in this area. And I learned that there will be a new merry go around here in this park - instead of horses, it looked like dolphins will be used instead. Um, I wonder if there are any dolphins in the Hudson River, and if not, then why not use other creatures that are indigenous in this area? This is the section that I have not walk by before, and I have been wanting to see it for quite a while. So, here's the relatively new Staten Island Ferry Terminal. And here's the ferry that I hope to get on it some day.Past the large ferry terminal is an older and more ornate ferry terminal. I just learned that this is the place where one can take a ferry to Governor's Island which I hope to visit some day. I walked up north on the East River side, and visited the Vietnam Memorial Park. As I was walking north on my way to South Street Seaport, I saw many interesting art installations, parks, and buildings. I finally arrived at this Titanic Memorial Lighthouse around 9:45 am - I did walk that fast. I remembered having a lunch with my parents on the second floor of this Fulton Market, and the restaurant is longer there. I walked to the visitor's center in this building to pay the admission fee for various places in this seaport. This spot (below) near the entrance to the main building - I love the metal piece showing the former structure built with the bricks. Sort of like a ghost image. I picked up this flyer, and went upstairs to view several exhibitions. You can see what I was viewing in this list below. After I was done with the exhibit viewing, I headed for the print shop where I was expected by Robert who was one of two instructors in the Toy Theater class last October in New Jersey. But, before I tell you about the print shop, the picture above made me think about the letter regarding my grandfather's apprenticeshop at R. Hoe & Co. Yes, the letter is that old - it was written back in 1895 when my grandfather was 14 years old. And this is where he used to work - on Grand Street below Williamsburg Bridge.(Digital photo of R.Hoe & Company courtesy of New York Public Library)Okay, let's go to the shop. A nice storefront, indeed! As I entered the store I was greeted by both Robert and Fela. Fela told me that she loves my blog, and I was flattered. After I told them about my earlier walk, and about my grandfather (and my father, too), Robert directed me to come over to the printing press (shown below). He inked the plate, placed the paper, and put the big piece over the plate. He then pushed both of them under the press, and I pulled the lever to apply pressure on them. They were then pulled out and the top was lifted - here's the printed piece (photo above). For a long time, I have never thought as to why the letters were called either uppercase or lowercase, and he explained the origin of these two terms - look at the photo above and you will see. This shop is full of hidden surprises - you really have to linger around and look for them. See this little yellow piece on the case? Robert saw that I was fascinated with it - and he gave me a stack of tickets to make my own. The next day, I created the same piece with Elmer's glue, and discovered that it can be manipulated for different effects. So cool! And I spied this machine on the shelf behind the counter and asked him what it is. Oh, I have to have it! The eyelets are put inside the top container and they come down the front slot - cool! I saw another paper creation - the paper sheep. He laminated two old musical sheets together with an adhesive sheet, and made the die cut. I kept on walking around the shop and saw this unusual machine in the front of the shop. I started to look at the cards on display - many of them done with letterpress in this shop and they're for sale. I bought several items from this shop - the book (Alphabet of Boats) was actually published by Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. I also got a business card from Robert Warner. He is a very generous man - he loves to share all kinds of ideas and techniques for paper arts. I had a great time in this shop and I would like to go back there some day. Robert and I will be sending each other mail art soon! Let me take a break, and I will get back to you for the next part of this day adventure.
