Quitoxic Queens

 Queens the second populated borough next to Brooklyn, the most diverse and where130 languages are spoken (BB, p493).

The first stop is Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, once marshland, then the Corona dump, the dumping site for Brooklyn was then converted by Robert Moses from marshland to grounds for the World's Fair ( BB, p. 497). 

Now the park is home to the Queens Museum of Art, World’s Fair, the Uni-sphere, Mets Stadium (once called Shea now  known as Citifield) and the US open. 

Just a little trivia....Shea stadium was the only baseball field in the league to be named after an attorney (Unique New York, p.158).

The World’s Fair:http://www.queensmuseum.org/about/aboutbuilding-history

it's symbol was the  Unisphere it is 700,000lbs. of stainless steel, 12 stories high  & 120ft. high. Now it is a representation of the borough of Queens (BB, p.497).

“ Man’s Achievements on a Shrinking Globe

 in an Expanding Universe” (BB, p. 497).

Queens Museum of Art (QMA) has two permanent exhibitions the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Lamps and New York Panorama.

1. Neustadt was an immigrant from Austria…..he bought his first Tiffany lamp in 1935 and soon became an avid collector even purchasing 500 crates of glass when the company went bankrupt.

2. NY Panorama was is an architectural model of New York Comminsioned by Robert Moses for the 1964 World’s Fair ad updates

in 1992.

( BB, p.497)

The main exhibit was the Caribbean Crossroads of the World. The artists expressed the diversity, complexity of Caribbean life. Reflecting on the human condition and economic developments.

  

On my way to Astoria I passed LaGuardia Airport, named after the Mayor of New York. He was traveling back to New York when he landed in Newark. He refused to get off the plane and demanded to be flown to NY because that is what his ticket said. They flew him to a field in Brooklyn where he held a press conference stating that New Yorkers should have access to airports (Unique New York).

Astoria is a section in Queens that is home to the largest community of Greek people of Greek Heritage outside of Greece (BB, p. 499).

It has restored its film industry making it the most successful filmmaking property on the East Coast (BB, p.499).

Museum of the Moving Image its main exhibit is “Behind the Screen” which gives the viewer an inside look at the technical aspects of producing movies and TV.

The Enchanting East Side

  Our first stop today was The New York Public Library    it is known as the Humanities and Social Sciences Library  of NYPL, it is one of four major research facilities, and world famous for its collections and admired for the architecture of its building (BB,p 207). Once inside it is floor to ceiling white marble and as you walk up to the third floor your eyes can't help but to be drawn to the murals in the Rotunda created by Edward Laning depicting the story of the recorded word (BB, p. 208). Then heading into the Main reading room to absorb the ambience and try to jot down my first Haiku.


 Okay! So here it goes.....

      Shh! - whispering words through pages

Impressing on me knowledge, wisdom and light

          A sacred place always, indeed.

Main Reading Room

Prometheus brings to mankind fire and knowledge stolen from the gods.

Making our way down 5th Avenue to St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is the largest Catholic cathedral in the U.S. and the 11th largest in the world. First intended to be a burial plot but the ground was to rocky. So in 1850 Archbishop Hughes announced he was to build a new cathedral on the site (BB, p.254). 

As we continue down 5th avenue in the rain we stop into FAO Schwartz to refuel on sweets and bring out the kid in us before our journey to Central Park. 

Splish splashing
in the rain
as we are 

walking through Central Park or at least part of it (South Central Park). A park that looks like it was saved from concrete and skyscrapers was actually man made, designed by Frederick Law Olmstead & Cavert Vaux (BB, p.279).  It is 843 acres. So getting lost is pretty easy. But come to find out that on the lamp posts are metal plates that tell the cross street. It's just a matter of decoding the numbers. 


So let's see how this works: first  2 number is the cross street- 97th street. The final digits if they are even ones you are the east side and if they are odd numbers you are on the west side.
so 30 is even so it's 97th street on the east side? Pretty good because where I took that picture was walking towards the Guggenheim from El Museo de Barrio.


 After a quick lunch break we head back through Central Park to make our way to The MET. This time passing through  an area of the park dedicated to John Lennon.....

 ......called Strawberry Fields (a name from an Orphanage in Liverpool) 
"Imagine " is inscribed in the center of black and white mosaic a reproduction of mosaic from Pompeii and a gift from Naples, Italy. ( BB, p292) that is usually decorated with flowers and candles.

Joan of Arc
Jules Bastien-Lepage

The Met is the largest  museum in then world. It occupies 1.5 million square feet (31 times a size of a football field). Its collections include more than 2 million objects that includes the whole world & entire sweep of human civilization (BB,p. 326).

Joan Miro
The Hunter 

We went to the second floor to see Modern Art. Looking at abstract art from artists such as Pollock, Warhol, Kooning. Prof. Hey said"when you look at abstract it is your relationship to the painting. How does it make you feel? "  


It took me awhile to learn how to appreciate art. I found that art is a process or should I say science, you really need to take the time to look at art and enjoy it, savor it for awhile.
 OH! right!  maybe that is why there are benches in front of some pieces.... Give it a chance. Then get to know the history or life of the artist and piece, for me it brings it all together.

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints
Raphael

The beauty about art whether it is a building, park, in a museum is that it has a story to tell. Whether it is the piece to you or you to the piece. 

Denial of St. Peter
Carravagio

Some of my favorites are the European paintings. 

Head of an old Woman
Orazio Borgianni

Hello Brooklyn

I was pretty excited finally getting to know Brooklyn.  We started off in the tacky but gotta love it Coney Island. Trekked for about 45 minutes on the Q-train amidst grey and bleak areas then out of no where a burst of primary colors…. It is something out of the ordinary and very humorous. You kind of feel like you are going to the circus. Freak shows, rides: the famous CYCLONE rollercoaster, aquarium and of course Nathan’s Famous hotdogs all along the boardwalk.  FYI...supposedly, the hotdog was invented by Charles Feltman, he wanted to avoid providing silverware for his customers so he put the frankfurter in a bun (Blue Guide, p.492)

Heading back on the train we made our way to Brooklyn Heights with a detour to the Transit Museum.  It is perfectly located in a subway station. Taking you down memory lane of the progression of the subway system.

Brooklyn Heights a quaint, historic area over looking downtown Manhattan . Historically, it was the site where Washington evacuated 9,500 men after American troops were slaughtered and surrounded by the British in the Battle of Brooklyn. Fishermen rowed back and forth from the Heights to Fulton St. under the disguise of the fog to evacuate all the troops (B.G.,p.467).

And finally what I have been waiting for the Brooklyn Bridge…aaahhhh!  I can see the fascination with this landmark.  Once a world’s greatest wonder and the largest suspension bridge in existence.  Is a symbol of love, determination and perseverance.  


There was resistance toward building the bridge from the Ferry companies.  They feared that they would lose money. SO they bribed the city officials. Until one day when Mother Nature stepped in and the river froze over.  The ferries were stuck in their slips  and the Brooklynites could not get to work. There was an uproar and they demanded that Roehling build the bridge
(Unique New York, Malachy,p. 128).


 Roehling who was in the midst of construction of the bridge passed away, so then his son took over .  He too became sick with Cassions’s disease (the Bends). He watched over the building of the bridge from his Brooklyn Heights home through binoculars and had his wife run over and give the men instruction on building the bridge. Dying before the bridge was completed Mrs. Roehling was the first to cross the bridge.

While strolling along the bridge you see the Statue of Liberty on one side, The Manhattan Bridge on the other, as you are walking you feel the trembling of the cars passing underneath you. People are commuting in either direction on bike or foot, Lovers had  attached pad locks along the bridge scripted with their names. 
Finally making our way to the end of the day at The South Street Sea Port .

My NYC.....

New York is this magical place for me. Even though I lived here most of my life, I still feel like a tourist. I find going in to the city an exciting, unexpected adventure, especially since I still don’t know my way around without a map. I am always mesmerized and awed by the massiveness of the buildings, like it was the first time I’ve seen them.  I look forward to the variety of smells and soothed by the noises of the city: the rumbling of the subway, honking from the traffic, and the yelling in the streets. I enjoy the many tourists trying to find their way around, like myself, and find myself stopping to see what they to are gazing at….