I am a camera

We met our friends Caroline and Robert for an elegant lunch at Fiorello's, across from Lincoln Center and had a great time catching up. I met Caroline on the Garden Web Kitchen site last year and when she and Robert come to NY every few months to soak up the culture, we see them if we can. No pictures of the wonderful food, but my camera was clicking everywhere else. The climb out of the subway at Columbus Circle was so steep that we sat down to rest at the first public space we came to, on a plaza in front of a glass building. Don't you love those round benches?I kept taking pictures of the reflections in the building's facade and finally decided I might as well be in one of them. Across the street, on the second floor of a beautiful building, several windows full of merchandise. But my favorite images are a different kind of beauty entirely -- the grit that never fails to move and captivate me. I'm not sure why, but maybe it doesn't matter. We took the PATH to 33rd St. and then the subway up. On the way down, we took the E train to the WTC and we took the PATH from there - a substantially shorter and easier trip because we didn't have to change trains. It isn't easy to take pictures on the subway because it's usually too crowded - but the E train was fairly empty on the way downtown because it was mid-afternoon. Notice how this guy paid attention to the signs.

When we got off the E train at the World Trade Center stop,we had to walk about a block to the WTC and the PATH (Port Authority Trans Hudson, which in my day was called the Hudson Tubes. Back then, we always took the ferry to and from NY. You drove your car onto the ferry, got out and walked around to where the windows or deck were, and drove off when the boat docked. They discontinued the ferry in the 1950's).

Anyway - construction on the tower or towers and museum or whatever they are doing, continues to slog along, nearly 8 years later. We took the escalator down and I noticed that the view through this wonderful grid is visible today, which is wasn't a year or two ago when I took this picture.

The escalator down to the PATH trains. I love the Welcome to the World Trade Center sign.

I never have a chance to shoot the beautiful landscape on the PATH route, but today I did. What can I say? I love these views. I was so tired when we got home that I took a 3 hour nap on the couch: unheard of for me. And now, off to bed. Tomorrow, I take my Apple to the genuises to see if they can fix my screwed-up Apple mail.