Journal Day #6



Custom House Lobby

 Our journey started in Battery Park City today.  We could see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from South Ferry.  However, it was drizzling and the sky was foggy.  We did not have a clear view of the beautiful sites.  We first went to the Former US Custom House which was built in 1907. It is now the National Museum of the American Indian.  We only toured the main lobby.  The great rotunda sits in the center of the lobby.  The ceiling was constructed of tiles and plaster designed by Rafael Guastavino, whose work also shows up in the St. John the Devine Cathedral, the Registry Room of Ellis Island, and the Grand Central Station (BG 43).  The murals below the dome were painted by Reginald Marsh, showing the early explorers and ocean liner entering New York Harbor (BG 43).



Skyscraper Museum Exhibits



We did not stay to check out the American Indian Museum but moved on to the newly opened Museum of Skyscrapers nearby.  This museum showed some of the skyscrapers in the world by models and pictures with panels of description and facts.  It also showed different factory models from the US and other countries.  From modern factories and contemporary factories, to the future factories, it talked about cleaner and greener industries for the benefit of the entire neighborhoods and towns.  The museum has its educational contents, but it does not contain enough exhibits and information to be an attractive and worth-visiting museum. 

We then went into the World Financial Center.  The main lobby is the spectacular Winter Garden.  It's decorated by palm trees with benches under them, and marble stairs leading to a round platform where you can see through the front round galss window, overlooking the WTC site.  The site looks so familier to me. I realized that I came here once on my cousin's wedding more than 10 years ago.  The place looked almost the same to me.  I wondered how much damage it suffered from the 9.11. attack since it is so close to the WTC.  I found out from the Blue Guide that the glass dome windows were broken from the debries of the twin tower.  The palm trees which were brought from the Sonoran desert could not survive the cold rain throught the cracked window and died.  It only took about a year, the building was reopened in September 2002.  The palm trees were replaced, and the marble floor and steps were repaired (BG 61).  It looks like nothing had ever happened to it.  Great job!

I love the Poets House on River Terrance.  It is a great place to have a peace of yourself, and emersing yourself in poems of any kind you like.  The staff were very inviting and friendly.  We were showed to the upcoming events room, the children's room, and the library where we sat down and read some poetry books on our own.  The house has collections of 50,000 volumes of poetry.  The Reed Foundation Library is the largest and most comprehensive poetry collection in the country in open stacks available to the public (poetshouse.org).  At this place, poets and poetry lovers can listen to poetry on tape, watch on video, or read and write poetry at their own pace.  There is also a copy machine available if one wants to take a poem to go.  I got a poem for this class after the visit to the Poetry House:



Pipe Waterfall in Chelsea Market



On journeys through the city we start,

We dwelled in every neighborhood and historical site,

We walked through the Brooklyn Bridge,

We passed through Chelsea and Battery Park,

We make trials of ourselves and invite others to join us,

We walked in the heat, in the rain,

and we say to ourselves,

fear not, be challenging, be enthusiastic,

be the explorers, be the walkers,

We willing learners of all, teachers of all, and lovers of all.

 

Our lunch was settled in Chelsea market.  I had seafood nd it was delicious!  Chelsea Market was opened by the former Nabisco factory in 1995 (BG 186).  The ground floor is filled with high-quality food shops, also store that sell wine, flowers, and kitchenware.  There is a waterfall made of a metal pipe with cool lighting and brick work around it.  This art piece blends in nicely with the market setup. 



The High Line Park

After lunch, we took a walk on the high line starting from 14th Street.  I never knew such a beautiful park existed before.  What a brilliant idea!  This high line is decorated as a long path park, with bushes,  flowers, lighting, benches, and some nice artwork blended into them.  This 13-mile high line railroad was constructed in the 1930s to solve the railroad traffic problem.   It ran through mid-block between or right through the buildings for the freight trains to go Albany and beyond.  After the freight gave away to trucking in 1950s, this rail was left to rust.  In the late 1990s, a local advocacy group defeated the demolition proposal and had this park constructed over the 1.6 mile rail from 14th to 30th Street (BG 188).  This high line park and the surrounding luxury buildings added beauty to the Chelsea skyline. 
 After inspiration of the marvelous perenial garden of the high line, we toured through some art galleries on Chelsea.  I thought some of the art pieces were crazy and some of them were childish.  What I liked the most is the artwork done by Li, Songsong.  His thick, dented painting with hidden pictures show him as an impressionist.  I thought that was my style of art. 


Painting by Li, Songsong from Chelsea