24 hour Apple

The famous Apple store on Fifth Avenue exposes itself as a glass cube, but the store is actually down the circular glass stairway and below.  This day it had rained a bit in the morning so there are some drops of water still on the roof.

This is the one and only Apple store that is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year!  I don't really get it... do people suddenly decide they need a new iPod at 3:00 AM on a Sunday morning?

Look up

They say the mark of a tourist in a big city is they are always looking up checking out the big buildings, like the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building.  I have a friend to instructed me to carry a water bottle so if I wanted to look up I only had to drink from my Evian, thereby not looking like a crane-necked tourist.

But I find that many of the real interesting things to see are not the well known buildings, but glimpses of the everyday.  People live up there and it is certainly a different lifestyle from from what I know. 

Traveling underground

New York has an extensive subway system that is quite efficient but it is not perfect.  During the hot weather it can be really uncomfortable in the stations, although the cars are cooled.  Also you find some very off-beat and curious individuals down in those tunnels, but generally you feel safe.  The tile work in the stations is really quite nice but not always kept up as well as would be ideal.

Color is everywhere but sometimes hidden

Yes mostly gray, but with a bit of Photoshop manipulation color emerges where it is not expected.

Street art

Not sure what all those lines and arcs mean but it must be important.  This is Lexington Avenue at 47th Street.  Perhaps there is construction or resurfacing that is in the works, but for the live of me I could not decipher what the lines meant.

No respect

The birds of Bryant Park do not seem to like William Earle Dodge very much. I guess that is the fate of a statue in a public park.

Mr. Dodge was a successful businessman and supporter of American Indian rights.  He was also a founding member of the YMCA.

That seems pretty respectable to me.

New York City

There are a lot of great cities in this world, and I have visited a few, but none are quite like New York.  It truly is the Big Apple.  I was fortunate to spend a few days there so the next several posts will include some of my photos and observations during my stay.

Fireworks

July 4th is a day of celebration, and one of my favorite parts is the fireworks. The colors and the booming sounds really kick-off summer for me.

By the way, this is my 99th post to this blog. To me it is more fun to recognize 99 than that centurion number of 100.