Manhattan - High Line - 16,592 Steps - My French Is Terrible

LONG day with Olivier. We met on Roosevelt Island (never been there before), a long, thin residential sliver in the East River. Then took the tram to Manhattan. Then subway to the High Line. Then walk and walk and walk. Then to the Whitney Museum. 

The health app on my iPhone says I took 16,592 steps, probably a one-day record for me. My legs hurt - Olivier is in better shape. I think I'm hot stuff when in France because I can get something to eat or drink, buy something, pay the bill and, on a good day, ask directions in the street. But general conversation with a Frenchman? Non. Olivier's English is equivalent to my French and it was a struggle at times. The noise level of the city didn't help. We tested Google Translate's bandwidth. 

These shots only scratch the surface of what I took yesterday. 

Queens

I have been in New York City for seven hours as I write this and have not left the Borough of Queens. (Tomorrow will be different, of course.) The first two pictures look east along Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside, the neighborhood where I grew up. Mon bon ami Olivier Perrin is on holiday in the city and met me here. We walked through the area, took some pictures of my old apartment building and dined at my favorite local restaurant, Soleluna,

Back to the hotel to edit. The bottom photo is the view from my window. (My little Olympus camera just doesn't do low light as well as my big Canon, but that's too heavy to walk the streets.) Tomorrow Roosevelt Island, The High Line, the Whitney Museum and, if time permits, the International Center of Photography. Dinner at a French cafe and wine bar in the West Village.     

Koffiebus and Teebus on a moody day in the Karoo

The Karoo Heartland has a unique beauty which I have really learned to appreciate more and more as I have gotten older.  If you're a forest or beach person then the Karoo may not be for you, but if big skies and open spaces feed your soul then there is no better place.  One of my favorite Eastern Cape Karoo Heartland landmarks is the Koffiebus and Teebus mountains outside Steynsburg.  Although there are many similar Karoo koppies throughout the whole region, the fact that there is a thick one (the coffee pot) and a thin one (the teapot) next to each other like this is quite noticeable.  

Therapy

There are more pictures from STL's Halloween party on Flickr here and I may edit others. But today I need out and I'm getting out. Been a bit crabby lately with work, clients and certain other people. As Sartre said, l'enfer, c'est les autres, and I'm looking for some mental refreshment.

By mid-afternoon I will be in New York City, my point of origin. Now I wouldn't tell a Scot this to his or her face, but Sir Walter Scott, whose poetry I think is mostly awful, wrote

Breathes there a man, with soul so dead

   Who never to himself hath said

This is my own, my native land!

I still miss the place. Of course, living is St. Louis is far more affordable but going back here always gives me a boost. It hits my reset button. It's therapeutic. Later today I will meet up with Olivier of Evry Daily Photo. We will walk the streets, photograph what passes before us and use Google Translate a lot. Can't wait.

By the way, the photo here was taken in the Staten Island Ferry terminal last summer. The concept works for me.

Silly People

I'm running through some more Central West End Halloween pictures before I head to New York for the weekend tomorrow. You have to wonder whether these people are simply being creative or expressing something about themselves that doesn't have another outlet. Probably some of both.