Freedom Tower, etc. on Midday Corp Excursion

A midday corporate excursion took me throughout lower Manhattan, over to Jersey and back again. It was beautiful sunny day and  I snapped a few photos of iconic items I passed.

Freedom Tower
(This replaced the World Trade Center)

Oculus - World Trade Center 

A bony “closed eye” structure dubbed Oculus has been erected over the rebuilt World Trade Center transportation hub that overlooks the new Ground Zero. Across the middle of the eye is a 355-foot-long operable skylight.

The eye is normally closed, and it only “opens” once a year…

“Each Sept. 11, the skylight will be opened to the elements for 102 minutes, Erica Dumas, a spokeswoman for the authority, said. That is how long the 2001 terrorist attack lasted, from the time the first jetliner hit the trade center at 8:46 a.m. until the collapse of the second tower at 10:28 a.m.”
~New York Times

Further Info:

http://gothamist.com/2016/03/03/oculus_open_wtc.php

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"Corp America" in Newport NJ

City Hall Park - Lower Manhattan

Brooklyn Bridge - Manhattan side
See the packed walkway!

Previous Brooklyn Bridge Excursion 

http://mtb-rcoffey.blogspot.com/2015/11/brooklyn-bridge-lunch-hour.html

Brooklyn Heights Promenade

I wandered over here on my lunch hour. The Brooklyn Heights Promenade is also called the Esplanade. Its about a pleasant 20 min walk from my office. Even though the day was a little gray and a bit breezy, it is always nice of course to sit by a river and enjoy the view.

The Esplanade is a third of a mile long, offering a nice vista of the Statue of Liberty, the Manhattan skyline and the majestic Brooklyn Bridge. It is bordered by grand townhouses and mansions, part of Brooklyn's first Historic Preservation District.

 The next three photos are a sweeping panorama of the view

That's Governor's Island in the distant left 

Of course this is downtown Manhattan (Wall Street, etc.)

Looking northwesterly, the Brooklyn Bridge is visible

Surprisingly it was very noisy. Being built over busy Interstate 278 obviously added the noise of traffic but it seemed most of he noise came from accrues the river - actually from traffic on the FDR highway that hug the east side shoreline of Manhattan.

Looking south one can see the Traffic that flows under the Promenade 

Further Info

• Brooklyn Heights Promenade >
• The Brooklyn Heights Promenade > (Wikipedia)

Prison Ship Martyrs Monument

Lunch Hour Trek - just a short distance form my office...

Prison Ship Martyrs Monument - Brooklyn, NY

The Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument is a memorial to the more than 11,500 American prisoners of war who died in captivity aboard sixteen British prison ships during the American Revolutionary War. When it was built, it was the world's tallest Doric column. (More details below...)

Manhattan in the distance

Details

During the Revolutionary War, the British maintained a series of prison ships in the New York Harbor and jails on the shore for captured prisoners of war. Due to brutal prison conditions, more Americans died in British jails and prison ships in New York Harbor than in all the battles of the American Revolutionary War.

Following the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, the remains of those who died on the 16 prison ships were neglected, left to lie along the Brooklyn shore on Wallabout Bay, a rural area little visited by New Yorkers.

The monument visited above was the third and final location, The dedication ceremony for this location occurred on November 15, 1908, and included a parade with 15,000 participants. A distinguished array of prominent politicians and dignitaries watched along with approximately twenty thousand spectators as "the enormous flag draping the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument on the highest point of Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, was allowed to slide slowly to the ground from its heigth of 198 feet in the air.
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Source: Wikipedia

Kitchen Remodeling - 2015

Kitchen Remodeling

Before

Phase One

New Cabinets

Phase Two

 New Counter Tops

Phase Three

BackSplash / Door Handles

Phase Four

Stove (and Vent - not pictured)

Phase Five

Spackling and Radiator Cabinet

-BEFORE-

Phase 6

New Floor

Mad River Glen, Middlebury and Crown Point

On the way back from Stowe VT I did a bit of railroad archaeology and sight-seeing

Mad River Glen

The photo sadly doesn't really capture the view and sense of high how you traveled on a winding road to cross over the mountains...

Interesting tree remnant at the overlook

Bristol Railroad

Between Bristol and New Haven Junction I scouted for abandoned railroad relics.
See other blog posting >

Middlebury
I stopped in Middlebury for lunch at a tavern and had a beer sampler and shepherd's pie - How British old chap! It was a nice spot: Two Brothers Tavern, Middlebury, VT

Two Brothers Tavern 

The Beer Sampler

Worth mentioning...
I stopped for gas at this old fashioned general store / gas station. The gas pumps are ancient and didn't take a credit card so I went in to pay in advance. The cashier said: just filler up and come back and pay!

Crown Point

The Bridge over Lake Champlain takes you into New York State...