{HISTORIAS DE NEW YORK} AL SUR DE LA ISLA, PART III

The last set of my Downtown visit. 

Have you ever seen the movie Hitch? Well, many of the scenes from the movie were filmed right there. The Marina is splendid!! It´s such a neat view: you walk by tall buildings and then, all of the sudden, there´s a huge opening and there it is, the marina! Laid back restaurants, a wide boardwalk and many white sailboats are part of it. It´s a very crowded place. Tourists taking pictures of pretty much everything, young guys on their bycicles or roller blades, middle aged women dressed with implecable suits and high heels, older ladies walking their dogs, nannies and babies and toddlers everywhere!

You can check out the other sets clicking on Part 1 and Part 2.

{HISTORIAS DE NEW YORK} TULIPANES PRIMAVERALES

One knows for sure that spring is around when the Central Park tulips are in full bloom. 

It might still be chilly out and one might need to wear a warm jacket but when you walk around the curvy paths at the park and your eyes find the huge patchs of red, pink and purple tulips, you know spring is finally there.

That cloudy Sunday I got to do something I never do: I fed the pigeons. You see, I´m afraid of birds (all kinds of them!) so I stay away from them all the time. That afternoon, Milly, Grace and myself were eating Argentine white bread ham and cheese sandwiches and alfajores de maizena and these birds kept coming around  looking for bread crumbs so I gathered some and gave them to the birds. They ate them happily and stayed a bit longer in case there were more and then, they were off...

{Historias de New York} Al sur de la isla, parte 2

{This is the second part of the Downtown set. If you missed the first entry, you can check it out here.}

I visited the Financial District and since it was Sunday every single bank and exchange house was closed but you could still find the oh-so-out-of-place guy in a suit walking around. It was a bit odd, considering it was a Sunday afternoon. 

We walked up to Trinity Church, the oldest church in Manhattan. It´s so neat. The stone is a particular pinkish color and the contrast between this old gothic construction and the modern, tall buildings is so evident. But still if you look at it, it seems like these tall glassy skyscrapers form a tight circle around the old church protecting it from the outside world. 

The church yard is a graveyard and the tombs are so ancient! Some of the stones were broken or chipped but most of them were intact.

{Historias de New York} Al sur de la isla, parte 1

Mientras ustedes leen este post, yo estoy disfrutando de unos días de vacaciones en Uruguay con mi mamá! No me envidien! Realmente necesitaba estos días lejos de casa y de la vida diaria. Hacía más de 5 años que no iba de viaje a algún sitio y la verdad es que extrañaba viajar muchísimo! 

While you´re reading this post, I´m enjoying a few vacation days in Uruguay with my mom! Don´t be jealous! I really needed a couple of days away from home and daily life! It´s been about 5 years since I last traveled somwhere and I was really missing travelling a lot! 

El extremo sur de Manhattan es diferente al resto de la ciudad. Si bien, se siguen viendo los edificios altos, los centros comerciales y la cantidad, a veces, abrumadora de gente, este sector es mas "abierto" como para decirlo de alguna manera. Tiene mas espacios verdes y es arquitectonicamente diferente ya que no se trata de edificios muy modernos, sino mas bien de otras epocas, con mas detalles y molduras que los embellecen. 

The southern part of the city is different from the rest of it. One can still find the tall buildings, malls and the, sometimes, huge amount of people walking down the streets but this part is more spacious. It has a lot more of small squares with green trees and water fountains. The buildings are not so slick, they have architectural details that make them beautiful.

{Historias de New York} Los fósiles y yo no tenemos la misma edad!

El Museo de Historia Natural se encuentra en el lado opuesto al MET, frente al Central Park. Tiene una exhibición de animales embalsamados que es fabulosa en la planta baja y el primer piso del edificio. También tiene muchas alas de diferentes temas de ciencia muy interesantes. Pero yo solo ansiaba llegar al piso en donde estaban los fósiles gigantes de aquellos animales que habitaron la tierra hace millones y millones de años atrás.  La exhibición de fósiles de dinosaurios, primates, aves, anfibios y otros mamíferos es completa, variada y sorprendente. Estar de pie junto a la osamenta petrificada de un mamut te da una tremenda sensación de pequeñez. Lo que ves en esas galerías te deja con la boca abierta!

Rosario at night | Rosario de noche

Peatonal Córdoba y calle Corrientes de noche. Me gusta mucho la coloración ámbar que le dan las luces de la calle. 

Córdoba pedestrian walkway and Corrientes street at night. I like the golden tones from the street lights.

No soy una gran fan de la fotografía en blanco y negra. Sinceramente prefiero las fotos a color porque me transmiten mucha vida. Pero esta foto tiene un feeling y una textura tan singular que el blanco y negro, a mi entender, le queda fantástico! // I´m not a big fan of the black & white photography. I really prefer color photography because they have "more life". But I adore the texture and the mood of this photo below and I think it looks great in black and white.  

{Historias de New York} La piedra que esconde vida

Para cuando visité por primera vez el MET, el ala de arte greco romano estaba recién inaugurada. Tenían grandes banners en la entrada del museo anunciándolo. Se trata de un corredor largo con muchos salones colmados de muchos objetos hechos de mármol o piedra. Este corredor, a su vez, se divide en dos partes: la parte anterior es netamente un corredor, mientras que la parte posterior, tiene estatuas distribuidas a los lados o en el centro del camino. Esto se abre a una especie de salón con techo vidriado rodeado de columnas. Me dio idea de un patio de invierno. Tiene algunos bancos ubicados estrategicamente frente a determinadas estatuas en donde la gente se sienta a contemplarlas. Creo que si ese lugar no tuviera el techo vidriado se trataría de un ambiente frió y oscuro: el mármol blanco de las esculturas colabora un montón. 

Pero hay algo en el aire que lo transforma en algo con vida, muy a pesar de la quietud de sus habitantes permanentes. Por mas que cada estatua fuera de un mármol frió y blanco, no pude evitar sentir que transmitían vida. Están esculpidas con tanto detalle, con tanto cuidado! Es mas que obvio que son copias pétreas de personas que en algún momento vivieron, que tuvieron su propia historia, que alguien consideró lo suficientemente importantes como para inmortalizarlas en piedra fina ya sea por lo que hicieron, por lo que dejaron de hacer o simplemente porque fueron odiadas... o amadas...

When I visited the MET, the Greek and Roman galleries were brand new. They had big banners about their openings hanging from the main entrance. It´s a huge wing of the museum. It´s a wide corridor with many galleries on its sides filled with lots of historical pieces. The second half od this corridor is a gallery in itself with many statues. This opens up to a tall hall with glass ceilings. This hall is surrounded by round tall columns and it´s crowed with marble statues of all kinds. It could have been a cold hall but there was something in the air that made it appealing and warm despite of its stony permanent residents. In spite of being made of cold and white stone those statues have a life of their own. They are carved with so much detail, such care! These statues are a carbon copy of somebody who lived long ago, with their own stories. Somebody made them because of what they did or didn´t do. They were made because somebody thought them important enough to be inmortalized in stone. They were made because that person was either hated or loved by somebody...

Para los que vieron Pride & Prejudice (2005), esta foto me recuerda a la escena en donde Lizzie visita Pemberley, mas precisamente la sala de las estatuas // This reminds me of the Pride & Prejudice (2005) movie when Lizzie visits Pemberley not knowing Mr.Darcy is there and stares with longing eyes at his statue.