South Street Seaport

This week the newspaper included a photo of the proposed replacement for The South Street Seaport. 

I had read about plans to seek a replacement several months ago. 

So I figured I had better head over and take some photos. 

I have shot there many times since it was built in 1982.  At that time the surrounding area was a no man’s land and the famous Fulton Fish Market was fully operational. 

The seaport was a way to attract people, mostly tourists, to the area. 

And for a while it was quite successful. 

But over the years the surrounding area has become a haven for high priced housing.  (That’s the new Frank Gehry tower on the right. )

So it was obvious that a better use of the space would be an upscale mall aimed at local residents rather than tourists. 

Since it’s unclear how the ships would fit in, I wanted to take some more photos of them in their current surroundings. 

They really are very beautiful.

Ciao

PJ

© 2012 PJ Lehrer

Embroidery: Pink Lilies

Here’s an embroidered piece featuring some of the lilies from the Amherst roof garden.  Their official name is Lilium Stargazer, and they are a type of Oriental Lily, known for their sweet frangrance. 

Ciao

PJ

© 2012 PJ Lehrer

London Part 3

I’ll always think of my first trip to London with Edward as the Beatles Tour. 

The Tower of London

We took in the legendary Abbey Road of course and tried not to be hit by a car as we let other tourists take our photo as we crossed the street. 

But we also took a tour that went to a variety of neighborhoods hitting all the highlights from concerts and album covers. 

Parliment

We followed that up with a day trip to Liverpool, which was actually much nicer than I thought it would be. 

And I have to admit that it was a hoot to see Strawberry Fields and Eleanor Rigby’s grave.

The Hinde

But it was on our 2006 trip that we missed Sir Paul by 15 minutes.

St. Paul's Catherdral

After we visited Abbey Road we decided to visit Paul’s house.

As it turned out, we had arrived in the middle of his messy divorce, so the sidewalk was crowded with reporters. 

Tower Bridge

Edward buddied up to the stalkers, oops I mean paparazzi, and determined that Sir Paul was actually inside at that very moment making himself a grilled cheese sandwich. 

Actually, I’m making the part about the sandwich up, although they did tell us that he was in the kitchen as they went off to get a cup of coffee. 

Ciao

PJ

© 2012 PJ Lehrer

London Part 2

On our 2006 visit we climbed to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral to take in the views.

The climb to the Whispering Gallery, 259 steps high, proved to be far more daunting than anticipated.  The steps were oddly shallow and climbing them was awkward. 

And, every few minutes an energetic child would pass us while counting the number of steps out loud. 

Parliment

All in all, it was a humbling experience.

Once we caught our breath, we thought “why not?” and headed up to the Stone Gallery, another 378 steps. These steps were of a more normal height however and proved to be much easier to navigate.

Lambeth Palace

 The view, I am glad to say, was definitely worth it. 

The London Eye

It was another 530 steps to Golden Gallery but we were up for it. 

The great part was that we actually got to climb through the rafters that were holding up the dome.  It was fascinating.

The view from the top was nice too, but the photos from the first level worked best. 

The Gherkin

All in all, I’d have to say it’s worth the climb.

The Tower of London

Ciao

PJ

© 2012 PJ Lehrer