Home ... Again ...

As per my usual 'back-from-a-trip-home-survival-remedy' - I immediately put myself to bed last Monday after we got home from New York to try and not ... what I call 'crash'. Very unpleasant - a visual: getting in a rickety, albeit FAST, go-cart (sans helmet) on a street in San Fransisco and steering straight towards a brick building oh, say right at the bottom of the steepest hill you can find - then HITTING IT - that's pretty much what crashing feels like ...



Hmmmm ....



Didn't work:


The room is DEFINITELY not as nice as the Marriott room we stayed in in New Jersey ... but what are you going to do?

After getting absolutely no fluids or food that didn't immediately come right back up (and with SUCH A GUSTO ...) from Wednesday to Sunday - my only output being the water retention that seems to have started building up in my feet and legs these days (*sigh* - yes, another doctor, another mystery to solve, probably another problem ... but for another day ...). As my feet and legs slimmed down ever so nicely, I realized that I was getting worse and not better and Gary said that it was time - that he should have hauled my barfing self into the ER days ago (true) so off for that fun, filled night full of needles, tests, and waiting -

Oh! the waiting!

Don't I remember that from all of Jessie and my own hospital stays - always, always, always waiting for the doctor to come in - in that fast way they have - give you a quick run down - ask if you have any questions and before you can say "Hell YES!" they are saying "Well, then, we're off" and out the door they breeze!


The IV ... Witch? Vampire? The phlebotomist I was ever so lucky to catch was a very quick, abrupt, unfeeling, non-verbal scary thing of a woman.

I ABHOR, HATE, LOATHE, DESPISE getting IV's.

Why? My veins suck and it is a very delicate, painful thing - which Gary - to this day, bless his soul - has to leave the room for until it is over ....

We got a clue this was the case back when they tried oh, soooo many times to insert a PIC (peripherally inserted catheter) in me when I had Lyme's Disease so that I could administer my antibiotics myself. After blowing vein after vein in my arms - a few days later - after about 5 visits from home care nurses - it was scheduled that a central line be inserted into my chest and I would administer the drugs via that catheter. Oh, so much better! AND I WAS UNCONSCIOUS THE ENTIRE TIME IT WAS INSERTED - HUGE PLUS! Unfortunately that turned out to be a bust also - but it was not the catheters fault! Just my body deciding that it was time to rebel and go into anaphylactic shock and decide not to play with the drugs any more. Big bummer and the reason I have that huge red 'Allergic to' tag hanging round my wrist down there ...

She decided to drill deep in the most tender spot of your inner forearm.

Me: "Ummmm, I'm a hard stick - are you sure there is even a vein there - I DON'T SEE ONE!"

Her:

Me: "Uh - could you wait just a sec and let me take a deep breath, center my... AAAAAGGGGGHHH! OH SHIT THAT HURT! AAAHHHGGGG - WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Her:

Me: Heavy breathing with intermittent sounds of retching ...

Her: "All done, now I need to draw some blood"

Me: "What? Why didn't you pull it out of the IV port before you started the fluid AAAAGGGGHHHH! Seriously WHAT SIZE NEEDLE ARE YOU USING? Is this TOTALLY NECESSARY?"

(More heavy breathing and retching on my part - more humming on her part - Dudes - seriously? I really, really, really think she was having the time of her life ... some people are scarier than I can even conjure up in my wildest imaginations ...)

Her: "All done" Walks out the door

Me: "Thanks .... for nothing you ..." Gary walks in and I SHUT MY MOUTH ...

(Note: Gotta admit - when my electrolytes are wonky, I am in a strange place that smells SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE A HOSPITAL and I am dry heaving into a tiny plastic tub that the phlebotomist keeps tossing her garbage in ... I my tend to get a wee bit ... hmmmm - foul mouthed? OK, to be honest there is a plethora of scenarios where I tend to get a wee bit foul mouthed, this just happens to be high on the list ...)

And - the night fun was just beginning!!! Poor Gary! Having put off letting him take me to the ER until 9:00pm on a Sunday night - thus very late with him having something to do with a grundle of Norwegians and some review that had been set up for months starting the next day up at his office in Greenspoint (far, far away ...) - he went out to try to catch some sleep in the truck - poor, poor guy - I told him I would take a taxi home.

EXACTLY WHAT I HAD DONE THE LAST TIME AN AMBULANCE HAD BROUGHT ME TO THIS VERY ER!!! Gary was living in Australia at the time, I had the unfortunate timing to pass out in a Kroger shopping store getting dog food for my dog to give to my most wonderful friend who was watching her while I flew to Austraila THE VERY NEXT DAY. By the time I woke up with a bevy of concerned faces surrounding me and a very managerial looking guy saying that 'An ambulance has been called, ma'am, just stay calm' and me most likely mumbling ... semi-audibly "Oh, shit ...", I was coherent enough to BEG, PLEAD, BRIBE AND CAJOLE to get out of the ride to the hospital - I WAS FREAKING FINE - just in my own 'special' way ..... No go - and off we went for me to tell them at the hospital in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS THAT I WAS FREAKING FINE! And that I was going home, and could somebody give me the number for a taxi service?

I am not without means! I have ways! I have friends! I am WOMAN hear me roar! OH, sorry that was while they were shoving needles in me. I digress. So - no convincing him to go home and get some real sleep.

While they were out the Fake Doctor? Nurse Practitioner? Got my blood results back and discovered that my white blood cell count was in their terms: "astronomically high" (looked it up - normal - 5000 - 10,000 - me: 21,000 - go me!). So even without any T-Cells to call my own or any sort of DECENT immune system - I CAN MAKE WHITE BLOOD CELLS - BY THE THRASHERS! WHO KNEW? Actually I did - I seem to remember my regular doc mentioning that my white blood cell count was really high last time I had my 3 month blood check with her - (*sigh* - another mystery, another doctor, another bunch of tests and yes, again - another day ... getting older ... and sicker .... sucks ....). So they decided that they needed:

a) More blood - OF COURSE! - so Vampyria the Phlebotomist comes back in with just a wee hint of a smile ...

b) A few more tests -

c) Oh, by the way - one is a test for gastroenteritis - a CT with contrast and you have to drink the crap in these two cups. See two stacked cups the arrow is pointing to? (OK - Waaaay down in the next photo - I tend to get a wee .... verbose ... on too little sleep and in the middle of a FULL ON RANT ...)

And WHO SAYS I CAN'T DO HARD THINGS?

I had taken in - in liquid form in the LAST FIVE DAYS - MAYBE - MAYBE - a half cup of water / gatoraide / slush - which all promptly came back up - and they want me to chug down TWO FREAKING FULL GLASSES OF RADIOACTIVE CRAP and keep it down for TWO FREAKING HOURS until it goes through me and they can take their photos? Seriously?

Took me 45 whole minutes, and a TON of anti-nausea medication - but I got those puppies down - and then waited the TWO HOURS I was supposed to wait before we could do the CT scan every minute working to make sure none of it came back up. A plus? It was so, so crappy going down? I was TERRIFIED of what it would be like coming back up - so VERY MOTIVATED to keep it down!

Success!!! By this point I have sent Gary home and hopefully he was getting some sleep. All he had done for days was listen to me wretch and go buy liquid this and liquid that to see if we could keep any medicine in me (the answer was a spectacular resounding: no).

Got down there and realized that it was a CT scan and not an MRI and that I was going to get that FUNKY contrast shoved in my veins. Eeeek! Dudes - if you've ever had it you know what I'm talking about - if you haven't - RUN FOR YOUR LIVES IF YOUR DOC EVER SUGGESTS IT! When it started spraying all over me - I sighed and had visions of Vampyria starting another IV in some other tender spot on me ... maybe deep in my ankle? My neck? When the sweetie with me told me that no - he had not 'blown the line' as we both had suspected - my IVs top port thingy was not fitting tightly and the (now I know) lovely smelling, sticky crap they pretty much have to shove in your veins at a very high pressure since it is so thick and syrupy was the first time I had that much pressure put on the port to see what would happen. I think I ALMOST have all that sticky crap off me now ....

I do make going to the ER sound fun, now don't I? It's why EVERYBODY is lined up at the doors just DYING to get in !!!!

OK, give me some credit - I have had 3 - count em - three solid hours of sleep since last Wednesday ....

And as a twoofer - this photo not only shows my cups of empty glug - it is my 'Traditional Foot Shot' (angels singing, music playing ...):

After having all the test results come back that were coming back today - the blood cultures take days - I was told that I was a mystery - go to my REAL doctor - tell her you have something seriously wrong with your white blood cells (have them call us if they would like to have us verify your freakishness in person ...) and go figure it out your own damn selves - now your are discharged .... go away.

OK.


Blink.



Blink.



I yank the IV - DANG!!!! She had hit a GUSHER!!! Right as her wee smiling self walked in to the room to do just what I did meeself ... Apparently she was not pleased with my performance, grunted a bit then grabbed some gauze and proceeded to hold it against the OH SO VERY SORE SPOT where she had shoved her oh, I don't know - 22 gauge needle? about 1/2 inch into that tender spot on my forearm and held it hard - glaring at me the whole time. I subserviently avoided eye contact all the while my lower extremity was getting number and bluer - but was I going to bring this up when I was THIS CLOSE to being out the door? Dudes - not that stupid ... I'll admit I'm pretty stupid - but somewhere in this idiot called 'me' is some sort of self preservation button that pops up when needed and takes control.

A few minutes later she takes off the gauze to show a bloody, bruised mass of tender forearm flesh declares "Good as new." turns and exits the room. I am now rather unsure what the prerequisites are actually to BECOME a phlebotomist .... And it's Halloween! Who knows what she is up to at this very minute!?! But - I don't care! NOT MY PROBLEM ANY MORE!

As the door swung shut behind her, I sighed, tenderly picked up my discharge papers (I am assuming that is what they were - have yet to look at them - she tossed them on the bed when she saw the gusher of blood spurting out of my forearm ...), my Grumpy sweatshirt (What? WHO WOULDN'T WEAR THEIR GRUMPY SWEATS FOR AN EXTENSIVE ER VISIT?), my purse and tip toed down the hallway.

Halfway out the VERY LAST door I hear a very stern - MISS! Assuming I had been nailed escaping the asylum, I turned.

Her: "Last Name?"

Me: "Hurst"

Her: "You are good to go - have a nice day ..."

Nine little words have NEVER sounded better in a very, very long time!


Walked outside into the brisk, dark early morning to sit on a bench while waiting for my most wonderful friend who I most likely got out of bed to come get me so that Gary would make his meeting on time (that AND she had threatened me with something painful if I EVER called a taxi to come get me and she was in town ... EVER again ...).

It was a FABULOUSLY, COOL, BEAUTIFUL morning and I took it all in - it is amazing what a cool morning, a cold hard bench and just a titch of a sense of freedom and control over your own life can do to your soul ....

~~~~~

And since coming home to a seriously ecstatic dog - I have downed 3 of these babies (OK, I'm counting this one and the first one was only half full - so I am lying ...) and ate a boiled egg!

WHOOO HOOOO!

Baby - I'm back! (as I fall into bed breathing heavily from carrying an EMPTY laundry basket to the laundry room!)

I just might live until my doctors appointment on Thursday ...

Home ...

Well, we are all home and seem to be enjoying our own beds:



Our New York trip was ... different, to say the least. Quite the eye-opener for me. Learned a lot of new things (about me) while on this trip ...

It didn't turn out to be the 'Photography Extravaganza Trip' that I had designed, planned out and dreamed of. It turned into something altogether different. So ... not really any great photos to show. A dismal, paltry few - more like what an oriental speaking tourist would arrive home with and not what a 'real photographer' would.

Rather disappointed in myself as a photographer ... among other things.

Giving it a lot of thought. There is much room for improvement! Maybe too much ... or, looking at it another way - maybe it it time for me to find a more suitable hobby.


It seems as if the 'Joy of Photography' that suddenly sprung to life in Norway - fully formed and developed - and that I seemed to have a never ending supply of ...



somehow ...



overnight ...




ran out!






Who knew it could even happen?






But ... there is a whole world of opportunities and options out there.





So I am ...





Thinking ....





Thinking ....




Thinking ...

From the City That Never Sleeps ...

Or at least across the Hudson from it! But a few of those apparent 'Never Sleepers' came to visit the Marriott hotel this evening and as luck would have it ... they ARE OUR NEIGHBORS!!

We had been out late shooting night shots (yeah! more on that later) and were WIPED having gone the wrong way for what seemed miles trying to get around construction, which never ended, thus we turned around in defeat. Stopped at the most wonderful Indian Restaurant and ate dinner, with Gary studying his maps on his iTouch phone.

After sheepishly saying: "Umm, Don't kill me but ..." he got out that had we gone in the other direction a few more yards - we would have seen that all was clear as far as the eye could see!

So, rested, we set off in the opposite direction - but also quite a walk and got our photos. I decided that they are just all that much more beloved when I was willing to 'settle' for a shot through the chain link fence with the skyscrapers of Midtown Manhattan surrounded by bulldozers and cranes! These most definitely do not look like that and we did not have to 'settle' at all!

Came back literally COUNTING THE STEPS it was going to take to get to the front door of the Marriott.

When we got to where we thought it was and realized that it was still a few blocks away, I told Gary that I was giving up - I was going to just lay down on the sidewalk and die. He asked me if he should post my photos as a final wish?

Hell, yeah! They're beautiful!

A block away I asked him if he would go get one of those hotel rolling luggage carts ... complete with the bar to hang your clothes off of. Thought I could just lie down and he could roll me back the rest of the way.

He said: "No"

Upstairs I collapsed in bed for about 15 minutes and then decided that I had better get up if I wanted to see the photos I had taken on my computer or my body was going to lock up and be immovable for the rest of the evening and well into tomorrow.

Gary opted for the 'locking up and never moving again' option but it kills me not to know if my photos are in focus or not - so I ever so joyfully, singing songs that snow white would sing, with a smile on my face - leapt from my bed and booted my laptop. (You just haven't seen Snow White joyfully singing and leaping about in MY world ... DON'T GET ME STARTED on the Seven Dwarfs ...).

About 1/2 hour into that Gary was fast asleep, I was deep into night shots and all of a sudden there is a bunch of yelling, laughing, screaming accompanied by someone trying to break in to our room through the connecting door. Weird ... hitting it HARD ... over, and over and over and over and over and over and over again ... doesn't magically make it pop right open ...

A few hours into the screaming (and some really, really disturbing sounds which sounded like very loud slaps - have only heard those in the movies and I don't know if someone really hauls off and hits someone and tapes that for movies or if they use something that sounds similar - so have no clue - it just sounded like very loud whaps across the face - and then yelling and more laughing.

To say I think they were drunk is an understatement ...

After that I called the front desk - something I have NEVER DONE. Never tattled on a neighbor before! But it was 2:30 in the morning and I was tired and had went to bed twice just to lay there and listen to them partying and apparently falling ... heavily ... into our wall many, many times. They said they would send up the security guard and he would take care of it.

I heard him over there - and miracles of miracles - it worked!!!

For about 10 whole minutes!

Then the partying, the falling, the banging the slapping continued and I was not going to call again, so I tried sleep again, but it was a no go. I guess the party was just way to fascinating to ignore and fall asleep to.

Suddenly I heard the guard again - a wee bit angry this time, but they only sounded amused. Mind you I didn't really hear anything - think 'adult-speak' on Charlie Brown - but it had become 'amused-adult-speak' by the hipster crowd and 'annoyed-adult-speak' by the guard.

FIFTEEN WHOLE MINUTES - sequential minutes! Total bliss!


They were then at it again, but their determination to awake the ENTIRE hotel seemed to have waned a bit, then they seemed only interested in racing up and down the hallway screaming - hey - they weren't body slamming someone against MY WALL - I was cool with it ...

And at about 4:30 they started settling down. It is now 10 to five and I SO WANT TO .. well not bang on their door - then they would know where I live ... hmmm? Does a hotel phone have a caller ID that shows what room the call is coming from? I so want to 'ring them up every 10 minutes, say - until about 8:00am' what?


I was in the middle of getting a post ready so I thought that I would just keep it up and finish.

~~~~~

I thought that I would summarize just a few points from the past two days - which have been wonderful, different, beautiful and frustrating all rolled into one big ball of vacation ...

I wanted us to have a hotel directly by a subway station so that we would be able to get around without having to take a taxi - so I got this Marriott. It is roomy, has wifi in the room, and we are comfortable here.

Got directions on how to get to New York since that was the direction we would be headed and they told us that 'all lines from Jersey lead to the WTC' (World Trade Center) so that was where we headed Friday morning.

It didn't take long at all to get the feeling that something had changed around this place.

Sitting down below the earth at our subway stop: Newport - I took a photo having long admired photos of the New York subway terminals - gritty, functional, cool! The next thing I know - I am told in very stern and direct language that no photos were allowed in the subway. I was flabbergasted! What? I see them every where?

Dooce - a blog I read - is often invited to New York for talk shows, her project with Christy Turlington and her episodes on some sort of decorating show on the home and garden station - or something that sounds like that. She IS ALWAYS - RIGHT NOW - taking photos of the subway stations!

Put my camera down and sulked a bit until the train arrived. Got on - and at the WTC we got off. We were surrounded by concrete - that and plywood sheets of wood lying about blocking sight of most of what was being worked on. We saw a sign that gary seemed to recognize from when he was here list year - so up the escalator we went (I might interject here - out of all the subways we have trudged through - we have been on a total of 3 - yes - count 'em THREE escalators! This is out of about 20 - 30 sets of stair ways - don't know what the wheel chair bound do ...

On that escalator, as we were going up - I noticed that we were next to a building that looked damaged - but must have been beautiful! So amongst the rubble - I found this:

The detail work on the buildings here is beyond description! I LOVE taking photos of it!

As we emerged from the building housing the PATH underground system (as apposed to the system that runs in NY - have to change trains and apparently stations at the WTC) we saw the new tower being built? More prograss than I thought they had made!

I was pretty sure we were lost - but there were signs to a building I wanted to go see. I forget the name presently and Gary is getting antsy that I am still up typing so I will let you know later. It had a beautiful atrium I wanted to photograph.

Gary had noticed a building where a bunch of people were on the second floor using it as an observatory to the WTC construction site - so off we went. And soon discovered that it was the building I wanted to see in the first place! Got my photos of the atrium:

Then off to take photos of the construction site at the impromptu observation deck ...

I was snapping away - steering clear of a guided tour when I started to pay attention to what three elderly couples were talking about - I believe it is called eavesdropping. Snippets had caught my attention: "She got a call from him and he had said that the second plane had just hit his building beneath his floor. And then she was cut off"; "He and Johan had been blown back when the first explosion hit, but they got up and ran through the flames to check on their co-workers when a second blast struck them. He didn't see Johan after that. He was in therapy for quite a long time, I remember"; "... and he just walked in the door covered in this white dust and didn't say anything. Just sat on the couch weeping. I didn't know how, when Nancy called what to tell her to do - I was so worried myself, you see ..."; "Yes, Nancy says the youngest is in therapy now since he feels guilty that he doesn't remember his father very well ...".

I was intruding on some very deep conversations and it was very surreal. One - I had only heard people talk like this on TV, not standing beside me (I just wanted to turn around, hug them all and tell them how sorry I was for all of them, but I don't thing that sort of thing is socially acceptable in New York:! Two - The way they spoke ... it was so ... odd ... so nonchalant, like they were swapping recipes for bundt cake. And I realized - this was just an every day part of their lives that they had lived through and processed and moved on from. I, on the other hand, have not moved on - since I have had no need to do so ... It was very difficult to listen to them (and very rude - but now I couldn't stop!) and they were speaking in a tone that did not imply they were trying to be discrete - they were just ... talking. Sad for them, I quickly finished my photos and left.

As I turned around for the first time to see them, they looked like 55 - 65 regular people - but somehow I knew that was not true - I cannot even fathom living in an area where my family and all my neighbors families had to go through that. I hope they kept their TV's off as the vultures played those devastating clips over and over and over again ...

Gary had gone down to get a drink, read and wait for me to finish up and so I went to find him - all depressed. I perked up when I saw him, we had lunch and as we were sitting there I noticed how beautiful the skyscrapers looked out the ceiling of the area we were in:

As we were eating I had to smile! A little girl was absolutely adoring a gentlemans dog that he was walking through the building.

It took me a second for the 'what is wrong with this picture' question starting buzzing my brain. In Norway and Europe this is a perfectly normal thing to see on a daily basis.

When I realized it was not Norway - I looked at him closed and he was wearing an ATF jacket. And a wave of sadness at the change again washed over me ... it was a bomb sniffing dog ...
We then headed outside - beautiful day!

And walked by a policeman's memorial:

There were a few people there and I stayed up to take photos while Gary went down by the pond.

I then headed down to where he was and took a photo of a picture. Probably a birthday present, or they do not live near enough to come often - just speculation on my part.

Gary said: It is not just a 9/11 memorial - it is for all policemen. There are names listed after 9/11 - way after 9/11. I told him that I was sure it still was - and the reason.

My answer was most likely correct as I read the pretty little card that said that he died due to the after effects of breathing in so much toxic dust (worded a bit differently - will change it if I can read the text when I get the time).

We then passed a group of people. We had been told back a ways before this that each morning at 9:00am sharp - 1500 tickets are given out for that day for people to tour the 9/11 site. And I realized, sadly that we were not going to be able to get there (unless we did a ton of rescheduling) myI am at a loss as to how to properly pay my respects ...


We followed a route that day that I had mapped out and then had a hard time finding our way to a connecting train to get back to the PATH station and back on to our hotel. We WERE going to go to Times Square or something and kill an hour before Wicket started, but my back was really having problems, so I opted for going back to the hotel to lay down for a half an hour. Also - I looked like a skank and thought maybe I should do something about that before we headed off to a Broadway production ...

Went back, rested, got back on the subway - on to Broadway and a SPECTACULAR performance of Wicked! I really enjoyed it! I also (ahem...) cheated and hid the light from my camera and took some non-flash photography! PHOTOS FROM A LIVE BROADWAY PRODUCTION!!!! So Cool! So not classy! So Evil! But still ... so cool!!!!


This morning we headed straight to the Empire State Building since I was clearly not doing well and the day had not barely begun! Yes, I know I am pathetic and I DO NOT KNOW why Gary still takes me anywhere ...

Got super ill waiting in lines so was not doing well at all when we got to the top, but I did the best I could and then we left. Took a few photos - I hope they turn out!


Went back - beat! And rested for a bit. Gary slept while I played in photoshop. He told me to wake him up when it was time to go - so that is what I did.

And as I mentioned, after a TON of searching ....


we got our Night Shots!!!!

Lower Manhattan:

Midtown Manhattan:

Well, it is now 6:00am - I better get some sleep and proof read this later - so


sorry y'all for all the mistakes that have to be in here!!!!


Later,



Night ...

TMI!!!

Well, it is Wednesday afternoon (IN MY WORLD ... OK, it was Wednesday afternoon when I spiritually created this blog - but couldn't get to the nitty gritty typing it up until now ...) So ...

It is Wednesday afternoon and all my camera batteries are charging ...


The laundry is laundering ...


The dog has been taken care of - has a home lined up for while we will be gone ...


I've watered all the plants ...



The kitchen is clean ...


I have bulldozed the office into some form of organization ...


The living room is clean ...


Wha?!?!


Hey!!! Dude - I'm taking pictures here ... go away ...


Charlie seems to think that she is not taken care of!

Oh! Her pills! Totally forgot.

Again ... Charlie has been taken care of - her pills have been forced down her throat ...


So ... pretty cool, yes?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!


Help!!!!!


What HAVEN'T I DONE? Well, pretty much PLAN MY TRIP! I am so afraid this is going to turn into Prague all over again ...

Thing is? I have a TON of help - the book I bought is fabulous, excellent, wonderful, packed full of excellent information.

So ...

whats not to like?


What's the problem?



There IS TOO MUCH INFORMATION. WAAAAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!!

Got the book, started reading it. I was doing great! It takes New York City:


And breaks it down into zones. There are fifteen of them.


OK, that's quite a few - I will have to work out something for a three day trip.

It took me - seriously - a week of thinking about it but got it down to:

1) Lower Manhattan, SoHo & TriBeCa and if I have the energy Greenwich Village
2) Central Park, Upper East Side, Upper West Side
3) Midtown Manhattan

Looking good!

ONE. WHOLE. WEEK.

They all lie within this part of the map:


So - narrowing it down a bit!

So now it is THE ACTUAL DAY BEFORE WE FLY TO NEW YORK and I am working on #1.

Yep - NUMBER ONE.

Which basically keeps me below 14th street:


Figured out the subway system today, what we needed to do to just get over to New York from our hotel in Jersey City. Luckily it is a piece of cake! Get on the subway right by our hotel and it takes us across and dumps us out at the World Trade Center.

Hopefully that is a big hub since that is the ONLY place it dumps us!


So, I started working out from there:


Got into the book section on Lower Manhattan and the first three pages (ok 6 pages) had so much information in them that I basically stopped and started to take notes on all the places that it had mentioned and all the snippets of architectural information on this building or that building that I JUST HAD to put them on my list of things to photograph!

Seriously? I should have got a crappier book - one with no helpful information at all. Then I would be oh, so, blissfully ignorant when I have to cross off at least 75% of all the things that I want to take photos of ...




DANG BOOK! It's not like I can go and UNREAD that chapter - it has ruined me! How am I going to fit all this in?

*sigh*

I go back to Google Earth / Google Maps to try to map out a walking tour that will maximize my photo opportunities and minimize my walking.

In this clump of map alone (with the WTC showing in the upper left part of the screen - so just below where we get off the subway) there were too many places to even begin to map out anything that resembled something other than a police forensics grid search ...


So I decided to focus on the Trinity Church - A MUST. And work my way out from there ...


Zoomed in near it and started to itemize all the places around - that I wanted to photograph - and it was still overwhelming - too much! Too many wonderful things to take photos of and too much information for me to compute properly without my brain exploding!


In addition to all the information packed in that wee little 1 1/2 inch thick book and the 'Map' section of Google Earth or Google Maps - there's always PHOTOS!


You know, just in case you didn't have enough information to sort through as it was - add all the visuals - yeah - that is going to help me immensely ...

This was not going well, so I decided that I was 'just going to wander' ...


Literally! Took that little fellow down in the lower right and plonked him down smak dab in the center of the street in front of the Trinity Church - and started turning in a circle by dragging the 'N' on the circle in the upper right corner (I know MOST of you know all this - but my parents might not and it is so fantastically wonderful to be able to do this I thought I would add the "how to's" ... just in case):


Turning, turning ....


More turning ... and I see I am at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street ...


A little bit more turning and HERE I AM! Right in front of (kinda) the Trinity Church!


Decided to take my mouse and click and drag to see up ....


And up some more!


This is SO COOL!

I am seriously having fun, so I decided to take a walk down Broadway and just see what I see ....

Hmmmm - it's the Wall Street Bull? Maybe I wasn't on Broadway? I notice here that EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY PERSONS face is blurred out! Later I notice the same thing about the license plates of the cars. How many photos do you think it takes TO COVER THE ENTIRE EARTH! A bazillion or two?


Blurring faces out! Fun, fun, fun ... and it looks like people are aware that the photo is being taken - so many are looking straight at the camera. And one guy with his hand raised in a fist ... or maybe it was something else to start with ...

WHAT A FUN JOB. I can envision it now - sitting on a plane, trapped next to a guy trying to make conversation, be polite ....

Me: "So, what do you do?"

Him: "I blur out the faces of everyone in the entire world in all the Google photos."

Me: "OH! How ... fun?"

Him: "It beats my old job."

Me: "Oh, really? What was that?"

Him: "I used to blur out the license plates of all the cars in all the Google photos for the entire planet. Roger does that now. In my job there is a little variety, plus I get to photoshop out all the guys flipping the camera the bird!"

Me: "Oh, well, it sounds really fun."

At this point in my musings I frantically try to find my iPod and headphones - because I can tell THAT HE IS JUST GETTING STARTED ...

Hmmmmm, sorry about that - I might be a little ... punchy ....

~~~

I continue my walk. Which is rather fun - you take your mouse and there is a flat oval that is depicting the cute little yellow man and move him up the road a bit and click the oval down on the road and ... ZOOM ... the photos blur by and we arrive!

Click.

Zoom!

Click.

Zoom!

Turn a corner - Click, zoom a teeny bit, click, zoom a teeny bit, click - then ...

Oh! I think I know where I am! I tell myself to hang a right - and see if I am where I think I am:


YES!!!!

I found the Brooklyn Bridge - all by myself!


So, so, so very cool ... and

weird


my feet don't hurt AT ALL!!!


i sigh, decide that I really need to get serious about things - this trip apparently is not going to plan itself.

I make an about face - just to see Manhattan one last time ...


And I can see in this photo about 10 shots that I would kill to take.





I guess I will find out soon enough ....