I’m really glad that this is turning into one of those months where I get to mark a lot of things off my bucket list! I’ve been meaning to visit this location for years, ever since I saw a person get killed there in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. If I remember right, the person was dumped into the fountain and left floating.
We got to the Terrace by walking up the Mall.
The Bethesda Terrace and Fountain are awesome places to hang out. There were a ton of tourists there.
Just beyond, on The Lake (yes, that’s it’s name and it’s capitalized on the map), people were boating.
A little ways down the road towards the west, the slope leading down to the lake was covered by people soaking up the sun.
And bordering on The Lake at Wagner Cove, the NYPD Mounted Patrol was preparing to go on patrol:
There are quite a few different statues (not sure what else to call them) located in the subway station at 8th Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan, NYC, but this is one of my favorites. He’s right down on the platform where the uptown A express and C/E local trains stop, pretty close to the elephant feet.
On Sunday afternoon, my wife and I were by the United Nations to take advantage of a Groupon deal I got for the Indigo Indian Bistro on East 50th Street. We didn’t realize the place closed for a while after lunch and before dinner, so we found ourselves standing in the cold with an hour and a half to kill.
I thought about going to the United Nations for a tour, since we were right next to it, but it looked like it was closed too. There weren’t even flags up on the poles. So, we started walking around. First, we poked our heads in at the Japan Society to see if there was anything going on (and to warm up a bit), but they were just finishing up a New Year’s celebration for kids. Then we went next door to look in the Holy Family Church. The building is really weird looking from the outside.
Turns out it’s a Catholic church. It’s sort of nice inside. The giant Jesus on the wall above the priest leading the service was a little scary looking. It made me think about the conflict inherent in the concept of a trinity model of monotheism, and whether or not a distant and cold concept of God was being replaced by the warm and gentle spirit of a man, someone that people could understand and empathize with. That’s a subject for another post, though. I’ve been doing a lot of theological reading that I’ve been slowly digesting, mentally.
Sculpture of an angel (I think)
After warming up in the church foyer, we went back out to find our next opportunity for passing time. As we were walking away, I noticed a side path that led into a garden that was covered in snow and ice. We figured it was worth a few minutes to go in and look around.
Frozen waterfall in the Holy Family Church garden.
What really peaked my interest was the fact that the garden pool was covered in a layer of ice and snow, and so was the artificial waterfall. I don’t suppose there’s anything unusual about a waterfall icing over in winter, but it’s not something I really expected to see in the middle of Manhattan; not even an artificial one. So, I think the unexpectedness of seeing what I didn’t expect to see made it more worth seeing, if that makes any sense. I’ve also always enjoyed religious settings and architecture, of a certain type. The more solemn and thoughtful type. I’ve always thought religion should be a solemn, thoughtful and meaningful thing.
Bradley Farless 