Vessel

Location: New York City, New York, USA
Address: Hudson Yards
Date: September 2019
Website:  www.hudsonyardsnewyork.com

  The High Line in New York is a repurposed elevated railway that passes through the west side of Manhattan.  At the northern end of the High Line is Hudson Yards.  Hudson Yards has grown to include a large shopping center, apartments and a concert event venue.  In the middle of it all stands the Vessel.

  Before we reached the Vessel we had to walk past The Shed.  The Shed is a huge metallic looking building on wheels so that the amount of covered space can increase in size.  When we walked by, someone was rehearsing a song which to us sounded like "Bye, Bye Macaron" repeated over and over.  We found out later that the event was for World Central Kitchen so maybe those were indeed the lyrics.

 The Vessel really is something to see.  It is a hollow open structure that stands almost 16 stories tall.  It is made up of a series of steps and landings and one elevator.  There are 154 staircases and 80 landings inside the structure.  It looks like a giant vase sitting in the middle of the square.

  Climbing the Vessel is free but requires a reservation as only a limited number of visitors are allowed inside at any given time.  The first day we arrived and were told to visit one of the kiosks surrounding the structure.  From there you can use a QR code or be sent a text to get a link for reserving a time slot.  Unfortunately, all of the times were later than our other afternoon plans would allow.  The next day we returned and tried again.  We booked a time for later in the afternoon and went off to explore New York.

  We returned within our designated entry window and were allowed into the Vessel.

  At the bottom of the Vessel was a glowing purple light where people were placing their phones to get a perfectly round image with their faces and the surrounding buildings.

  The photo would look something like this photo above except with the view ruined by goofy faces.

  We started to climb the stairs.  There are no seats or benches anywhere so be prepared to climb up and down without a break. There is one elevator if you wish to wait for it.

  The stairs go up in multiple directions so you kind of move around the sculpture as you climb up.  If you wanted to stay on one level but move to the opposite side you would go up one staircase then across a small platform and then down again.  You would repeat this until you got where you were going.

  We moved around the structure as we worked our way up to the top.  The staircases full of people made for interesting photos from any angle.  The whole structure had a metallic bronze exterior to it which reflects.  We felt like we were in some futuristic space station.  We expect it may not be too long before someone films a movie inside this structure.  If you can, we recommend you visit The Vessel and take the stairs.

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Map of Our World
Vessel

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Post # 268

Crosby Street Ghost

Location: New York City, New York, USA
Address: 79 Crosby Street
Date: January 2019
Website:  www.firmdalehotels.com

Oh, my love, my darling  I've hungered for your touch.

  Sam (Patrick Swayze) and Molly (Demi Moore) get attacked on a dark street in New York City.  Sam is killed but lives on as a ghost.  He tries desperately to let Molly know he is still around and enlists the help of psychic Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) to help him.  This is the premise of the aptly named movie, Ghost.  Surprisingly Ghost was directed by Jerry Zucker who is better known for his work on comedies like Airplane! or the Naked Gun movies.

  Sam & Molly are attacked on Crosby Street in New York City not far from where we once enjoyed tea at the Crosby Street Hotel.  When two men finally come to help Sam & Molly we are quite certain that they come running from the vacant lot where the hotel was built.  The photo above is of the rear entrance to the hotel on Lafayette Street.

  In the movie, Sam & Molly walk down Crosby Street and notice a man lurking in the shadows.  We find out later that the man's name is Willie.  Willie quickly pulls a gun on Sam and as the two struggle the gun goes off.

  We see Willie run off down the street and then see Sam run after him.  Sam turns back to Molly and is shocked by what he sees.

 Lying in the street is Sam with a gunshot wound and Molly calling for help.  Sam is shocked and literally beside himself.  They would have been on the coblestone street somewhere near this mysteriously yellow puddle.  Sam soon realizes he is now a ghost.

  Sam & Molly's apartment is only about 3 blocks from where Sam was killed.  It is here at 102 Prince Street that Sam and Oda Mae Brown come to try and convince Molly that Sam is still around and watching out for her.

  Their apartment is the fourth from the top.  The second window from the left is where the workers can be seen trying to pull a statue of Mary up to the apartment.

    New York City is such a popular movie location that no matter where you go, you are probably walking through the ghosts of a movie shoot from the past.

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Map of Our World

Ghost Attack , 102 Prince Street
Crosby Street Hotel

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Post # 267

Detritus

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  677 Wellington Road West
Date: October 2019
Website:  www.toronto.ca

    Salt both preserves and corrodes at the same time.  The city puts salt on the roads to melt ice, but it also does damage to boots and the roads themselves.  You are more likely to drown in salt water because the salt causes dehydration.  Nuit Blanche comes to Toronto once a year and one of the projects for 2019 was called Detritus by artist Jonathan Schipper.  Detritus means small particles broken away from a mass, much like the salt filling a City of Toronto storage dome.
 

  One of the great things about Nuit Blanche is that you often get to explore places you would never be allowed on other evenings.  Toronto stores its salt for winter inside gigantic domes.  For Detritus we were allowed to venture in and it felt like we had entered another world.

    Looking up at the dome in the middle of the night, it felt like a spacecraft was coming down on top of us.

  The artist had a laptop computer set up at a little table and was using a 3D program to control equipment that was slowly building things out of layers of salt.  The creations would start to deteriorate as the night wore on.

  Most of the salty creations looked like a castle was slowly being built on a salt covered hillside.

   A pathway leading upwards had been packed down into the huge mound of salt.  We double checked what shoes we were wearing and headed up.  We half expected we might slip away into the salt as if we had stepped into quicksand.

   Some other people had already gone before us so we ventured to the top.

   We made it up to the top and realized that we could start to taste the salt in the air.  We looked down as the artist continued to work below us.  We wondered how he could spend 12 hours inside this dome.  Some caution tape kept us back from the edge where we might cause a salty landslide that would destroy his creations.  It was time for us to move on to the next Nuit Blanche exhibit.  Goodbye salt! See you this winter on an icy road somewhere in the city.

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Map of Our World
Detritus

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Post # 266