Hammering Man (Frankfurt)

Location: Frankfurt, Germany
Address:  60327 Frankfurt am Main
Date: October 2018
Website:  www.borofsky.com

  As we walked through Frankfurt, a large silhouette appeared in the road.  As we got closer we realized it was moving.  One of its arms was going up and down.  This was Hammering Man.

  Hammering Man is the work of  Jonathan Borofsky.  It stands 21 meters tall and is made out of painted steel.  He hammers all day long.  He hammers all night long.  He is a symbol for the worker in all of us.

  Upon closer inspection we can tell that he is working with steel. He is wearing a protective visor/helmet and holding something in his gloved hand.  He continues to hammer on.

  From a side angle he is very thin and it is hard to tell exactly what these moving pieces of metal are.

  There are several Hammering Men around the world.  The one we visted in Frankfurt has been there since 1990.  There are smaller indoor Hammering Men in many cities.  There are larger outdoor sculptures in places such as Seattle, Washingtion and Seoul, South Korea.  The one in Seoul is the largest and is one meter taller than the German Hammering Man.

  The artist likes the fact that these men are all hammering around the world in unison.  They represent how people work with their hands to build the world around them.  We like that idea too.  Keep up the good work!

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Map of Our World
Hammering Man (Frankfurt)

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Post # 232

The Grave Of Mother Goose

Location: Bostan, Massachusetts, USA
Address: Tremont Street
Date: Sept 2013
Website: www.celebrateboston.com

  Granary Burying Ground in Boston has been a graveyard since the late 1600s.  Many of the graves have been worn thin through the years or had the writing on their faces worn down to where they are unreadable.  Many famous people in Boston's history are buried here.  We were looking for one grave in particular.  The grave of Mother Goose.

  Mother Goose is credited with many nursery rhymes.  Some famous ones are "Three Blind Mice", "Humpty Dumpty" or Hickory Dickory Dock".  After hunting around the cemetery we finally located her grave.

 Mary Goose died in 1690.  Her husband Issac remarried to a woman called Elizabeth.  Thomas Fleet married her daughter also called Elizabeth.  It is said that grandmother Goose sang songs and rhymes when Thomas and his wife had their first child.  Thomas being a printer made a book of some of these rhymes called Mother Goose's Melodies For Children.  This is said to be the first use of Mother Goose in America but Mother Goose had also been associated with rhymes in England long before even Mary Goose's death.

 
  So it appears there is no true Mother Goose.  At least not in a cemetery in Boston.  Most people are familiar with some Mother Goose nursery rhymes even if much like the myth of Boston's Mother Goose, they have changed and been re-written through the years.

  The Hancock Tower is the tallest tower in Boston.  It is named afterJohn Hancock Insurance company which had offices there.  The insurance company is named after John Hancock whose signature is on the Declaration of Independence.  Johm Hancock's grave is also located in Granary Burying Ground.

  Paul Revere's grave is also located in the Granary Burying Ground.  Paul Revere is best known for riding through Massachusetts warning that the British were coming.  We didn't see his grave, but did visit his statue in Boston's North End.  Granary Burying Ground is filled with centuries of history and a little bit of mystery.

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Map of Our World
Paul Revere Statue
Granary Burying Ground , John Hancock Tower

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Post # 231

Flying Over Greenland

Location: Greenland
Date: Sept 2015
Website: visitgreenland.com

  As we parked our rental car and prepared to depart from Iceland, we noticed a strange sculpture outside Keflavik Airport.  It is called the Jet Nest and has a jet plane wing curled up and breaking out of an egg.  Just like a newly hatched chick entering the world.

  As we waited for our plane to arrive at our gate we noticed a quote from Icelandic singer Bjork was written on the window. It states, "I feel emotional landscapes they puzzle me".

  As our flight flew over the Atlantic we started to notice large white objects in the water below.

  We soon realized that these were giant icebergs floating off the coast of Greenland.

  We had never seen Greenland before and we felt like a newly emerged hatchling flying over this "emotional landscape".

  We were amazed by the never ending mountains and snow laid out before us.  Not very green we were thinking.  Over 80% of Greenland is covered by ice.

  The story of how Greenland got its name starts with Erik The Red exiled from Iceland for murder.  He set out in search of new land and reached what he called Greenland.  It is believed that he did this to attract other people to also settle there.  Only about 57,000 people live in Greenland.

 

  Soon the snow gave way to mostly mountains.  We could see how some of the mountains had been formed by volcanic activity.

  It was not long before our plane left Greenland behind and we were flying over open ocean again.  We had enjoyed the aerial view of this amazing place, but were glad to have viewed it from our window seat instead of the harsh reality below.

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Map of Our World
Jet Nest
Greenland

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Post # 230