Mood -> Better. Now about this Week-end

This week-end, on July 4th in fact, Eddie and I took a long walk (which turned into a death march after I twisted my ankle) along Riverside Park up to lunch. It was kind of almost perfect weather. it was in the mid-70s, and we walked in the shade of trees. It was aa little humid - so that we arrived sweaty. But it was a super casual establishment so that was okay.

As we walked I took some pictures along the way.

This was the path we walked along. Like I said, it was shady, cool and lovely. What is harder to see is along the brick wall, on the other side of the trees, is an asphalt section. I wandered over there to see what music was playing (a family had a picnic in the park). And there, I took a tumble over tall asphalt that had been pushed up by the trees. That's how I twisted my ankle. It is better now. Swollen, but not in pain.

The monument above is to New Yorker Firefighters. It was built in 1913 (details). The frieze is of older (horse drawn) fire engines racing to the scene. New York had terrible fires in 1777, 1839s and 1840s. To the right in the picture (north) is the statue for "Duty" and to the left (south) is the statue for "Service".

I'm just saying they knew how to build in the early 1900s.

This is the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument. This monument for the Union Soldiers of the Civil War and was built in 1893, as the veterans of that war were fading.

Interestingly (to me) it is an enlarged version of the "Choragic Monument of Lysicrates" of ancient Greece (wikipedia). It was not an original idea. Apparently this monument in Greece was reproduced on cards and was very popular in France in England at this time. You can find many, but smaller, versions around France, England and even in Australia (in the Botanical Garden). This version added the names of the monument near the top, headed up by the sculptures of Eagles.

Then there was lunch. We ate at the "Steel Beach" on the Baylander.

The restaurant was built on an old Vietnam era ship, the Baylander. Apparently this class of ships ("Skilak") were used around the deltas of Vietnam to ferry people and supplies. After the war it was used for 25 years as a Helicopter landing training ship. It was a training area for Helicopter teams to practice difficult landings. It hosted of 1202 landing missions during it's service.

This is the view from the ship and our lunch spot. It was a beautiful afternoon, lunch, company and day.