fitfool

For a couple of years now, B had been telling me of the Vertical Tour he had taken several years ago at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Whenever we were down there, we kept missing the tours (only given on Saturdays at noon and 2pm, $15/person). But this time, we finally managed to go. We climbed 12 stories all the way up to where the arrow is pointing. (But just a little bit at a time so the climbing wasn't too strenuous)

	Here's the main front of the church. There were menorahs on either side of the front. I was a little confused by why they're there. The organist was practicing while we were there so we got to hear the 8000+ pipes going. Why do organs have so many pipes?
	Looking at the stained glass windows and carvings, you kept seeing more contemporary references. This window was dedicated to Communications and included a depiction of tv/radio broadcasting.
	Can you identify everyone in this carving?
	I never realized that at the very top, there's a gap like an attic or crawlspace between the ceiling and the actual roof. In the background, there's a catwalk with a bunch of weights on it to apply pressure to the top of the arch below it to keep everything held together.
	Looking down from where we had climbed up to, we could see the little park where we had eaten lunch. Several of our lunches and snacks were a hunk of cheese with bread. Fairway's had such a great cheese selection that it made for a lot of memorable yet simple lunches.
	While we were munching in that little park, we met this family having a mini-reunion in the park. I asked one of them why he would ever leave NYC for Georgia and he replied, "We have 11 months of WARM." Good point. The grandfather in the wheelchair told us about taking piano lessons when he was 8 years old (I think..) in a building on 125th St in Harlem, across from the Apollo Theater. All these greats would come through there...Count Basie, Duke Ellington... and he'd be straining to eavesdrop on their conversations. His piano teacher eventually told his parents that he was too easily distracted so that was the end of piano lessons for him. But c'mon, who wouldn't be distracted by Basie and Ellington? I wish I'd asked him more about the jazz scene.
	Also in that little park, there was a piano that was painted and invited people to just sit down and play. I guess there are several of them scattered throughout the city. Saw another one by the Lincoln Center too.