|
subscribe |
|
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
1995 Eivissa & Gran Canaria: A Few Hours Layover in New York City Tuesday 5 Sept 1995 I land at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City. Because of a recent bomb threat to the traffic command center security is very evident. Parking lots adjacent to buildings are closed off to make car-bombs ineffective. Police officers chase away people who are dropping off and picking up passengers. NYPD helicopters fly close support overhead. Dad finds me amidst the noise and crowds. He whisks me to a friend's house in Brooklyn, across from Prospect Park. (Prospect Park is to Brooklyn what Central Park is to Manhattan.) On the way we travel through several ethnic neighborhoods - Hasidic Jewish, Arabic, and Hispanic. My mouth waters just looking at the restaurants. Arriving at a row of brownstones overlooking the park, I meet my Dad's friend Dr. Borovska, a research biophysicist. She's a wonderful host, and sets a mean table. Breakfast is wonderful, the coffee is strong, and the conversation relaxing. The perfect way to start a trip. Brooklyn, if you've never been there, is an interesting blend of people and architecture. The building pictured at right is a great example of art deco hierarchical building style. Imagine the corporation president, his (and it would have been a male in the 1920s) office perched high atop this edifice, a monument to the capitalist system. All the employees, working at levels as befitting their station in life (or the corporation, it's hard to tell which), hoping to crawl up the corporate ladder, to a corner office with a view. The people are wonderful too. The fellow at left - I don't know whether he's Chino or the son - followed us for many blocks through Brooklyn. He wasn't sure what I was doing with the digital camera and the PowerBook (no, I wasn't driving) so he kept looking over at us. Finally I snapped his picture. I landed at JFK at 0600. The next leg of my journey, from JKF to Madrid (MAD), took off twelve hours later. After breakfast, my father shanghied me to his house in New Jersey, where I was pressed into service doing system administration on his Macintosh Plus. Despite it taking longer than expected, and two traffic jams on the way back, I made it onto my flight with a few minutes to spare.
|
Have you found errors nontrivial or marginal, factual, analytical and illogical, arithmetical, temporal, or even typographical? Please let me know; drop me email. Thanks! |