Under the weather

I had a bad bad cold. Of course, after spending the whole week with my sick son, what else could I had been expecting for?

Remember my visit to The High Line back in October? Although it was quite chilly, here's the spring version. I still think is one of the best urbanization project.

Under a different perspective

I found out about the photographer Brent Townshend when I was looking for a picture to illustrate this post. And I fell in love with his work.
Can you recognize some of the places in the pictures above?

Cultural Thursdays: Grand Central Station and the Bermuda dancers

Panoramic view of the ceiling in the main concourse of Grand Central Station, by Brent Townshend

This morning I took P to the Grand Central Station. He loves trains and I needed to do some grocery shopping. Since there is this wonderful market in the station, I decided to make our "supermarket" experience funnier than usual. So after buying our fresh fish, vegetables and cheeses (Murray's cheese shop is a must), we went for a stroll in the station. 

First of all, we went, of course, to see some trains. Although P was very disappointed when I told him we weren't going to ride on one. Then we discovered this fantastic toy store called "Kidding around". They opened in Grand Central Station last October, but they've been in the West Village for 17 years. They carry a lot of European brands, wood toys, puppets, educational toys, board games. Very different from what we usually see around here. 

The reason I had actually thought about going to the Station with P, aside from his love for trains, was because there is an Annex Gallery of the MTA-Transit Museum, inside the Station. And the last time I had been there (unfortunately without the kids), they had a beautiful miniature train circuit there. I thought it was something permanent, but apparently it was just a temporary exhibit because it wasn't there anymore. Instead, they are now showing an exhibition of The Art of Posters. They were commissioned by the London Transport at the beginning of the 20th century and they were made by the best English artists and designers to promote the use of public transportation. If you are around, it's fun to check-them out.

When we were on our way out, admiring the sky painting on the ceiling of the main concourse (P is always mesmerized by that painting), we heard some music. So we followed the sound of the drums and there we were in the middle of a party promoting tourism in Bermuda. P loved it. This is New York, everyday is a new day, full of surprises waiting around the corner. 

Bermuda Gombey dancers (sorry for the bad quality, I only had my phone with me)

 

Back from the future project - by Sander Koot

Look at this cool project that the Dutch photographer Sander Koot has been working on since 2009. The photographer asks his models to pick a photograph from one of their fondest memories from 50 or 60 years earlier. And then they remake the photo. Loved the idea and should definitely try to remember to do that in a few years from now.

Here are some examples that I personally liked, but you can check more pictures here.

Photos credits: Sander Koot

Piano lessons

Lecon de musique, by Jean-Jacques Sempe 

Today F will have his first piano lesson. It is recommended that we buy a piano, because he will, obviously, need to practice at home. Therefore, I've been doing some research in order to decide which one we should buy. Unfortunately, given that we are very limited in terms of space, the decision will actually weight more on the size factor that on the quality one.

Nonetheless, I wanted to share some of my amusing findings with you.

I could maybe just change my dinner table:

Or redecorate my living-room:

Piano bar

What about car inspired pianos?

The Ferrari Piano

The Audi piano

And what about this one:

The Rocking piano

If you'd like to see some more, here is the page where i found them all. 

My picture won!

Remember this picture I posted here a few weeks ago? Well, it was selected as best photography in a contest I participated last week on the blog NY with Kids. The prize is a photo album from Memorare that should arrive any day here.
I can't wait to receive it!

***

I've just received my photo album and it's really cute.

Look:



Not so "Cultural Thursday"

Marquise do Ibirapuera - São Paulo, Brasil (I took this picture a year ago)

When I started this blog a week ago, I had decided to devote my Thursdays to culture, by visiting a nice exhibit, museum, gallery, etc. However, today was not as cultural as I would have liked it to be. In fact, there was no culture at all. I had to take my son to the pediatrician for his 2 year-old check-up. The poor little fellow received two shots, so wasn't very pleased with our outing.

Then, since we were already in the neighborhood, we went to then new Fareway on the upper east side. No culture there as well.

But to save the day, let me share with you the work of this photographer Vivian Maier that I just discovered today. She was a nanny in Chicago and for 60 years did street photography, at a time when almost nobody was doing it. She died in 2009, just a few months before her work gained notoriety. There's a book about her work coming up, in the next month or so, called Vivian maier: Street Photographer.