Places + Travels

Let’s pretend we’re tourists, #2.

Today is a nearly-perfect-weather day in New York City, and with work letting out early for the Memorial Day weekend, I decided to do some walking and touristy picture-taking again (don’t worry, I stayed in the slow lane). Armed with a fry cone (average-but-okay fries; too much ketchup), I started at Rockefeller Center and walked up Sixth Avenue to Central Park. This is some of what I saw in those 10 blocks:

It always amazes me how many ice cream trucks there are in Manhattan. Nearly every block in midtown! (No, they don’t roll around with Scott Joplin music playing, they just park & sell.)

William Crovello’s great “Cubed Curve” sculpture at the Time & Life building. Photos never quite manage to capture how vibrant the blue is.

Black Rock (CBS headquarters), the only skyscraper designed by Eero Saarinen. Construction was not completed until four years after his death. The black granite exterior is phenomenal, as is the lobby. (The upper floors are less impressive, sadly.)

Jim Dine and Robert Indiana…

I love the tippy-top of the Barbizon Plaza Hotel (aka Trump Parc). Great colors.

There are a lot of beautiful things in NYC, and Central Park is a pretty big one. So lush and green right now. Can you believe these photos were only taken 2 1/2 months ago?

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36 Comments

  • Reply Meg May 28, 2010 at 5:55 pm

    I LOVE playing tourist in New York. It’s too easy to forget how lucky we are to get to live here.

  • Reply Agnieszka May 28, 2010 at 5:56 pm

    Fabulous photos, Anna.
    A fast lane for NYC residents and a slow one for tourists is a cool idea. 😉

  • Reply deborah May 28, 2010 at 6:02 pm

    i want a fry cone and a central park afternoon!
    and i like this series v. much.

  • Reply jan May 28, 2010 at 6:05 pm

    oh how fun – i’ts like i’m almost there. the fries are killing me.

  • Reply Heather Moore May 28, 2010 at 6:25 pm

    Heh, being a tourist is brilliant. Just as long as you don’t wear a bum bag (can’t, in all seriousness, write “fanny pack”, I’m afraid).

  • Reply georgina May 28, 2010 at 6:50 pm

    Anna!! thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!! NY is one of my dreams and I really hope I could be there someday. Your pics are great and it was like be there walking with you. LOVE IT!!!!!

  • Reply a perfect gray May 28, 2010 at 7:04 pm

    wonderful. I want to be there so badly right now. your images make it more so. they’re fantastic. but, really, babe. IS there such a thing as too much catsup? I think not…

  • Reply erin@designcrisis May 28, 2010 at 7:30 pm

    The fries have a Martin Parr feel… that’s a good thing!

    Wish I were there, too.

  • Reply Janet May 28, 2010 at 8:43 pm

    Great photos, Anna. I escaped this morning to “the countch” and it’s nice to see such arty farty pics of the city as I listen to Harvey mow the lawn!

  • Reply Heather May 28, 2010 at 9:31 pm

    I love these photos. This is an area my fiance and I explored on a trip to NYC last year. Thanks for the reminder of how special our trip was!

  • Reply Vicki @ Piccolo Takes All May 28, 2010 at 11:57 pm

    Evidence that maybe New Yorkers should take the slow lane more often?

  • Reply Fat Cat May 29, 2010 at 1:57 am

    This makes me long to see New York with my own eyes someday… but why do I have to be soooooo terrified of flying?

  • Reply Marthe May 29, 2010 at 2:51 am

    I love New York! I found it an interesting city to be a tourist in, but most of all I wish I lived there. One day… I just have to follow my dream, right?

  • Reply Lisa-Marie May 29, 2010 at 4:48 am

    Husband and I pretend we are tourists fairly regularly! Maybe next time, I’ll do something like this!

  • Reply Alexandra May 29, 2010 at 7:14 am

    Ooh look a Hover Dog! I want one!

  • Reply Helene May 29, 2010 at 8:25 am

    Very nice photos!

  • Reply Siobhan May 29, 2010 at 10:22 am

    The pictures are so clear! What camera do you use? Is it a special, professional, designer-y one? I want to get an affordable digital one…and I am technically challenged. Any advice? P.S. I am a Brooklynite, and do the pretend-I’m-a-tourist thing all the time. Why else do we live here, if not to appreciate it?!

  • Reply Anna at D16 May 29, 2010 at 10:45 am

    @Siobhan: These photos were taken with a simple little point-and-shoot. I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 that I bought a couple of years ago. I have zero skills when it comes to cameras or photography, so I usually just set it on “auto” and hope for the best! 🙂

  • Reply Jessica O'Brien May 30, 2010 at 12:19 pm

    LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this post! such eye candy and i loved feeling like i was walking with you. thanks for sharing!

  • Reply Amy P - Brooklyn May 30, 2010 at 3:50 pm

    I have a lumix TZ1 (in a beautiful navy). I love it but it takes terrible low light shots.
    You should note that Bloomberg banned the ice cream trucks from playing music! While I am nostalgic, it’s nice not to hear the mr softee song. Although, I find the mr softee ice cream to be pretty awful anyway.
    Where did you get those fries? they look better than average street food…

  • Reply marcie May 30, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    So fun! I need to do this in my town.

    🙂 Marcie

  • Reply simone May 31, 2010 at 5:27 pm

    I love love love your web-log.
    I had sort of lost my groove for a while, but reading your blog has brought a longing for it back in full swing.
    One thing I don’t understand (I’m from Holland) is why in the US people place their beds with the headboard towards the window (I found this blog because I was google-ing the Anes bed by Ikea, that I love). Over here we would place a bed facing the fireplace, so you can look out of the window ánd at the fireplace. And put a very comfortable and snug chair in the Bay window with a pretty throw (you might like the throws by Scholten & Bajings?), for reading and looking out. Maybe add a side table something like that.
    But the atmosphere you created is perfectly relaxing and soft and I can see where you’re coming from. So no contest here.

  • Reply sandra May 31, 2010 at 11:34 pm

    love love love your tourist-photos!

  • Reply Ingrid Jansen June 1, 2010 at 9:49 am

    I need to visit NY

  • Reply Lissa June 1, 2010 at 11:22 am

    Beautiful Shots. Wish I was there!

  • Reply heather June 1, 2010 at 11:33 am

    thank you for these! we play tourists a lot – always have the cameras on hand. i love that you’ve made these into special posts. 🙂

  • Reply Barbara June 2, 2010 at 3:12 am

    I really enjoyed this!! I feel just like if I were there!!

  • Reply tschitschi June 2, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    Oh New York… isn’t one always a tourist in New York?

  • Reply Paris @ Home Appliances June 2, 2010 at 10:55 pm

    Seems like a great way to enjoy the awesome NYC weather these days! What about the classic New York City hot dog?

  • Reply Catherine June 3, 2010 at 10:50 am

    Hey Anna,

    Sorry about all the BDD stuff. If its any consolation, I always appreciated your efforts with the Furs site.

    The good side is that it has brought me to your very cool blog! I am loving your photography!

  • Reply Wyatt Earp June 3, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    Echoign Catherine’s thoughts, Anna. Thank you for all of the hard work on the BDD site. It is much appreciated!

  • Reply Lizzie (lzzeie) June 3, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    Greetings Anna!

    I’m very sad to hear that BDD is being shut down.

    I can remember several years back when I was about 14, and just becoming a furs’ fan – I found your site and fell in love with it.

    I’m 22 now – and also a graphic designer – AND I will say that I defiantly agree with your “rage” over their official website not being up to par.

    Your work was by far better! Because you’re an actual fan, and cared enough to put time and effort into what you did / do.

    BUT, I digress.

    I’m a new comer to your blog, and I’m defiantly liking it. 🙂

    These pictures are gorgeous, I love the colors.
    I’ve never been to New York, but it looks fun.

  • Reply jules @ The Diversio June 6, 2010 at 10:56 pm

    cool images, makes me even hungrier for the trip i’m half cooking up.

  • Reply Aron @ hither and thither June 7, 2010 at 7:00 am

    This is one of my favorite things to do!

  • Reply jess June 8, 2010 at 1:51 pm

    my office is in the second picture! [retroactively waves]

  • Reply photo retouching June 10, 2010 at 7:50 am

    I love the perspective and colour of the fries and ketchup photo. Nice diverse photo blogspace!

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