A Day in the Big Apple—New York City, 8 July 2000
Zheng Mei, a Chinese graduate student in our
Center for Atmospheric Chemistry Studies at URI's Graduate School of
Oceanography, successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis in late June 2000. Her
topic was the sources and deposition of the aerosol in Hong Kong. In the course
of being on her thesis committee and helping her get introduced to the world of
atmospheric chemistry, I learned that neither she nor her husband, Xiaodong Pu (Pu
Xiaodong to the Chinese), nor her mother and father (Li Mali and Zheng Wanjin),
who have been staying with her the past few months to help out while she was
finishing her thesis, had ever been to New York City or were likely to get the
chance. So I offered to take them for a day.
We went down on Saturday 8 July 2000. The day was
picture-perfect, with gentle winds from the west, temperatures around 27 C (80
F), clear skies in the morning, and some clouds appearing only in the afternoon.
We drove to Stamford, Connecticut, where we caught a commuter train to Grand
Central Terminal. From there we walked across to Fifth Avenue and the New York
City Public Library, up Fifth Avenue to St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller
Center, then up Sixth Avenue to Central Park. From there we took the subway down
to the Empire State Building, and then again to Chinatown for dinner. after our
Chinese feast, we boarded the subway a third time to Times Square, and walked from
there to Grand Central Terminal to catch the train back to Stamford.
All in all, we had a great day. I took just over 90 pictures,
most of which turned out quite well, considering the things that could have gone
wrong with them. For those interested in photography, all were taken with my
Canon Eos Rebel and Promaster 19–35-mm zoom lens, which was nearly always set
at 19 mm. I used AGFA ASA 200 print film. The prints were roughly 5x7.5 inches
and were scanned on an Epson Expression 800 scanner driven by LaserSoft
Imaging's SilverFast Ai. But if you're not interested in all that stuff, just
sit back and enjoy the beautiful pictures of an unforgettable day!
Train ride and Grand Central Terminal
Up Fifth Avenue to St. Patrick's Cathedral
The Empire State Building
Part I
Part II