Today has been a somewhat quiet day. We got a bit of a late start and so skipped breakfast in order to be able to do justice to our planned lunch, which was fine with me. We finally headed out around 11:30.
My brother is definitely one smart cookie. He knew that I wanted to walk through the Cornell campus to see the university, so he planned for us to walk through the campus to get to our lunch spot. It was a perfect way to achieve both objectives, and the walk (about 4 miles) definitely did me some good. Plus, I think the best way to see anything is to take your time about it; rushing through a place won't let you appreciate all that it has to offer. So as the clock tower in the middle of campus struck the time, we were strolling through the Arts Quad heading towards the clock tower itself. On either side of the quad stand two statues, one of Ezra Cornell and one of Andrew Dickson White, both founders of the university. Legend has it that if a virgin crosses the Quad at midnight as the clock tower chimes the hour, these statues will come alive, walk to the center of the quad, and shake hands "on the chastity of the university." Of course, there are no accounts of this happening but it is a fun tale to tell.
After we passed through the Quad, we came to the two main university libraries, Olin Library and Uris library. I couldn't help taking this picture of Uris Library. The brickwork on the building and the style struck me as art in itself. Many of the buildings--most of which I suspect were built not long after the university was founded--are made of brick with colors and styles to really make the buildings beautiful. We would never be able to have such things on the West Coast because the unsettled earth (earthquakes) would cause such buildings to crumble and collapse. There are much more modern buildings--including the Physical Sciences building that was just completed last year--but I find the quiet dignity of the old ivied buildings to be so much more suited to the university. It's almost like they're made of knowledge, not bricks.
I poked my head into each of the libraries to see what they were like. It's been awhile since I've been in a large university library. I noticed some things that I probably would not have thought about if I wasn't in a Master's program, like how the space is organized, electronic versus print resources, and pathfinder materials. On our way out of Olin library, my brother took me up a set of stairs that led up one side of the building near the front door. At the top is a wide tiled walkway. He asked me to kick one of the rocks we saw scattered around on the tiles. I was a little confused at his request, but did anyway. As the stone hit the tiles, the tiles rang almost like music! You can see and hear what it was like in the video.
Finally we made it to lunch, a Japanese restaurant where we got a boatload of sushi--literally. We had spicy tuna rolls, two other rolls I couldn't exactly identify but were very yummy, nagiri, and sashimi. By the time we finished, I was stuffed. My brother was getting through his faster than I can keep up. But it was sooooo good. Other than Scooter, I don't have anyone else I can go have sushi with. My family and friends back home are not the biggest fans. So yay for sushi!
Then we made our way back home on foot to grab the car and go to Wegmans. Boy is that store impressive. It puts every Lucky's and Safeway I've been to to shame. It seems like it gets just as much traffic as many of the Costco stores back home. Their produce section is larger than some grocery stores, and the meat and cheese section is just as big. So much of the food is locally grown or made, including Wegmans' own fresh-squeezed orange juice. I ended up getting a few spontaneous buys, including a gourmet soda, some special cheeses, fruit for the Niagra Falls day trip, and porsciutto. I would get very spoiled by all the good things I could buy if I lived here.
Remember when I said that Ithaca is earth and water? Well I saw that even more clearly today. Until now, even when it did rain I didn't really need an umbrella much. Mostly it's been a light mist, with maybe an actual light rain off and on. Up until Wegmans, we had barely gotten mist, although I did see a more substantial rain while we were pigging out on sushi. When we came out of Wegman's, it was raining cats and dogs, the kind of rain we only see during a good winter storm back home. And the bad thing was, we didn't bring the umbrella and the car was not parked close. My brother and I grabbed our shopping bags and left the shopping cart "because it would slow us down" as my brother explained. We sprinted to the car, quickly shoved the groceries into the trunk, and used our ninja speed to get in the car and out of the sudden downpour as quickly as possible. The heavy rain stayed with us most of the ride back to the apartment. We were a bit soggy around the edges when we finally made it back inside.
The rest of the afternoon was mellow, and I'm glad for the slower day. Tomorrow is Niagra Falls and I can't wait to get some pictures of it. But for now it's away to bed so I can get up in the morning.
I poked my head into each of the libraries to see what they were like. It's been awhile since I've been in a large university library. I noticed some things that I probably would not have thought about if I wasn't in a Master's program, like how the space is organized, electronic versus print resources, and pathfinder materials. On our way out of Olin library, my brother took me up a set of stairs that led up one side of the building near the front door. At the top is a wide tiled walkway. He asked me to kick one of the rocks we saw scattered around on the tiles. I was a little confused at his request, but did anyway. As the stone hit the tiles, the tiles rang almost like music! You can see and hear what it was like in the video.
Then we made our way back home on foot to grab the car and go to Wegmans. Boy is that store impressive. It puts every Lucky's and Safeway I've been to to shame. It seems like it gets just as much traffic as many of the Costco stores back home. Their produce section is larger than some grocery stores, and the meat and cheese section is just as big. So much of the food is locally grown or made, including Wegmans' own fresh-squeezed orange juice. I ended up getting a few spontaneous buys, including a gourmet soda, some special cheeses, fruit for the Niagra Falls day trip, and porsciutto. I would get very spoiled by all the good things I could buy if I lived here.
Remember when I said that Ithaca is earth and water? Well I saw that even more clearly today. Until now, even when it did rain I didn't really need an umbrella much. Mostly it's been a light mist, with maybe an actual light rain off and on. Up until Wegmans, we had barely gotten mist, although I did see a more substantial rain while we were pigging out on sushi. When we came out of Wegman's, it was raining cats and dogs, the kind of rain we only see during a good winter storm back home. And the bad thing was, we didn't bring the umbrella and the car was not parked close. My brother and I grabbed our shopping bags and left the shopping cart "because it would slow us down" as my brother explained. We sprinted to the car, quickly shoved the groceries into the trunk, and used our ninja speed to get in the car and out of the sudden downpour as quickly as possible. The heavy rain stayed with us most of the ride back to the apartment. We were a bit soggy around the edges when we finally made it back inside.
The rest of the afternoon was mellow, and I'm glad for the slower day. Tomorrow is Niagra Falls and I can't wait to get some pictures of it. But for now it's away to bed so I can get up in the morning.
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