Questor
07-03-2011, 02:45 PM
I did some sight-seeing in our core downtown yesterday and I thought I would post some impressions here. Sadly I did not bring a real camera for this trip.
First we started at the Memorial site. It had been years since I had been down there... it was interesting to see how some things had changed and others had remained the same. The site was very well-kept and beautiful as I had remembered it. It was surprising seeing the Gates of Time now a darkened green color. In my mind they are still that shiny copper color that they were when first put in place. As I looked at them I realized the great sentimental value that must have occurred to the architects to choose this metal... much like human life it ages and changes with time and is never quite the same. The memorial chairs had small American flags planted in the ground next to each one. I was really surprised and impressed with how the Survivor Tree had grown -- it has gotten huge. The amount of shade it now provides is an unbelievable and welcome sight on a hot July day. I took my nephews with me on this trip and was shocked to learn that they knew almost nothing about the bombing... I was really surprised to hear that it had not been talked about in school. So I explained to them what happened and we talked about all of the events surrounding the bombing for quite a while. I remember reading some time ago in the newspaper that the department of education was going to require teaching about the bombing in schools. I hope that is still planned... it would be unthinkable that such an important part of our history could be lost to time. We walked through the children's area and then next up the street to view the new federal building. There is something very cold about that building, and I understand now the survivors' apprehension of the shape of the courtyard... it is a shape eerily reminiscent of the blast damage to the original building.
Next we walked up Harvey towards the downtown library. It was a great day for a walk as there was almost no traffic. I was surprised at the number of street-level improvements going on in the area... it looked like many buildings were having their first floors renovated, and surprisingly a lot of landscaping was now present in the area. I remember walking past several giant 'barrels' full of plants and floral arrangements. Along the way we passed several court houses and county buildings. We stopped and read an inscription on the side of one of the buildings from Thomas Jefferson discussing the need for equal application of the law for all mankind and talked about what that meant. We made it to the library and both of my nephews commented that they had never seen a library so big before. Inside I was very impressed with how bright, accessible, and clean the library was. There were many small glass meeting rooms around the edges of the second floor similar to study rooms one might find on a college campus. We spent some time in the library browsing around, looking at old photographs of Oklahoma City that dotted some of the library's walls. Looking through the reference section there was some really incredible material present there... histories of various continents and by gone eras, most of the books looking practically brand new. On our way out we passed a wall full of daily and weekly newspapers from across the US.
Next we headed to the Municipal Building and talked a bit about our city and admired the view. There were surprisingly quite a few people doing the same and taking pictures. If I am not mistaken long ago there used to be a memorial of some sort in the middle of the courtyard that had a huge giant slab of concrete which stretched up to the sky. I always found it odd because it blocked a good portion of the view along the mall. Anyway it has since been taken down or relocated.
We walked over to the OKC Museum of Art and looked through its collections. We started with "Passages," an exhibit on ancient scrolls of the Torah, on the top floor. It was an impressive collection. It is funny the things that will stick in ones head... surrounded by so much silver and antiquity I think the two things that made the biggest impressions on us were 1. a small fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and 2. a tiny ancient ink well and pen, circa 150 AD. It's unbelievable to think that it was once a great privilege to be able to read or write on paper and that today we live in a world where just about anyone can get on the internet and blather out their most fleeting thoughts, kind of like this one! Looking through the rest of the museum there were many great pieces of art worth mentioning. There was a portrait of George Washington that I had seen in books before... such a trip to get to see in person. There were quite a few new collections of landscapes and almost avante garde works, not to mention a section on black and white photography. A very interesting piece was a turn of the century silver flint lock pistol inside a glass display case. We wondered if it had ever been fired and what poor soul might have found themselves at the other end of it. We looked at the giant Chihuly tree on our way out as well as some smaller glass pieces that were for sale near the museum cafe. I understand why Chihuly is so popular, his and his team's work is always so beautiful.
We left heading south on Walker, and then east along Sheridan. We stopped and looked at Stage Center from a distance. I had not yet seen Steve's article on its possible future demise, but looking at it one could tell it had seen better days. The place just looked a bit run down and in need of some paint. I explained to my nephews how many architects around the world considered it very significant modern architecture. The thing that really struck me about this place is how so many of the things that architects are talking about now-days were present in this building... which was built decades ago. Clean lines, modularity, etc.... it would be such a shame if we lost it.
We headed across the street to the Botanical Gardens and the crystal bridge. We were met with a rude city employee who basically accused me of lying about my nephews' ages in order to get cheaper bridge tickets, which I had not. She actually asked them their ages, trying to 'catch me in a lie' I suppose. The thought of going to such lengths over two bucks or whatever the difference was is laughable. Oh well told her thanks and we were on our way. The bridge was really quite lovely. We all really enjoyed the elevated paths throughout, winding up and down with lots of interesting plants every way we looked. There was even a great waterfall at one end that we took some low-tech camera-phone pictures in front of. It was brutally hot inside though and so we cut our visit short. Afterwards we headed back to the car, passing the partially-constructed Devon Building on the way. On our way out of downtown we swung by the Bricktown Candy Company where we picked up some soft drinks and snacks.
It was actually a lot of fun getting to see and talk about so many things in our core downtown. My only suggestion would be to start early in the morning when the buildings are still partially blocking the sun... it is just too hot outside by noon.
First we started at the Memorial site. It had been years since I had been down there... it was interesting to see how some things had changed and others had remained the same. The site was very well-kept and beautiful as I had remembered it. It was surprising seeing the Gates of Time now a darkened green color. In my mind they are still that shiny copper color that they were when first put in place. As I looked at them I realized the great sentimental value that must have occurred to the architects to choose this metal... much like human life it ages and changes with time and is never quite the same. The memorial chairs had small American flags planted in the ground next to each one. I was really surprised and impressed with how the Survivor Tree had grown -- it has gotten huge. The amount of shade it now provides is an unbelievable and welcome sight on a hot July day. I took my nephews with me on this trip and was shocked to learn that they knew almost nothing about the bombing... I was really surprised to hear that it had not been talked about in school. So I explained to them what happened and we talked about all of the events surrounding the bombing for quite a while. I remember reading some time ago in the newspaper that the department of education was going to require teaching about the bombing in schools. I hope that is still planned... it would be unthinkable that such an important part of our history could be lost to time. We walked through the children's area and then next up the street to view the new federal building. There is something very cold about that building, and I understand now the survivors' apprehension of the shape of the courtyard... it is a shape eerily reminiscent of the blast damage to the original building.
Next we walked up Harvey towards the downtown library. It was a great day for a walk as there was almost no traffic. I was surprised at the number of street-level improvements going on in the area... it looked like many buildings were having their first floors renovated, and surprisingly a lot of landscaping was now present in the area. I remember walking past several giant 'barrels' full of plants and floral arrangements. Along the way we passed several court houses and county buildings. We stopped and read an inscription on the side of one of the buildings from Thomas Jefferson discussing the need for equal application of the law for all mankind and talked about what that meant. We made it to the library and both of my nephews commented that they had never seen a library so big before. Inside I was very impressed with how bright, accessible, and clean the library was. There were many small glass meeting rooms around the edges of the second floor similar to study rooms one might find on a college campus. We spent some time in the library browsing around, looking at old photographs of Oklahoma City that dotted some of the library's walls. Looking through the reference section there was some really incredible material present there... histories of various continents and by gone eras, most of the books looking practically brand new. On our way out we passed a wall full of daily and weekly newspapers from across the US.
Next we headed to the Municipal Building and talked a bit about our city and admired the view. There were surprisingly quite a few people doing the same and taking pictures. If I am not mistaken long ago there used to be a memorial of some sort in the middle of the courtyard that had a huge giant slab of concrete which stretched up to the sky. I always found it odd because it blocked a good portion of the view along the mall. Anyway it has since been taken down or relocated.
We walked over to the OKC Museum of Art and looked through its collections. We started with "Passages," an exhibit on ancient scrolls of the Torah, on the top floor. It was an impressive collection. It is funny the things that will stick in ones head... surrounded by so much silver and antiquity I think the two things that made the biggest impressions on us were 1. a small fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and 2. a tiny ancient ink well and pen, circa 150 AD. It's unbelievable to think that it was once a great privilege to be able to read or write on paper and that today we live in a world where just about anyone can get on the internet and blather out their most fleeting thoughts, kind of like this one! Looking through the rest of the museum there were many great pieces of art worth mentioning. There was a portrait of George Washington that I had seen in books before... such a trip to get to see in person. There were quite a few new collections of landscapes and almost avante garde works, not to mention a section on black and white photography. A very interesting piece was a turn of the century silver flint lock pistol inside a glass display case. We wondered if it had ever been fired and what poor soul might have found themselves at the other end of it. We looked at the giant Chihuly tree on our way out as well as some smaller glass pieces that were for sale near the museum cafe. I understand why Chihuly is so popular, his and his team's work is always so beautiful.
We left heading south on Walker, and then east along Sheridan. We stopped and looked at Stage Center from a distance. I had not yet seen Steve's article on its possible future demise, but looking at it one could tell it had seen better days. The place just looked a bit run down and in need of some paint. I explained to my nephews how many architects around the world considered it very significant modern architecture. The thing that really struck me about this place is how so many of the things that architects are talking about now-days were present in this building... which was built decades ago. Clean lines, modularity, etc.... it would be such a shame if we lost it.
We headed across the street to the Botanical Gardens and the crystal bridge. We were met with a rude city employee who basically accused me of lying about my nephews' ages in order to get cheaper bridge tickets, which I had not. She actually asked them their ages, trying to 'catch me in a lie' I suppose. The thought of going to such lengths over two bucks or whatever the difference was is laughable. Oh well told her thanks and we were on our way. The bridge was really quite lovely. We all really enjoyed the elevated paths throughout, winding up and down with lots of interesting plants every way we looked. There was even a great waterfall at one end that we took some low-tech camera-phone pictures in front of. It was brutally hot inside though and so we cut our visit short. Afterwards we headed back to the car, passing the partially-constructed Devon Building on the way. On our way out of downtown we swung by the Bricktown Candy Company where we picked up some soft drinks and snacks.
It was actually a lot of fun getting to see and talk about so many things in our core downtown. My only suggestion would be to start early in the morning when the buildings are still partially blocking the sun... it is just too hot outside by noon.