And I Would Walk 1.7 Miles (Blog #2)

The walk from Grand Central to 25^th street and 1^st Avenue is approximately 1.7 miles. It is 1.7 miles of concrete and architecture. Its late morning, so Grand Central is calm the commuters have settled in their offices. The wheels of suitcases rolling on the ground and train announcements are the most apparent noises. I exit on to Lexington Avenue to begin my trek. The sounds of taxi cabs and horns hits me like a wave. The sound is traffic and it is thick. I start my walk, choosing to walk down 3^rd Avenue for the majority of the walk. Cars rushing by me trying to pass one another, a not quite a Nascar race but just as competitive. There is construction, the drills digging into the ground and the slamming of metal clog my ears for a few blocks. The loud bang of wood being slammed against concrete echoes, not only through 31^st street but my head as well. I turn down 30^th and it is an eerie quiet like invisible walls had been built on either side to block out sound. I hear cars in a distance like they might be a mile away instead of only being one block. I make a right down 2^nd Avenue to walk through Kips Bay Court.  The race continues but it is not as loud, I can hear the conversations around me. I can hear the woman on the phone talking about meetings and the mother discipline her child for walking to close to the curb. The everyday conversation taken for granted in the noisy city. As I begin to get closer to my building, I stop and listen. The FDR zooming with cars, it’s the Daytona 500 of highways. The construction echoing through the city, happening on almost every street and the conversations that seem so loud but they are silenced compared to the craziness of Murray Hill and Kips Bay. I walk into my building and I already miss the noise. The walls keeping the quiet in and the construction, of the new building across the street, out. It is 1.7 miles of loud bangs, speeding cars, and construction. It is the most beautiful chaos I have ever heard.

Define A Space

You Must Take The Stairs from Jessica Carbone on Vimeo.