Monday, September 17, 2007

Grant's Tomb

Last week, Matt and I walked the 30-plus blocks up Riverside Park to Grant's Tomb.

First, the walk itself was fun - I discovered that the squirrels at Notre Dame (who will literally beg for food outside the dining halls) are not the most industrious ones in the world. Upper West Side squirrels will run off with peaches that are almost half their size!

Squirrel with Peach

After a quick stop at Tom's Restaurant at 112 and Broadway (made famous because its facade was used as the restaurant frequented in Seinfeld and for the Suzanne Vega song Tom's Diner) for lunch, we made it to the famous tomb.

Grant's Tomb

It's a very tall, stately building surrounded by trees.

I very much liked the inscription at the top of the building:

Let Us Have Peace

Remember the joke that every 8-year-old tells? "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?"

Almost every school child can tell you the answer is "No one," but probably none of them can tell you why:

Entombed in the Tomb

Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia have their final resting place here - but neither of them are buried.

These coffins are of immense size - almost as tall as I am. In the lower level rotunda surrounding the coffins there are busts of Grant's advisors and generals from the war. The upstairs (main level) is filled with memorabilia, and is an extremely pretty building - as it should be, since it is modeled after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus - which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Inside the Dome

3 comments:

Christie said...

What a pretty building. Does it have that creepy feel to it?

Anonymous said...

Wow! Beautiful.

(I'm so glad you're adjusting. I think the great state of MO misses you. Doesn't it seem like so long and that so much has happened since MO?)

Chaim said...

Those are some gorgeous photographs.

I feel kind of dumb. I've been living very close to there for the last 18 months and I didn't even know it. I may have to take a jaunt over tomorrow.

And that photo of the squirrel and the peach is INSANE.

At Yosemite National Park, I once had a jay fly by and take an ENTIRE cinnamon bun directly out of my hand. I'm not sure if that even compares to the peach, though...