Thursday, September 17, 2009

Grant's Tomb

I've taken to walking a new way to school, now that the hustle and bustle of Broadway is starting to lose its glamor for me. I walk along Riverside Drive - nice apartments on one side of me and trees and grass on the other - it almost doesn't feel like the city!
Yet, it is very much New York. Everywhere we go in New York we stumble upon something interesting and noteworthy. Last Saturday, walking home from synagogue, we passed a parade and two street fairs! Even on my quiet out-of-the-way walk to school, I pass a landmark every day: Grant's Tomb. It is an impressive white monument that towers over the area, and the road splits to curve around and make way for the huge structure. Several sightseeing buses are parked there every day, with fanny-packed visitors snapping pictures of the monument I have yet to visit. (This apparently is not so uncommon - this video shows that many New Yorkers didn't even know that Grant's Tomb was in New York!) Nevertheless, Grant's Tomb is the largest mausoleum in North America, modeled on Napoleon's tomb, and apparently when Grant was entombed there (not buried, he is above-ground in a sarcophagus with his wife) over a million people attended the event.
I guess we'll have to take a tour of it soon!

No comments:

Post a Comment