Walking around a few days ago, I peeked between two loose boards in the fence surrounding the construction hole between James & Cherry / 3rd & 4th (apologies for ineloquent directions, I wasn't raised in a city).
I noticed that, in it's southeast (James & 4th) corner has, at the bottom of what looks to be about five stories deep, a bricked-over doorway leading, it seems, under 4th Avenue. I'm not sure if it connects to the bus tunnel, City Hall, or somehow to Seattle's underground, but, man, I'd sure love to find out.
Showing posts with label urban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label urban. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
London's Subterranean Rivers
Sigh. Again with the Wikipedia.
In my wanderings on the interweb, I dig up a lot of interesting little tidbits about the hidden right under our noses. If only I had known when I lived in London that right under my feet were miles of subterranean rivers, I would have spent a lot less time napping on the grass in Regent's Park, and a lot more time crawling around London's underbelly with a Maglite and a pair of neoprene waders.
As London developed, the need for space necessitated burying beneath the city the tributaries which fed the Thames and Lea, many of which were converted into sewers (and it would be just a little cool to contract the plague on an adventure). Today there are over a dozen of these tunnel systems running under the city. I haven't found a very good list of these rivers (some so large they were once navigated by barges), and everything I find has hints of rivers that are truly lost, no one sure of their exact location, or if they ever existed at all.
Sub-Urban, of course, has quite a few adventures within the rivers chronicled on their site, including the River Fleet, the largest of London's underground rivers. I appreciate their ability to show and not tell - nobody likes a loud mouth schnook who gives it all away (is that what this blog is all about, I now wonder?), as it is invariably followed by newly fenced-off entrances and CCTV guardians. After all, some secrets are better left so.
Next time I'm in London, I'm bringing rubber boots.
In my wanderings on the interweb, I dig up a lot of interesting little tidbits about the hidden right under our noses. If only I had known when I lived in London that right under my feet were miles of subterranean rivers, I would have spent a lot less time napping on the grass in Regent's Park, and a lot more time crawling around London's underbelly with a Maglite and a pair of neoprene waders.
As London developed, the need for space necessitated burying beneath the city the tributaries which fed the Thames and Lea, many of which were converted into sewers (and it would be just a little cool to contract the plague on an adventure). Today there are over a dozen of these tunnel systems running under the city. I haven't found a very good list of these rivers (some so large they were once navigated by barges), and everything I find has hints of rivers that are truly lost, no one sure of their exact location, or if they ever existed at all.
Sub-Urban, of course, has quite a few adventures within the rivers chronicled on their site, including the River Fleet, the largest of London's underground rivers. I appreciate their ability to show and not tell - nobody likes a loud mouth schnook who gives it all away (is that what this blog is all about, I now wonder?), as it is invariably followed by newly fenced-off entrances and CCTV guardians. After all, some secrets are better left so.
Next time I'm in London, I'm bringing rubber boots.
Friday, April 20, 2007
The Splenda *Sara
This site is just plain beautiful.
But more specifically, it's these Little Public Plaques that I'm interested in. Finding things like this online is easy enough, but in meatspace it's rare, and infinitely more romantic. I guess I'm just a sucker for stuff like this, beauty in the benign, the unexpected, the flower in the sidewalk crack. It's always a perk to stumble upon such things, especially while traveling (bum poetry I found one time written on strips of paper in Sacramento, an old lighthouse for sale in northern Michigan, "RATM" sprayed on the sidewalk in Sarajevo, stumbling upon the Temple of Mithras on Queen Victoria Street).
Statues, too, though usually rather dull - some forgotten or overblown figure from history obscura - occasionally find themselves worthy of a second look.
But more specifically, it's these Little Public Plaques that I'm interested in. Finding things like this online is easy enough, but in meatspace it's rare, and infinitely more romantic. I guess I'm just a sucker for stuff like this, beauty in the benign, the unexpected, the flower in the sidewalk crack. It's always a perk to stumble upon such things, especially while traveling (bum poetry I found one time written on strips of paper in Sacramento, an old lighthouse for sale in northern Michigan, "RATM" sprayed on the sidewalk in Sarajevo, stumbling upon the Temple of Mithras on Queen Victoria Street).
Statues, too, though usually rather dull - some forgotten or overblown figure from history obscura - occasionally find themselves worthy of a second look.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)