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May 27, 2011

chasing skylines

My office looks out of the 7th floor of a building facing east, meaning my view is of Center City, Philadelphia. It is a stunning view:


















But I'm a little biased, because I love city skylines. The fact that my view for the last eight years was of a bike rack makes this even more exciting.  A couple things I've noticed in particular, with this new birds-eye view of the world:

  • There are a lot of people who spend time on roofs.  Nearly every time I look out the window, there is someone somewhere on a roof.  Sometimes there are large groups of people.  Most of these people are construction workers, HVAC folks, or window-washers, and almost none of them have safety equipment (well, the window washers do.)  Without having had this experience, I would never know that there were so many people on rooftops all the time.
  • The skyline is almost always in flux. This morning there is a new crane near the apartment building at 24th and Locust - a looming orange and black thing that looks and moves like a praying mantis.  Cranes are actually being erected and dismantled with shocking frequency - I guess there's a lot of development going on in the city that I didn't know about.
  • The International House is a monstrosity.  It blocks my view of almost all of U City South and the stadiums, which I really do not appreciate.
  • Bees can fly very high - upwards of ten stories and more!
  • There are falcons in U City. They are gorgeous, and very fun to watch.

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