Memorial day

today its memorial day in the us; always on the last monday of may. its a public holiday, and typically marks the beginning of the summer vacation season (well, hot it is; since a few days its over 30 degrees and very sunny; the pool at our apartment complex is open again; jeeejj!). my friend wikipedia tells me that memorial day was formerly known as decoration day, "and was first recorded to have been observed by freedmen (freed enslaved southern blacks) in Charleston, South Carolina in 1865, to remember the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. Over time, it was extended after world war I to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. Now known as Memorial Day, it is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces."

above i photographed the approximately 20,000 flags that they placed last friday in the boston common. each flag represents a massachuttes citizen who died in wars and military conflicts during the last 100 years. everyone was taking pictures of them; but you were not allowed to walk through them...

Wall street

of course, as real tourists we also went to wall street. as always guarded by a huge amount of policemen.... just to the left of this picture many people were posing with willing policemen in front of their NYPD car. since i saw planet of the apes i cannot watch the statue of george washington anymore without thinking about that movie... that statue is just up on the steps behind... but i was more interested in this homeless man that seemed to pose for me, while standing on this vent.... it wasnt very cold that moment, however...

oh my! and i was just reading up on my wikipedia pages... and yes, also wall street is originally derived from the dutch that named this street "de Waal straat"...