The romance of rooftops

Rooftops have intrigued me and appealed to me since I was 17 and in Manhattan at the end of August 2001. (One day we went down to lower Manhattan and I remember that the World Trade Center was a fact of life, just there - seemingly viewable from all over. A few weeks later, on 9/11 and in the days following it, I kept thinking back to how we had been in New York so close to when everything changed. I wondered if I would have taken more pictures of the towers or done something differently if I'd known they wouldn't be there anymore less than a month later.) My parents and I were staying at a hotel in mid-town, on a fairly high up floor. We had a really nice room with multiple windows, and through one of them I could access a sort of balcony/fire escape. I think we were there about 3 or 4 nights and I climbed out on to it every night. I could see the Chrysler Building which was so cool and one night, at an apartment building across the street I could see some people having a dinner party on the roof of their building. It looked like something out of a movie - there were bright white christmas lights and what looked like a big table with people gathered around it. I was in awe. It looked so romantic and lovely and fun. I wished I were there, eating on that rooftop too. From that moment, I loved rooftops, despite never having gone on one.

Fortunately that changed in Berkeley, where so many of the apt buildings and co-ops on Northside had accessible roofs. I went on multiple rooftops in Berkeley over my time there but two will always be tied for my favourite. The first is the rooftop of CZ, a co-op on Ridge Road, which I love because of two different memorable nights I spent on it - the first in September 2002 and the second in October 2003. Both times/events/scenes were like something out of a Hollywood movie. And both times I felt so happy and lucky to be on a rooftop. My other favourite rooftop was the rooftop of my beloved Hilgard apt building. Whenever someone would come over to my apt, I would always take them up to the roof.  From both the CZ and my apt building's rooftop I had amazing views of the Bay Area. I could see the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, the lights of Berkeley and Oakland, the Oakland docks in the distance, and the San Francisco lights and skyline across the Bay. Both rooftops, at the risk of sounding so overly cheesy, were magical. The views of the sky, of the city lights, the Bay - just writing this and thinking about them make me miss the rooftops and miss the Bay.

Berkeley and the Bay at night

Rooftop of CZ

Another thing I love about rooftops are the conversations that take place on them. In addition to many fabulous conversations on the rooftops mentioned above, when I went back to visit Berkeley in November 2006 I stayed one night at K.'s (and formerly L.'s but she had moved out by this point) in the Rockridge neighbourhood of Oakland. In the four months since I had been gone, K. had discovered she could climb out one of the upstairs windows and sit on the roof. It was different from being on a flat rooftop. Here, we were more on the side of the roof - sitting on it as it sloped down. But K., L. and I had a lovely time that night sitting out on the roof (how I love November in California!) just talking for a long long time. In the same vein, I have loved - since I first heard it in October 2003 - the PJ Harvey song "You Said Something". I was hooked from the first line "on a rooftop in Brooklyn one in the morning." And I still like the song all these years later.  

Toronto has cool rooftops too. N.'s aunt and uncle can apparently access the rooftop of their building on the Danforth from which you can apparently, according to N., get a great view of the skyline and downtown. Ever since N. told me about that rooftop I have wanted to go to it but the one time N. was painting his aunt and uncle's apt and therefore could have invited me over and taken me to the roof, he didn't! Annoying. I still wish I had gotten to go on it :) L.'s old condo building in Toronto had a rooftop patio which was also really cool. Maybe one day I'll get to live in a building in Toronto with a roof!

I told this friend L. (yet another L.!) I had in Austin about my love of rooftops and she told me about this short story by an Indian writer named Anita Desai called Rooftop Dwellers. I read it and loved it. It's about a young woman living on a rooftop in Delhi and about the community of rooftop dwellers she became a part of. I don't remember too many details but I do remember the main character being able to see so many other rooftops, and by extension so many other people living their lives on neighbouring rooftops, from her own front door. It was a very good story.

Rooftop dwellings in Delhi

I also like vistas of rooftops and Paris is the best for that. I love the view of Paris from Sacre Coeur in Montmartre mostly just because you see all these distinct Parisian rooftops. And though I know those roofs aren't made for rooftop patios or rooftop dinner parties, they are still very beautiful. But overall I would prefer a roof I could go out on over the roofs of Paris.

Rooftops of Paris with Sacre Coeur in the background

Well I know we should take a walk but you're such a fast walker

I love walking. I will almost always choose to walk somewhere over taking the bus/subway/car if I can. I just love it. I have always loved going for walks in the places I live. I used to take such amazing walks in Berkeley. I remember in June 2004 when I was taking a summer course and a lot of my friends had gone away for the summer I used to take long long walks by myself high up into the Berkeley hills. It was really really pleasant. I read somewhere recently that you should try to take 10,000 steps a day - the article even said to get a pedometer so you could keep track. I had no idea how far 10,000 steps is so I just googled it and it said that 2,000 steps is about one mile. So I need to walk about 5 miles a day (I wish it were in kilometres! I am bad at transferring between miles/kilometres and celsius/fahrenheit!) a day. When I was in law school, I definitely met that target because the walk between the school and my apt was fairly far. But I'll need to work harder to meet it in the future.

I also read somewhere that children who walk to school (I can't remember if the article gave a distance) do better in school (who knows if this is true...) than children driven in a car because they have a chance to be outside and to start their day being active. I know that I loved walking to school be it at Berkeley or McGill just because it was nice to have time every day to listen to a podcast, to be exercising, to be outside, to clear my thoughts, think, reflect, etc. Walking is a great way to start your day! That said, in high school my mom drove me every day, and I did just fine. So I don't think there is necessarily a correlation between walking to school and doing well. The new apt D. and I will be living in when I start my new job is a 5 minute walk from where I'll be working. At first this seemed like a downside to me because I love walking so much and it's an easy way to get some exercise in. But then my mom reminded me that it's not ideal to show up at work sweaty, which is how I would often show up at McGill :) This just means I am going to have to go for long walks either before or after work (or both). I am also thinking seriously about getting a dog sometime soon. One of the main reasons I'd love to have a dog is that I would love to go for walks with her. I visited some family friends in Florida once who have the most lovely golden retriever named Skyy (named after the vodka). They lived about a 10 minute drive from the beach and R. would take Skyy for long beach walks every morning. He said it was great for him because it got him to exercise and Skyy loved it. Although funnily enough since she is born and bred in Florida (although she was from Tampa which isn't right on the open ocean or gulf) she didn't like going into the ocean. But yes I'd love to have a dog with whom I could go for long walks.

My favourite way to explore cites (new ones or ones I know already) is by foot. Taking the subway in new cities can be interesting but walking is, for me, always a better experience. I love seeing different neighbourhoods, different shops, etc. all by foot. I get the chance to hear more, see more, and feel like I am a part of whatever city it is I am in. Walking on beaches is another thing I love to do whenever I have the chance. Walking right next to a body of water is very pleasant.

I am glad more people are taking walking as exercise seriously. When I taught English at Air France I remember with one group I had the students talking about what exercise/sports they liked to do. One of the students (this really nice woman who had an Italian boyfriend she was about to go on a holiday to Sicily with! I remember this so clearly because I have wanted to go to Sicily since I was told blood oranges grow there) asked me what exercise I did. When I told her I walked she laughed and pressed me to tell her what other "real" sports I did/liked. So while I did try to defend walking as a form of exercise, I also quickly said swimming just so she would be satisfied. But yeah, walking is exercise! And it's cool that more people are starting to notice that. I don't want to get all my exercise from walking but it is a form of exercise, and one that most people can participate in!