Watching the City Move from a High Window

I spent a few days in early January 2007 just observing the city from a high floor. My view was of the big lake and the highway that snaked along its edge. From up there, you could see the constant, steady flow of traffic moving in and out of the city.

It was clearly winter. The trees were bare, and plumes of steam billowed up from the vents of the tall brick buildings nearby. During the day, the water was a vast expanse of gray-blue under a pale sky. The architecture was dense, a wall of apartments and high-rises pressed against the shoreline.

The light would start to change in the late afternoon, and as dusk settled in, the view transformed. The cars on the highway became streams of white and red lights, and the windows of the buildings started to glow. It was a quiet way to spend a few days, just watching the rhythm of the city from a distance as it went from day to night.