A lot of walking today. Met Keith and Jeanne and walked over to the 9/11 pools then over to the Hudson River north to Greenwich Village where we had a drink and a bite to eat at an open air cafe. Matt and Beth then departed for the Nintendo store and freedom and we continued on to the Guggenheim. We’d been there in 2013 but at that time the central atrium had been obscured by an installation. This time it was quite open and so we got to enjoy the building itself as much as the art within. From the Guggenheim we took the subway to Hudson Yards and walked the High Line. This is a disused rail line running on an elevated platform south towards Greenwich Village. The restoration work has involved leaving the rails in place but careful placement of seating and plants has made it a very enjoyable walkway. After about a mile we took the stairs down to the Half King where we sunk two very nice pints of beer, after which we headed into the Village for a nice Italian meal.
hi all
NY looks superb – a different image to the one I am used to . So the walkway goes where? us brits not used to modern high tech city perambulating structures.
whats the food like in NY?
love the picture of the Hudson hornet.
The High Line is an old disused railway line running from Hudson Yards on the west side of Manhattan down to the meatpacking district. It has been converted to a walkway with innovative planting where the rails are still visible. There are a lot of cool seating areas and on Friday night lots of people were up there strolling by and hanging out. A great way to experience the city.
ps when you get to the end of your epic journey across the USA it would be interesting to get the perspective of all four of you about not just what you have seen but what you have experienced of America. I mean the social geography; issues of diversity, cultural differences and similarities, the sense of ‘being american’ as opposed to being in a particular state or region or city..
Over here, having lived in France now for four years, we are aware that the social landscape of the country is as diverse as the physical landscape; not just a north/south divide in industry, economics or history, but differences between paris centric attitudes and those in regions far from the capital, which are influenced more by the other countries they border (south west and spain, north east and Benelux/Germany etc)..France like America has had a turbulent historical and political past but has an ability to unite – for example in response to terrorist attacks or the loss of a cultural icon like Johnny Halliday..
anyway..enough Saturday morning rambling..be interested in the clackett family’s perspective at mile 4200.
Thanks Patrick – one interesting observation we made was when we returned from our brief short-cut into Canada. Crossing the bridge from Canada into Niagara and back on US territory, the first thing we saw was a pair of Indian (sub-continent, not red) restaurants either side of the street. Speaks to the cultural mixing bowl here. The other thing to say is that most of our journey was spent travelling through either spectacular scenery or through what looked like prosperous farmland. Our route did not pass through urban blight or poverty, but it could have.