Walks in the city

River side

There are several ways to get to the Lincoln Center – the main work place for L. The fastest one is to take the subway, but it’s boring. The most popular one is to get lost on the Central Park paths, and after one hour or so of wandering finally find the 66th street and walk west to the Lincoln Square. There is also an urban possibility to walk along one of the avenues: Broadway is best for window shopping and busy feeling , Columbus for social observation of the neighborhood’s life with its playgrounds, schools and supermarkets while Amsterdam gives a mixture of both.
Although the L’s favorite way is of course the longest one and the most exciting – River Side Park. To get there he must first cross whole West Side. He climbs the Morning Side Park, passes the Cathedral and the Columbia University area, and then descends to the park on the shore of the Hudson River. The park has two levels cut by the highway which circuits the island. On the level of the West Side streets there is an endless large plane-trees alley, several dog-parks, playgrounds, baseball and football fields. Yet the best is the part on the lower level of the park. Below drive, just on the river shore there is the cherry walk – a long biking and jogging path named for the cherry trees along. Despite the drive above, it’s one of the quietest places on Manhattan. Maybe it’s just because of the great river’s closeness and its noises which cover all the city life. It’s also the most coastal place, with fishy smell, salt breeze and impressive view to the river populated by numerous ships and barges. In addition, walking south you have all the time Midtown’s sky towers in front of you.
Around 72nd street the park reaches the northern end of the old Manhattan harbor. Today in this area the harbor is limited to one terminal on 59th street, the rest of it was changed in to the recreation area. It’s one of the places L prefers. The old, used, partly destroyed harbor constructions were incorporated in to the contemporary park structure. The park architects composed these odd, scary metal monsters with the idyllic littoral landscape, with wooden paths, grass fields and sunbeds’ terraces. It creates a strange hermitage in between the abandoned dockyard and a view to the river traffic from one side, the drive overpass and cityscape from the other side. There are also piers falling far in to the river and a lot of tiny design attractions. In brief, it’s not easy for L to get quickly to his chair in the library. Alas…

L.