I'm spending the weekend in Manhattan visiting friends. The drive down was last night through torrential downpour and flooded streets to make things particularly interesting. It seems that my reward for braving the elements is a beautiful day with clear skies and warm but not too warm temps, so I made sure to hit the streets.
The apartment I'm staying at is a few blocks over from the Empire State Building, off 35th Street. So I made my way over to 5th Avenue and heading uptown for Central Park, keeping an eye out for random celebrities who might be shopping, and generally keeping an eye out for the familiar landmarks and the old territory where I used to work, six years ago now.
I didn't see any celebrities but I did walk pass the Empire State Building, the Public Library, Rockefeller Center, my old workplace of Simon & Schuster, the Apple Store on 5th and 59th and the Plaza Hotel across the street from there. I also took a stroll through Central Park, crossing the myriad sunbathers, people playing with frisbees and footballs or making use of the volleyball courts, and over to the Upper West Side, my favorite part of town. Over there I walked up both Columbus and Amsterdam streets, up to 79th or so before heading west to Broadway and beginning my way back downtown, passing Lincoln Square, Columbus Circle, before reaching Bryant Park which is on the back side of the Public Library.
I lingered there for a bit because I was hot and my feet were starting to hurt. I can maintain the New York walking pace but it does a bit of a number on me, particularly with no particular break in between. Bryant Park is small as NYC parks go but it's got a reading section, lawn section for sunbathers (which is converted to an Ice Skating rink in Winter, and also the site of one of the major fashion shows in Fall) bocce courts and ping pong tables. It's a pretty cool place and although busy, it's practically serene compared to Times Square just one block west.
I also paused at the HBO shop just a short distance from the park. That was amusing; the first time I ever went there was just before Game of Thrones started up and they had about half an aisle of merchandise for the show. Now the store would more properly be called the Game of Thrones shop with a few extra HBO show merchandise available. It's amazing how much that show has changed things.
I was getting pretty hot at Bryant Park, thirsty, and wanting to sit down somewhere comfortable, so I decided to take a quick trip to the big AMC Empire Theater in Times Square to see if anything worth seeing was playing. I got there about 15 minutes before Spider-Man 2 was about to start. Now I've already seen the movie and I only kind of liked it (love the actors, HATE the writers) but this kept me from seeing something that Jade might want to watch with me, and also allowed me to enjoy the movie in the same city it's set in, which I thought would be cool. So I went ahead and bought a ticket, grabbed a monster coke (take that, Bloomberg!) and went in to cool off, ease my barking dogs and enjoy an action flick.
The bad writing stood out even more the second time but the movie is still a beautiful thing to watch and it was neat to think that so much of it was filmed just a matter of blocks away, so that was fun. After it was over I had just enough time to take a quick stroll back to the apartment to wake Jade for the night.
So now I'm in the in-between. NYC Day walk is done...NYC night of pizza and games with friends about to begin!
The apartment I'm staying at is a few blocks over from the Empire State Building, off 35th Street. So I made my way over to 5th Avenue and heading uptown for Central Park, keeping an eye out for random celebrities who might be shopping, and generally keeping an eye out for the familiar landmarks and the old territory where I used to work, six years ago now.
I didn't see any celebrities but I did walk pass the Empire State Building, the Public Library, Rockefeller Center, my old workplace of Simon & Schuster, the Apple Store on 5th and 59th and the Plaza Hotel across the street from there. I also took a stroll through Central Park, crossing the myriad sunbathers, people playing with frisbees and footballs or making use of the volleyball courts, and over to the Upper West Side, my favorite part of town. Over there I walked up both Columbus and Amsterdam streets, up to 79th or so before heading west to Broadway and beginning my way back downtown, passing Lincoln Square, Columbus Circle, before reaching Bryant Park which is on the back side of the Public Library.
I lingered there for a bit because I was hot and my feet were starting to hurt. I can maintain the New York walking pace but it does a bit of a number on me, particularly with no particular break in between. Bryant Park is small as NYC parks go but it's got a reading section, lawn section for sunbathers (which is converted to an Ice Skating rink in Winter, and also the site of one of the major fashion shows in Fall) bocce courts and ping pong tables. It's a pretty cool place and although busy, it's practically serene compared to Times Square just one block west.
I also paused at the HBO shop just a short distance from the park. That was amusing; the first time I ever went there was just before Game of Thrones started up and they had about half an aisle of merchandise for the show. Now the store would more properly be called the Game of Thrones shop with a few extra HBO show merchandise available. It's amazing how much that show has changed things.
I was getting pretty hot at Bryant Park, thirsty, and wanting to sit down somewhere comfortable, so I decided to take a quick trip to the big AMC Empire Theater in Times Square to see if anything worth seeing was playing. I got there about 15 minutes before Spider-Man 2 was about to start. Now I've already seen the movie and I only kind of liked it (love the actors, HATE the writers) but this kept me from seeing something that Jade might want to watch with me, and also allowed me to enjoy the movie in the same city it's set in, which I thought would be cool. So I went ahead and bought a ticket, grabbed a monster coke (take that, Bloomberg!) and went in to cool off, ease my barking dogs and enjoy an action flick.
The bad writing stood out even more the second time but the movie is still a beautiful thing to watch and it was neat to think that so much of it was filmed just a matter of blocks away, so that was fun. After it was over I had just enough time to take a quick stroll back to the apartment to wake Jade for the night.
So now I'm in the in-between. NYC Day walk is done...NYC night of pizza and games with friends about to begin!
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