New York City – Day 4

I had breakfast in the room again today, and then grabbed my coffee in the hotel market, and took it over to Pershing Square where I could see Grand Central Station while I drank it.

I then walked to the bike share station and borrowed a bike to ride to the High Line. I was still within my 24 hour period that I paid for yesterday, but needed to keep the ride under 30 minutes so as not to incur additional charges.

I use Google maps to give me the directions to follow to get to my destination, but I started down 2nd Avenue it started giving me incorrect directions. GPS works very poorly in the area where we’re staying because the buildings are so tall. Take a look at one of the walks that I recorded on Strava. So I had to turn off the Google directions because they were constant but incorrect. When I rode back later in the day from an area where the buildings weren’t as tall it worked just fine.

There was a nice bike lane on 2nd Avenue with lots of cyclists using it. At the traffic lights for the first eight or 10 blocks there were traffic cops ensuring that the traffic flowed smoothly. When the light was red for me, but there was no cross traffic, and I slowed down the cop waved me to continue on through. I also saw a lot of traffic cops out in the afternoon the last couple days when school was getting out. Traffic moves rather sedately here but doesn’t seem to become overly congested. It’s easy to keep pace or even go faster on a bike.

The bike lane ended, but the street became quite quiet, and I didn’t mind sharing with the small amount of traffic there was.

I passed the familiar name and architecture of Gramercy Park and rode around the block to have a look and take some pictures.

I came across this street that is physically closed off during school hours to motor vehicles. I learned from this website that it is not uncommon here.

At that point I realized I was getting close to 30 minutes so I went to a docking station to find it entirely full. I use the app to find another docking station, which was also full. At this point I had almost run out of time. I thought I recalled that the app had a button where you can get 15 more minutes if the dock is full, but I couldn’t find it. I tried to do a live chat but no one came on to respond right away so I found a third station and docked there. I was charged $4.36, but I received a refund tonight based on the comment I made when I submitted feedback at the end of the ride.

From there I took the bike out again and finished the ride to the High Line. This was my first sight of the High Line, along with another one of those stacked car parking lots.

The High Line was even better than I had imagined. I spent most of the day there. It is accessed by staircases or elevators.

There was street level rail on the west side of Manhattan from the 1840s. But it meant there were 105 street level crossings, and many pedestrian deaths, so in 1929 after decades of debate the a massive infrastructure project to eliminate the street level rail was begun. It became known as the High Line. It opened in 1934 and was elevated 9 m above the street. It was designed to connect directly to the upper floor loading docks of factories and warehouses. It was known as the “lifeline of New York”. But in the 1960s industrial use began to decline on Manhattan’s west side. The southernmost nine blocks of the High Line were demolished. Another five blocks were demolished in the 1990s.

1980 was the last year that a train used it. Over time nature reclaimed it and it was only visible to the few inhabitants of adjacent buildings. In 1980 two locals met at a community planning meeting where plans to demolish the High Line were discussed. They formed a nonprofit group called Friends of the High Line to advocate for its preservation. In 2002 they formed a partnership with the city and the plans to demolish the High Line were reversed. In 2005 the transportation company that owned it donated the remaining section under the federal Rails to Trails program. From 2009 to 2019 the nonprofit group began opening the High Line one section at a time.

The High Line connects the Meatpacking District, Chelsea, and Hudson Yards. Next Spring it will connect to Penn Station to the East, and Hudson River Park to the West sometime in the future.

Volunteers look after the gardens. Bikes are not allowed on the High Line, but I did see these tricycles being used to aid in the gardening.

It’s much quieter up on the High Lines than it is at street level. New York is a very noisy place. There is a constant background hum with the staccato of car horns.

I was excited to visit The Vessel by Heatherwick Studio at Hudson Yards. It is an interactive artwork comprised of 154 interconnecting flights of stairs and almost 2500 individual steps and 80 landings. Unfortunately, four people have committed suicide here and it is currently closed. It was still stunning to see even though I couldn’t climb up.

There were hundreds places to sit in the big open area around it and the subway station entrance, and I had lunch there.

I headed back to the High Line to walk south to the other end.

There is so much to see. The High Line itself has some narrow sections, some wide sections, many places to sit and enjoy the sun. Places to look at the streets below. The High Line has spurred an enormous amount of new development adjacent to the line.

The Whitney Museum is at the south end. When I got there I was ready for a coffee and as I stood on a corner in the Meatpacking District a man in a red hat and shoes approached me and started talking to me. After a couple minutes he asked me if I knew who he was. I said I did not. He said I am the Mayor of the Meatpacking District. Google it. I did and he has quite an interesting story. I asked him for advice on where to get coffee and we parted ways.

I did have my heart set on a cookie and the place he suggested just had pastries so I carried on to the Chelsea market. It’s a fascinating old building and I found coffee and cookies there.

There are a lot of eating areas set up on the streets that are public and the one outside Chelsea market intrigued me. I sat there for a few minutes but then the allure of the Highline caused me to pack up and head back up. I found a place to lounge to finish my coffee and cookies.

Having finished exploring the Highline I headed to Little Island just a couple minutes away on the river. It is 2.4 acre park in the Hudson River with entrances at West 13th and 14th St. It is built on the remains of Pier 54 where in 1912 the survivors of the Titanic arrived to safety.

The remains of the pier were damaged during hurricane Sandy and it has been reimagined as an “immersive experience with nature and art”.

It was a very busy place today and I can see why it would require timed tickets to visit in the warmer months.

I noticed an excellent protected bike lane on my way there so I decided to ride back along the Hudson. Google wanted to send me up through the city almost right away but I stayed on the waterfront until 48th St.

This is the intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

Then I turned and rode east towards where Michael was working to meet him.

I have had several people ask me about the rearview mirror i wear on my glasses when I ride including one driver today.

The first place I tried to dock the bike was closed for some reason and I ended up running overtime by the time I got to the next docking station. When you are not on a pass it cost $3.99 to unlock the bike and as long as you return it within the 30 minutes there are no further charges. But the overage is only charged at $.23 a minute so I didn’t bother complaining this time.

Michael met me at a bench near the dock and we walked back through Union Station.

I’m feeling pretty tired this evening. I’m up to two blisters on my toes. We rested for a while and I had a shower before we went out to pick up dinner and bring it back to the room.

It was another fabulous day. I haven’t yet decided what to do tomorrow as rain is forecast for the day. But it is the St. Patrick’s Day parade which apparently has been happening here since 1762 so I might go and check that out. I did bring an umbrella and my rain slicker. I’ll decide in the morning when I see what the day looks like.