New York City – Day 9

Park Avenue at 40th Street rises up to the second level of Grand Central Station. It then curves around to the east and then emerges at 46th Street, through the Helmsley building, coming down a ramp within the building. Southbound the road curves around the west side of the buildings. It’s a scene familiar to me from many movies, and one I had planned to walk up to and photograph when I arrived.

On the first morning I was here I walked over to scout the ramp on the way to Bryant Park, and realized that access was prohibited to pedestrians. Traffic also seemed heavy and there was a no space to walk beside the cars. When I went back to the hotel for my forgotten hearing aids, I spoke to the doorman about how to get up to the second level, and was told that the Hyatt entrance was permanently closed, and that there wasn’t another way for pedestrians to get up there. So I abandoned the idea, but kept thinking about it all week.

Last night I realized that there wasn’t a sign prohibiting bicycles, which are vehicles. So this morning I decided to take another look at it. The bike share station near the base of the ramp. I found these interesting brass inserts in the sidewalk on my way there.

When I got there I found that the traffic wasn’t too heavy, so I rode my bike up.

The ramps weren’t too steep so even on the three speed heavy Citi Bike it didn’t take a lot of effort. I was able to get some great views, and close-ups of the statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt – the man who built Grand Central Station the last reminding building of his buildings.

I took a picture of myself outside the closed entrance to the Hyatt. The road runs down the side of Grand Central Station, the side of the MetLife building, and then through the Helmsley building.

Once back down at ground level I did a U-turn and rode back through on the other side.

I messaged Michael that I was looking at the building that he’s been working in this week thinking maybe he could come and look out the window, but he didn’t get my message right away, and couldn’t have come to that window anyway as it is where the executives have their offices.

Once back at ground level I rode in the bus lane up 42nd St. I’ve observed that cyclists use the bus lanes when there are no bike lanes. I’m not sure whether this is legal or not, but decided to ride as the natives do.

My next stop was the New York public library. I had intended to visit the branch in Bryant Park. The nearest bike stand was kitty corner and as I parked the bike I realized that there was another branch right in front of me.

I went in to have a look around the main floor and as I was leaving I saw this cutaway of the library. It showed a rooftop terrace. I asked the security guard if it was open and was directed to the elevator which took me to the seventh floor.

It was an amazing space with views over the public library and Bryant Park.

When I finished there I walked across the street to the Bryant Park branch.

The architecture is the Beaux Arts style and the building opened in 1911.

It had a gift shop where I found a Ruth Bader Ginsberg book bag and swag section.

The interior is absolutely lovely.

There is a small section of Bryant Park at the front of the library with tables and chairs. The building on the left with the green roof is where I had just been out on the rooftop terrace.

From there I headed to Central Park to ride the full loop which is almost 10 km long. On the way I passed radio city music Hall.

I rode around Columbus Circle a couple times to take pictures and at first didn’t realize that the bike lane was on the inside, but traffic was light enough that there was no problem crossing to the inside to ride a full circle and then back to the outside to enter Central Park.

The warmth of the last week has caused the cherry blossoms to pop.

There were many people out enjoying the lovely spring weather.

I was concerned trolled, by a woman about my age, riding her own bike in Central Park. She told me to be careful taking pictures while I was riding and then asked me where my helmet was. I told her not to worry, I had my mirror and was aware of what was going on around me, and that my helmet was back in Canada. It was a silly question. Helmets are neither required by law for adults here, nor generally worn, especially on the Citibikes. I do generally wear a helmet at home on my drop bar bikes, but it just didn’t feel necessary on the slower heavier Citibikes with their upright geometry. The cars are also generally moving quite slowly here compared to Brampton and even when there isn’t a bike lane, one can use the bus lane, or often just the curb lane, because the roads have so many lanes here there doesn’t seem to be a lot of contention between bikes and cars.

When I finished the loop I docked the bike and grabbed some lunch to eat in the centre of Columbus Circle which had lots of curved stone bench seating.

When I finished eating I had 45 minutes left before the check in time for my flight tomorrow, so I borrowed the bike again and rode down Central Park West past incredibly beautiful apartment buildings including the Dakota where John Lennon lived and was murdered out front.

I docked the bike and went back to Columbus Circle to check in for my flight and then got a coffee at a cart to drink in the circle.

I decided to ride back to the hotel straight down Broadway through Times Square.

When I got back to the dock near our hotel I messaged Michael to find out when he would be done work, but he didn’t see my message for a few minutes, and it was only 3 o’clock and so beautiful out that I decided to ride to Stuyvesant town. It is much more attractive at ground level than it appears in the aerial image in the linked article.

It is a large post World War II private residential development on the east side of Manhattan. It consists of 110 red brick apartment buildings and contains 11,250 apartments. It was very well-kept with the internal pathways for walking and biking only. There are underground garages for cars accessible from the main roads.

These apartments are aimed at middle class families. A two bedroom apartment rents for about $3200. About 500 apartments are set aside for low income families and cost about 1200 a month to rent.

On my way back I saw this cute public art in front of a Children’s Hospital.

These residential buildings are connected by a bridge halfway up.

I rode along 1st Avenue until I got 42nd Street, passing the UN which I visited on my second day here.

42nd Street doesn’t have a bike lane, but does have bus lanes and I rode up in the bus line just before 4pm. It amazes me how empty the streets are here at most times of day.

We went out to a place called Urbanspace to pick up dinner. It was an upscale food fair. There were picnic tables on the street outside, and the temperature was so pleasant, that we decided to eat there rather than take the food back to the room.

This was my view as we finished dinner.

We discovered what at least some of the honking around here is. Taxis pull up in front of this very large hotel and stop to let out their passengers, often in the bus lane when the curb lane is full, and the buses honk their horns angrily. I guess the same thing happens in front of Grand Central Station, and it’s probably repeated many times throughout the day. This is where we are staying.

Normally when I’m visiting a city I like to go out at twilight to take pictures, but I haven’t done that yet here this trip. Most evenings we’ve been out to pick up food before twilight, and by the time we finished eating it in the room it was full dark. So tonight it was twilight as we were finishing and we walked around a little bit to take a few pictures.

The centre building is the Chrysler Building which our room window faces.

This is the Helmsley building. The two open arches on the second floor open to the roadway I was riding on my bike this morning.

These are other views of the Chrysler building.

This is Grand Central Station and Park Avenue rising over Pershing Square and 42nd Street.

What a perfect way to end an amazing week in New York City.


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