This is the first in a series of posts I’ll be writing about our New York City adventures. Enjoy!
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We’re happily ensconced in the East Village of Manhattan, where we will spend the next five months. Tomkins Square Park is 50 yards west of our apartment, and community gardens abound. Tree-lined streets soften this part of the city, marrying nature with the crowded civilization that comprises New York.
We are taking daily walks, exploring parts of the city we haven’t before, despite visiting our daughter here for the past nine years.
On a perfect Sunday afternoon, we ventured out of the neighborhood and to the High Line. We’ve walked it before, but a new section has opened since our last visit, so we checked it out.
The High Line was once a train line and now is an elevated park with a walking path. When the train tracks went into disuse, plants seeded themselves. While work has been done to tame the plantings, they include a number of hardy native species. On this visit, I enjoyed the asters in particular, which are blooming profusely. I grow asters in one of my blueberry beds in Washington State as a companion plant, and I find the purple flowers irresistible.
An outdoor restaurant graces the 14th Street entrance, and there’s also a place to get drinks while on your walk. The train tracks remain as part of the decor and fit in nicely with other art scattered throughout. Of course, nothing makes a New York City park more complete than the New Yorkers themselves, dressed in everything from blue jeans to full-length gowns. A group of monks (or at least they were dressed like monks) wandered the High Line to beg, and we saw more than one bride and groom having photos taken. If you want to “people watch,” head to the High Line!
Nadine Galinsky Feldman is the author of The Foreign Language of Friends, When a Grandchild Dies: What to Do, What to Say, How to Cope, and the upcoming What She Knew.
