It is a well known fact that the best made plans of mice and men always go awry. At the beginning of this year I had every intention. Of bettering myself in everything in terms of consistency. I planned on more than 28 posts , more than 5 days a week of walking and more than 3 days a week of yoga. These were five counterbalanced with only 1 day a month of eating sugar , drinking only one cup of coffee in the day.
Sadly everything went for a toss when the wicked virus came my way . It was lurking in the house when I returned from Pune with Hubby Dear languishing in bed with a chesty cough, drippy nose and a low grade fever . I never expected it to attack because it stayed away for two whole days .
Then the lousy bug struck .
And it left me weak and listless till today. I’m still not on top of it but even lying in bed can make your body ache .
So I decided to get back to my languishing blog – and finish the last two episodes of my New York trip .
After all , it is already last year since I visited !
With Covid again showing up, I was too scared to test but am following all the protocol – frequent handwashing , isolation and masking . I hope this works and I get back to normal by the end of next week .
One of my favourite movies is ‘You’ve Got Mail’. Set in New York, it stars a feisty Meg Ryan fighting to save her independent book store from the re developers who want her prime spot in the city. And the final scene where she actually meets Tom Hanks is shot in Riverside Park! So I had to visit this tiny little charming park alongside the waterfront near Columbia University.
Blossoms in bloomDahliaLast flowers of summer Soldiers & Sailors monument Tiny red berries on a treeAsters ? Asters Graffiti on the sidewalkThe Jersey shore
Even though this is a public park that is beautifully landscaped with well laid out paths and monuments like Grant’s Tomb and the Soldiers & Sailors monuments scattered about , it has certain spots that are let out to private citizens ( volunteers ) who can have their own little garden in New York . This kind of lends the park a certain quirkiness with patches of individually tended spots displaying a wild, unkempt beauty.
What a peaceful and restful walk it was under the tall trees that lined the paths with a cool breeze blowing on a hot day. Bikers sailed past on the biking trails while dogs walked smartly with their masters.
This garden is definitely worth a visit, nestled as it is between the coastline and magnificent mansions on the other side.
On Day 3 my host took me to another borough, one that has been on my to see list ever since I read ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ‘ as a teenager. This coming of age novel that was written way, way, way before I was born somehow is one of those classics that appeal to most teenage girls and one of the books that I have read again and again.
So even though it was beastly hot, we put on our hats and jumped onto the subway, changing trains and lines to take us to Brooklyn. The subway system is so simple that if one keeps one’s wits about, one can easily master it in two days! Or at least that’s what I thought as I confidently tapped my card on the turnstile.
Stepping out into the sunshine ( New York was having a heatwave that week), we made our way to the waterfront which was once again an area that had new life breathed into it . Passing some old warehouses now converted to trendy eating spots, we went down the steps of Squibb Park to get a great view of Manhattan and Wall Street on the other side.
This purely residential area of Brooklyn Heights with some of its streets named after quaint fruit names like Cranberry an Orange doesn’t encourage nosy photographers or peering tourists, so I didn’t take any photographs for fear of annoying the residents. I quite understand how irksome it must be to have strangers of all shapes and sizes crawling around your personal space, taking photos to fill up a travel blog!!!!
It was rather hard not to take any pictures of this leafy neighbourhood and I quickly sneaked a photo of a quaint little fairy garden . This tiny bit of garden was made around a tree growing on the pavement and I would appeal to Ms. Papaya who is all into fairies and witches.
Walking through the shady park was a welcome relief from the blazing sunlight but I was quite amazed that there were several people sweating away at Pickleball , a game which combines tennis, badminton and table tennis and which was invented during Covid. This seems to be quite a popular sport is a popular sport and I saw many people playing it in various parks around the city.
Walking down the waterfront, we came to Park where I struck off another item on my bucket list ‘A Lobster Roll from Maine’. I wonder if the lobster was really from Maine but it hardly seems likely that I will ever visit this part of the world. This was my chance to grab a lobster roll and I wolfed it down, despite a heavy lunch just an hour earlier!
This gave us an opportunity to take a breather before we walked ahead and under the Brooklyn Bridge towards Manhattan Bridge and stepped into Dumbo.
Dumbo was a revelation. It was buzzing with people yet seemed peaceful. We went inside the Tin Building the brainchild of chef Jean Georges which has an array of cuisines to choose from. We settled down for a quick spot of tea before moving on to our last stop for the day- the 9/11 memorial.
9/11
9/11 has attained iconic status in the living memory of almost every human on earth. There have been horrific events before and after with many losses in various parts of the world but strangely this has instant recall .
Twenty- five Seven 