Saturday 10th September 2016
It was an exciting (or disturbing) start to
the day with the hotel fire alarm sounding at 3.30 am. After about 10 minutes
the tired voice od the Director of Fire Safety came over the audio system,
telling us that an alarm situation had occurred in the hotel, and it was being
investigated. No need for alarm, just stay in your room and wait for further
instructions.
About 30 minutes later after intervening
messages telling us not to worry, the situation had been resolved and we were
instructed to resume our normal activities !
Having had our sleep disturbed it was a
restless night from then on till we eventually got up at 8 am, and not in a
hurry to rush off anywhere. We agreed
that we would walk down to the waterfront to go for a stroll along the
Highline, a surviving section of the old elevated rail system that ran
throughout Manhattan and has now been given park status. We need to walk 20
blocks to get there and it is already very hot (32 C).
Breakfast was at a small café where they
were cooking huge pizzas this early in the morning. We soon saw several
customers come in to have a slice for breakfast (or maybe an early brunch)
Breakfast Pizza ?
As we walk down west 34th Street
we are confronted by a huge glass building on the waterfront, which we now know
is the Javits Convention Centre.
Javits Convention Centre
We soon found the entrance to the Highline,
and we were at the end of the development , and the last part of it to open,
The walk offered elevated river views whilst
walking along the path of the old rail track that had been filled in to make it
trafficable
Vegetation along the way was described as
natural self seeding plants (in
Australia known as weeds)
Great View of the Shunting Yard
As we entered the more developed parts of
the Highline Project which now weaves in between residential highrise
apartments, it was a lot more pleasant and well presented. I am sure that
latter stages will get to this standard at some stage.
The more developed parts are obviously
adding to the attractiveness of property in the area. It is great to see an old wasted piece of infrastructure like this being turned into something that is beneficial to the community.
As we walked down the stairs from the
Highline you could see the cast iron structure that held this massive rail
project above the streets.
We walked back through the streets in the
direction of Macy’s, still a long walk in this oppressive heat.
One thing we have noticed in Manhattan is
the need to protect fire hydrants from large beings that are apparently
inclined to perch on them. In Australia we have our bird spikes , but this
looks much more serious.
We later saw a guy sitting on one anyway,
obviously with appropriate protective equipment.
Soon we were at Madison Square Garden and
soon after at Macy’s where we welcomed the air conditioning . We did a bit of
shopping there buying a few clothing items (much cheaper than at home), had
lunch in the store, and ventured back out in the heat to head back to the
hotel.
On the way Carole spotted a Skechers store,
and after a visit there our purchases had grown further and we declared an end
to shopping and headed to our hotel.
It was still stinking hot and the air conditioning
in our room was most welcome. By now it was around 3.30pm.
After a suitable period of air conditioned
relaxation, we ventured back out for a predinner drink and dinner.
Walking back through Times Square crowds were building and a few people were just having a rest.
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