serinde

elibalin and I had A Plan for today: meet downtown, cruise around Nieuw Amsterdam Village, and then take the ferry to Governor's Island, where there is art, sculpture, bike rentals, and apparently a wacky cool minigolf course. The first section went off okay (except that they were out of stroopwafels, can you believe it?!), but we arrived at the ferry terminal to discover that the island is closed for Labor Day.

A PUBLIC PARK CLOSED ON A PUBLIC HOLIDAY. That's the kind of smarts we've come to expect from the Parks Department of late. So: new plan. We ended up walking the greenway along the Hudson from Battery Park up to the High Line, then turned off at 14th St. to try and find refreshment, something we utterly failed at. My foot was by this time screaming imprecations at me, so I just came home and fell down.

I really, really like what they're doing with the Hudson River Park. It's beautifully done (a different aesthetic in each section, but they're all good), and people clearly sat down and thought about things like seating and potties and refreshments and traffic flow and (etc). It gives me a large happy to know that my city is doing something this well-executed.

The High Line, on the other hand, is a classic case of "No one comes here, it's too crowded". I can see and appreciate (and even applaud) what they've done with it, but since it's become the Next Big Thing, it ends up being an endless shuffling promenade of gawkers. Avoid until the hype dies down.