I was born and bred in NYC. It pretty much defines me as a person - if I have to describe myself I would say New Yorker, animal lover, runner and everything else (all the way down to procrastinator and possible slacker)....I remember the New York of my childhood not being very green. Yes there was central Park abd Prospect Park but I don't think they were very safe in the 70's - or at least that's the impression I got growing up (and I think that was the time of NY's lowest period when it was actually unsafe to go to a park)...
I remember my parents driving me to see trees and forests - day trips out to the Island, upstate NY (Sterling Forest, Bear Mountain), and New Jersey come to mind. Hours spent driving well worth the drive to catch sight of a bird, a few bees or maybe a deer - I cdidn't care - I lived in Brooklyn where the only wildlife were the stray cats that I fed each day.
So it was with a new fascination that this weekend trip to NY to run the NYC half marathon turned into a micro safari of NYC green spaces - and oh what a difference a few decades make!
My friend Tobey and I woke up bright and early on saturday to grab a bagel and head up to the NYRRC, located on 89th and Fifth. Afterward, we decided to walk through Central Park, grab tickets for Shakespeare in the Park that evening and head onward for lunch. We stopped at the Shakespeare Garden - mostly because we were drawn in by the smell of flowers. Bees were getting drunk off of pollen - their little fat bodies full of the yellow grit. Pinks, oranges, purples - all the colors of the rainbow were there in a blaze of hues. We then walked to the Belvedere castle and turtle pond where we were greeted by - turtles! Strolling off the beaten path we encountered, dragonflies, squirrels, robins and waterfalls - was this Central Park? Beautiful!
Then next day after the half marathon we strolled over to the Highline. The Highline is about 10 blocks of old elvevated train tracks that were rusting and overgrown. A partnership was formed to turn this into yet another greenspace for the city and again we relished the warm air and the wildness of the daisies and vines that appeared wild and free amongst the brand new concrete paths still being laid and perfected.
I rounded out my experience at The Cloisters up in Ft. Tryon Park at the northern tip of Manhattan. Can I tell you that I had never been there - if I had I would have remembered it. The Cloisters are medieveal cloisters that the Rockefellers had shipped stone by stone to New York and reassembeled on the cliffs of upper Manhattan - such hubris! Such a blatant display of uber-wealth! Such genius! I have to say I'm not a museum person - I feel constrained - don't touch, don't speak...but walking through the gardens with little monk music piped in while I watched the bees and the trees and the gentle breezes was intoxicating!
Then as if this weren't enough, my friend Tobey and I topped my last evening in NY with a picnic in Central Park that evening along with a summer outdoor showing of the Sex and the City movie. Again - nature stepped in - well, more like pounced. She unleashed a microburst storm that actually demolished over 200 trees within that 30 minute freak storm. We certainly were intimately aware of nature that evening.
I love NYC - and what I love best is that even in the largest city in the world you can still find green (and I don't mean the Wall Street variety).
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