I forgot to mention yesterday about our Japanese meal with Yuka & Shige. It was a succession of small amounts of lovely food, all eaten with chopsticks. Doug only resorted to a fork to eat the fish. The final course was pork which just melted in your mouth. A great experience.
Today we got up earlier & walked along 5th Ave to the edge of Central Park. We had a recommendation to have breakfast at Sarabeth’s. It was ok & is obviously an very ‘in’ place to go. As always we are divided by a common language & grenola turned out to be porridge —- but at least the fruit was good. American coffee doesn’t seem to have improved much over the years, they can drink so much of it ‘cos they forgot to put any coffee in it in my opinion. Not sure that we will rush back.
After that we went into the park & had an hour’s tour on a bike. We went for the easy option though, someone else was doing the pedalling! He was a character but succeeded in pointing out the main landmarks, properties & film sets. We saw the Strawberry Fields memorial to John Lennon together with the Dakota Building doorway where he died. The park is vast & at times it is hard to believe that you are in the middle of New York as some of the photos will demonstrate. The weather today is fabulous, very warm & sunny, so hats & suncream a must but coats not required.
After a snack in the Plaza food hall, we mastered the subway & got ourselves downtown to the start of the High Line walk. This is an above ground railway that has been rescued from demolition & turned into an urban walkway. Some of the tracks remain but the whole thing has been done really well. There are trees & plants along its length at either side of a dedicated pathway. It winds through some industrial areas but at the same time it has spawned regeneration of districts, with housing, shopping, bars & food the result. All the time you can see the Hudson River & New Jersey on the other side.
We came back to Bryant Sq, which is a lovely outdoor area a couple of blocks from our hotel. Everyone is benefitting from the sun & the bars were doing a busy trade. We will probably go there to eat tonight.