Miscellaneous musings on three weeks in New York City and New York State.

I have previously written on the blog about visiting the FDR Presidential Library and Edith Wharton's home but now that I am back home in New Zealand thought I would mention other aspects of my time in my favourite city in all the world, outside of New Zealand, and perhaps throw in a few observations.

My daughter has a holiday home near Hudson a couple of hours north of the city and we travelled up there on the AMTRAK rail system from Penn Station. I was impressed to see that AMTRAK offers passengers the opportunity to purchase carbon offsets from the non profit organisation Carbonfund.org and to direct those funds to scuh areas as certified sustainable reforestation and alternative energy projects.

Our train trips were speedy, ontime and enjoyable. One can't but be impressed with the public transport systems in and around NYC. The frequent and efficient subway system of course but also buses and trains while the ubiqitous yellow cabs are everywhere. Mind you with a population of over 19 million there are economies of scale that we in Auckland with our 1.25 million can but dream of.

New York City is the most popular tourist destination in the US attracting over 45 million vsistors in 2009 and when you are there you can understand why - the raw energy of this non-stop metropolis never ceases to amaze me. And of course on the cultural side there are museums in profusion. This time we managed to visit the Museum of the City of New York, where we saw a fascinating exhibitionAmerica's Mayor - John V. Lindsay,  the Metropolitan Museum, of Art,  the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the Frick Collection but there are more than 160 cultural institutions to be found in the city.We also attended a superb evening of ballet at the Lincoln Center ( above left).

One of the highlights at the Metropolitan Museum was the monumental bamboo structure in the form of a crested wave on the museum's roof terrace. Each day the artists and a team of rock climbers were adding to the structure  When we were there it was about 100 feet long, 50 feet wide and 50 feet high and one was able to walk under it and through it

The Met Museum borders on Central Park which in itself is another huge drawcard. I read that some 25 million people visit the park every year making it the most visited park in the US. It contains several man-made lakes and ponds, walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks, a zoo, extensive wooded areas, and outdoor ampitheatre, a reservoir, and acres of grass. It is around 900 acres in size.


The High Line Park was opened in late 2009 so we made our first visit to check it out. It used to be an elevated freight rail line but hasn't been used for that purprose since 1980. Now it has been converted into an extraordinary elevated public park running for some 6 city blocks soon to be extended to cover 16  city blocks, about a mile and a half long.


We walked around the Battery Park area at the southern end of Manhattan and saw huge long queues of people waiting to visit the Statue of Liberty. Reservations are necessary and limited but you can book for up to a year ahead.

One of my favourite structures is the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. It recently celebrated its 125th birthday. We have walked across the elevated pedestrian walkway on several occasions But this time it was just too hot to make the walk. The entrance to the walkway is at Park Row and Centre Street across from City Hall Park.

Upstate town of Hudson (pic right - NYT) is an interesting place with some 65 antique shops within five blocks in the town's main street, Warren Street. Also in this street is The Spotty Dog an excellent bookshop and bar. Great combination!


Today back in Auckland I have been feeling the cold and trying to retrain myself to walk on the left hand side of the footpath. There seems to be so little traffic and so few people after the hustle and bustle of NY. And I must say I am enjoying that.