NYC Walking Utterance

In my quest to walk off these final pounds I seem to be taking a spring walking tour of the world’s great cities. Last month it was London and Paris and today it is New York City, otherwise known to me as “the city”. Since I grew up in Connecticut and my Dad worked here for over 20 years New York was always the only city to me. Everyplace else felt like a big town because their buildings were not high enough or their streets were not wide enough.

New York is any easy city to walk in since the grid layout means you can always ensure you are going the right direction. Once you understand the east and west sides and which way is which you are set.

I’m here thanks to Russ having a meeting where wives were invited. True to form once we bought our tickets and made the plan to fly up first thing this morning Russ’ plans changed and he had to go to Grand Rapids Michigan and is flying I tonight. That meant I had a free day today.

I called my best college friend Suzanne and was lucky enough to get her for a good walk and lunch between her bridge lesson and her dinner tonight. So as soon as I dropped my bags at the hotel I began my trek to get my 20,000 steps on the streets of the city.

I walked from 30th and 6th Ave. uptown to 72nd and Central Park West. Since I traveled up Broadway I was surrounded by many tourists. I counted at least thirteen different languages as I eavesdropped on conversations. I must have heard at least that many different accents speaking English as well. My favorite thing I heard was a little irish boy who said, “But Da, where are the gold streets?” In my heart I wondered if he thought the streets were paved in gold.

Once I got to Central Park West I met up with Suzanne and we had a great walk through the park where the crocuses and daffodils were blooming. We meandered back to her house on 87th and first where we had lunch and caught up on our lives. Actually I got to catch up on her’s since the whole world is caught up on mine through the blog.

Sadly I had to leave my friend so I could walk back to the hotel and change for dinner. I zigged zagged downtown the 60 blocks only stopping once to buy a pair of shoes. The conversations I overheard varied by neighborhood. As I was walking down First Ave. through Yorkville I heard a mother tell her grade school son, “four pairs of sneakers was his limit.”

As I passed by Soul Cycle a sweaty young twenty something coming out of a class turned to her friend and said, “I’m coming back to the seven o’clock class tonight.” That is what I call an obsession I thought.

I was crossing Park Ave. by Hunter College and a girl said to a guy, “No, no and for the last time no”. I was dying to know what she was refusing him, but I still had miles to go so I kept moving. As I crossed over Fifth Ave. and was on the west side I heard my favorite utterance of the day, I big burly guy screaming into his phone said, “My general counsel is going to fuck you up”. I love New York.

My fitbit buzzed my 20,000 steps well before I arrived back at the hotel. We at walking down to Union Square for dinner so this is going to be a big step day as of course New York City should be.