Last week started with rain and chilly temperatures, but ended with summer. I continued my daily walks through New York City. In total I traveled around the City ca. 24 km on foot and ca. 25 km by bike. That are almost 50 km. I am giving myself a pat on the back here. Even though I only accomplished a big chunk of the bike distance thanks to using an e-bike. In general I feel that there are more and more people outside these days. After all those weeks at home and a cold, rainy April, everybody really just wants to be outside though. Since most people keep a healthy distance and/or wear masks, that feels alright though. According to the New York Times thousands of rich residents have left the City anyways. Plus there aren’t any tourists around. So there is plenty of space for all us remaining people.
Monday: A short Midtown walk to the East River
Monday was the big day when I met my friend for the first time since mid-March. I met her close to Grand Central. After we got tea and coffee in a little independent store, we walked to the East River and watched the ferries crossing.
Tuesday: A walk through Midtown to Madison Square Park
Rich wanted to juggle so we first walked to the East River Esplanade. Unfortunately, it was a little too windy. We then ended up walking down to 23rd Street and paying a visit to beautiful Madison Square Park.
Wednesday: A long bike tour to the West Side, down to Battery Park and from there all the way up to Midtown along the East River
This was a splendid afternoon. I managed to snatch an e-bike. Such a wonderful invention! First I cycled from the main public library over to the West Side and was at the Hudson River Park for the first time. I stayed on that bike path until I reached Battery Park at the Southern tip of Manhattan. From there there is a bike path all along the East River up. I was home in a jiffy. Thanks to that e-bike. Definitely not thanks to my muscle power.
Thursday: A bike tour to and a long walk through Central Park
Another sunny, but the first properly warm day. I biked up to 79th Street to visit Central Park. Just at the entrance there, next to the Met, I bought myself a giant icecream. So I first sat on a bench and enjoyed that before walking all the way around the Reservoir and then back to the south-east park entrance on 59th.
Friday: A short Midtown walk to Bryant Park
At the end of my work week I felt exhausted. I took my tablet, bought an iced coffee and sat down in Bryant Park to unwind.
Saturday: A short Midtown walk to Bryant Park
A proper summer day and we both had time. We got takeout salads for lunch and spent the whole afternoon in Bryant Park. That’s actually the park closest to us. And these days there are relatively few people there.
Sunday: A walk to the Upper East Side with the discovery of this beautiful little park at Sutton Place
It got slightly cooler again, but still pleasant. We walked past the U.N. and I finally got to show the little park at Sutton Place to Rich that I had discovered last week. On the way back we found a block with three little restaurants next to each other that all sold takeout cocktails. They were immensely popular. We got some tasty sangria.
© janavar
I have been trying to get outside daily too! It definitely helps during this quarantine! New York looks like a very interesting place to take a stroll.
I find it exciting because it is so very different these days 🙂
Yeah we can walk anywhere now as streets are widely spacious but never forget our masks. Stay safe and well!
We already need masks to leave our building – it’s a rule 🙂
Your blog post makes me PROUD to be a New Yorker! (I live in NYC 😀 )
Thank you so much!
Must be very interesting to see a big city so quiet these days. I prefer walking around in the nature near my hometown Düsseldorf now. But I would really like to go to New York again after many years, even if there was a lot of hectic and many people around again.
Cheers, Renate of http://www.trippics.de
In Düsseldorf habe ich auch mal für zwei Jahre gewohnt. Die Stadt ist ja auch schön grün und im Moment sicher auch interessant zu sehen.
Thank you for this exciting article. It was interesting to read how the corona situation is dealt with. Even without many people, the pictures are very impressive.
Best regards Mo
Thank you :-). I find it interesting to see how every place in the world deals with the situation.
Strange feeling for me. 1992 I was living in N.Y. for a while. It was an active, often crowded place and traffic was insane. Even in the parks a lot of people. NY never sleeps, was real. I enjoyed my time there. Today it looks so different to me. I hope, life goes usual, soon. Advantage: you can shoot pics nearly without ppl. Thats a rare thing. Cool Pics.
das sind tolle Eindrücke. Die Bilder sind sehr schön geworden und hoffen wir, dass wir bald zum normalen Leben zurück können. Viele Grüße aus Deutschland. Lg Melissa
Danke! Ich höre von meiner Familie, dass Deutschland schon viel mehr wiedergeöffnet hat – zumindest in Meck-Pomm, wo es kaum Coronakranke gibt. Hier wird das leider noch eine Weile dauern.
I quite enjoy taking all those photos without people – but yes, it is also weird to have a quiet City. It seems it will be several months at least before NYC is back to normal.
Thank you for your interesting article. I didn’t know there were so many bike paths in New York. I can imagine that it is much more pleasant to cycle through the city when there is not much traffic.
David from https://www.photoschmid.com/
I neither knew that there were so many bike lanes. I think they are usually almost invisible with all the car traffic. Right now it is safe and fun though to bike around.
Interessante Bilder! Es ist wirklich faszinierend zu sehen, wie sich die Welt durch Corona verändert hat. In Brüssel sind die Straßen allerdings mittlerweile fast wieder gefüllt wie vor der Krise… Dabei war es so schön entspannend, als kaum Verkehr auf dem Straßen war.
Liebe Grüße!
Das kommt auf New York ja auch irgendwann wieder zu. Nur noch sind wir nicht so weit. Ich hoffe, dass mehr Leute hier beim Fahrradfahren bleiben. Das wäre mal eine positive Entwicklung aus der blöden Situation heraus.
Wow, NYC looks kinda empty. But it is so sad what happened (and still is happening) to the city and the people there. Actually I was supposed to travel to NYC in Mid April, but due to Corona it was not possible. Would have been my first time. I hope I will get the chance again some time.
NYC was in a real bad situation. My fiance works as a hospital doctor and we both had Covid. So I am actually glad your trip was cancelled. One day you’ll come here and the City will be as amazing as it always was 🙂
So menschenleere Bilder von New York habe ich selten gesehen, aber kein Wunder momentan! Ich hoffe, dass wir Corona möglichst bald abhaken können! Es ist so traurig, wie viel Leid dieser kleine Virus verursacht hat!
Liebe Grüße
Jana
New York ist vergleichsweise leer, weil die Touristen fehlen und viele reiche Bewohner die Stadt vorübergehend verlassen haben. Jetzt scheinen wir auf einem guten Weg zu sein, aber es wird noch dauern, bis die Stadt wieder so funktionieren darf wie früher.
Wow! New York steht schon so so lange auf meiner Liste! Auch wenn es sehr “komisch” ist, aufgrund der aktuellen Situation, NY so “menschenleer” zu sehen. Sobald sich die Situation beruhigt hat und die Welt sich hoffentlich bald wieder weiterdreht, werden wir NY wieder ganz weit oben auf unsere Must-See-Liste setzen.
Liebe Grüße
Alice von http://www.alicechristina.com
Vielleicht ist die Stadt für Touristen dann auch etwas billiger. In den letzten Jahren sind die Hotelpreise unheimlich (und unangemessen) gestiegen. Ich drück euch die Daumen, dass ihr es dann herschafft 🙂