Experiencing Community in the LaGuardia Corner Gardens

The past couple of months have been busy ones, taking me away from my blog for a time as my students have required much of my time. (I’m an assistant dean at a law school, and my classes began the last week of July.) But I’ve still been exploring this wonderful city I call home, and I’ve got a stockpile of treasures I’ve discovered to share with you in the coming weeks. It was such a nice summer I’ve spent much of it outside – walking up and down streets of intriguing neighborhoods, looking for art, architecture, and other delights; hunting down the ever-renewing street art throughout the city; finding moments of quiet contemplation in public parks and community gardens; and even wandering a historic cemetery (or two).

For my first post in quite some time, I thought I’d take you to the LaGuardia Corner Gardens, located in Greenwich Village. I was walking past when the open gate drew me in, and I was glad I stopped. The garden isn’t huge, but there are several shaded spots to sit and enjoy the views.

The garden felt a little wild, and as I’ve read about it more I discovered it is intentionally so. Many plants are volunteers, growing where last year’s seeds dropped. That means a little more work to make your way through the garden, but it’s no reason to deter a visitor seeking a quiet space among the greenery and flowers. It also gave the community garden its own personality, making it a special little gem in the neighborhood that reflects the volunteers’ commitment to maintaining its character.

There were dozens of different flowers and plants throughout the garden. Here are some of my favorites.

If you look up instead of down, however, you’ll be reminded you’re in the middle of the city. These sunflowers made a fun contrast with neighboring buildings.

And then I came upon this little surprise – an heirloom tomato!

Finally, I was excited to capture this photo of a bee. So often, my bee photos turn out blurred, but this one was a success!

Want to visit the LaGuardia Corner Gardens yourself? It is located at 511 LaGuardia Place, between Bleecker and Houston Streets. The gardens are only open limited time periods – I recommend checking the Gardens’ official website, found here, for seasonal hours.

Albert Capsouto Park

Nestled in the Manhattan neighborhood of Tribeca is a small, triangular green space named Albert Capsouto Park. This park is a recent addition to the NYC park system, having opened in 2009. Despite its short history and limited size, the park has already changed names once and offers several special features.

First, the name change. When the park first opened in 2009, it was known as CaVaLa Park. The unusual name came from the park’s location, as the park’s three sides are bordered by Canal Street, Varick Street, and Laight Street. If you look closely as you explore the park, you will find the dedication plaque with the park’s original name.

In 2010, the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation renamed the park in memory of local restaurant owner Albert Capsouto, who was known for his efforts to obtain financial support for small businesses in the area after the September 11 attacks. (The park is less than a mile from the World Trade Center site, and local businesses experienced significant economic challenges in the aftermath of the tragedy.)

Now for the park’s interesting details. My favorite details are found on the large granite posts next to each of the park’s three entrances. The park’s designers installed a series of etched steel plates highlighting historical images and maps of the neighborhood around the park. (Original images are part of the collections of the New York Historical Society, New York Public Library, and the Library of Congress.)  Here are few examples of those images, which illustrate the evolution of Tribeca.

As you enter the park, you will immediately notice another feature – a long sculpture/fountain (depending on the time of year) that stretches for 114 feet. The sculptural fountain was created by NYC artist Elyn Zimmerman, and draws inspiration from the canal that used to stretch along what is now Canal Street. When I visited, the Parks Department had not yet turned the water on for Spring, but it is even more beautiful when the fountain is running. (Although there was a little standing water because of a recent rainfall, so you get a little sense of what the fountain is like when it’s running.)

And nearby there are benches and these tables, perfect for picnicking or a game of checkers or chess! (In case you can’t tell from the photo, each table has a checkerboard built in.)

Want to visit Albert Capsouto Park yourself? Take the 1, A, C, or E trains to their respective Canal Street stations. The park is just a short distance away.

Hunting Gargoyles at City College

Near Harlem in Manhattan, in a neighborhood called Manhattanville, is the City College of New York. Although City College has roots going back to the 1840s, the college didn’t move to the Manhattanville campus until 1907. You wouldn’t know it from looking at the original campus buildings though – architect George Browne Post designed them in the neo-Gothic or Collegiate Gothic style, making the campus feel much older than it actually is.

What make City College’s architecture fun are the approximately 600 grotesques. (I know – I titled this post “Hunting Gargoyles,” but as I’ve done further research I’ve learned that gargoyles are decorative waterspouts, while grotesques refer to the broader category of gothic creatures and humans.) Yesterday was such a sunny spring day that I thought it was a perfect day to hunt gargoyles – and grotesques!

Let me take you on a tour:

Want to hunt gargoyles and grotesques for yourself? Take the 1 Train uptown to the 137th Street – City College stop. It’s just a short walk from the station to the campus entrance.

A Winter Walk Through Riverside Park

During the winter, we spend so much time inside avoiding the cold weather, but this year New York City’s winter has been relatively mild. (At least until this week – right now it’s bitter cold, and we have a chance of a late blizzard on Tuesday with 12 to 18 inches of snow!) When the weather cooperates, I try to get outside as much as possible. Recently, we’ve had some really nice days, and I decided to head to a park to take a long walk. Although many people think of Central Park in Manhattan – or maybe Prospect Park in Brooklyn – when they consider New York City parks, there are many other beautiful parks. This time, I chose Riverside Park on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Riverside Park is a great choice for a long walk. The park is long and narrow, stretching along the Hudson River from 129th Street to 72 Street. There are paved trails that undulate through the trees, giving visitors multiple options and views. There are also a number of children’s playgrounds and a skate park for skateboarders. You’ll also see public monuments and sculptures  dotting the landscape periodically. (Note: These monuments follow no coherent theme, which somehow makes discovering each one even more interesting!) Because of its location, you won’t see nearly as many tourists as you’ll find in Central Park. Riverside Park is truly a neighborhood park, and you’ll see people walking their dogs, teaching their children to ride bicycles, or jogging.

Today, we are on a hunt for public monuments. Let’s see what we find as we walk almost 60 city blocks from end to end. One of the first things we come across is the General Grant National Memorial, the tomb where Civil War general and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant is buried. (We previously visited the Grant Memorial, and you can find pictures of the interior here.) We’re approaching Grant Memorial from the back side, but we’ll turn around and look at it again from the front once we go by. In the background, there’s the tower of the Riverside Church. We’ll visit it another time.

As we continue to approach Grant Memorial, I realize that the black iron fence above encloses a tree and this plaque. Here’s what the inscription says:

This tree is planted at the side of the tomb of General U.S. Grant, ex-President of the United States of America, for the purpose of commemorating his greatness by Li Hung-Chang, Guardian of the Prince, Grand Secretary of State, Earl of the First Order, Yang Yu, Envoy Extraordinary and Minter Plenipotentiary of China, Vice President of the Board of Censors, Kwang Hsu, 23rd Year, 4th Moon, May 1897.

One last view of Grant’s Memorial before we move on, as well as a photo of one of the eagles guarding the entrance:

As we continue walking, we’ll start seeing more monuments – although none are on the scale of the Grant Memorial. At 116th Street and Riverside Drive, we find this monument erected by the Women’s Health Protective Association, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary in 1909. The monument was sculpted by Bruno Louis Zimm, and it contains a drinking fountain that can be used in warmer months.

At 113th Street we notice this monument to Louis Kossuth, a key figure in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. As I researched more about this monument, I learned that it was financed by Hungarian Americans living in New York City and was originally dedicated in 1928. Unfortunately, the original monument was poorly constructed, and it had to be redone only two years later. It’s a striking monument, with Kossuth looming over a soldier and peasant below.

Next to Kossuth’s monument is this simple, modern monument to the participants in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution against that nation’s Communist government. This monument was erected only last year by the Hungarian American Memorial Committee, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the uprising, and the designer was Hungarian architect Tamás Nagy.

The round concrete platform seen above is really special. The caption reads: “Constellation of stars as symbols of hope, visible in the night sky over Budapest on October 23, 1956, when the first shots of the Revolution were fired.” (Although one news story about the monument stated that the sky was actually overcast on that night in 1956, and therefore the stars would not have actually been visible to the revolutionaries.)

Only a block further, we find this statue of Samuel J. Tilden, a governor of the State of New York during the 19th Century. Tilden’s statue was sculpted by William Ordway Partridge. (Tilden also ran for President in 1876. He won the popular vote but lost the electoral college by one vote!)

We continue walking. At 106th Street and Riverside Drive, we see a statue of General Franz Sigel. The statue’s sculptor was Karl Bitter. In my research, I found that Sigel had an interesting life. Sigel, who was born in Baden in modern Germany, fled his home country after leading an unsuccessful revolution in 1848. Eventually, Sigel came to New York City, where he was a teacher, journalist, and co-founder of the German-American Institute. Later, Sigel moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he served in the Union Army and helped protect Missouri from Confederate attack. By the end of the war, he had been promoted to Major General. After the Civil War ended, Sigel moved back to New York City and lived here until his death in 1904, serving as editor of two periodicals. I liked this photo of Sigel’s statue, but particularly the second view of his horse.

At 100th Street, we stumble upon the Firemen’s Memorial, which was dedicated in 1913. H. Van Buren Magonigle designed the monument, and artist Attilio Piccirilli created the sculptures. (The statues on either end of the monument are named “Duty” and “Sacrifice.” At the base of the monument, there is also a memorial tablet to the horses who pulled the early fire engines.

One of my favorite statues is found at 93rd Street and Riverside Drive: Joan of Arc, dedicated in 1915. Unusual for the time period, the statue is the work of a woman artist, Anna Hyatt Huntington. It’s striking from any angle.

Just four blocks south of Joan of Arc is the second largest monument in the park: the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, designed by sculptor Paul E. Duboy and architects Charles and Arthur Stoughton. Dedicated in 1902, the monument honored soldiers and sailors who fought in the Civil War.

Finally, at 76th Street and Riverside Drive, we discover the Robert Ray Hamilton Fountain. The fountain, which was designed by architectural firm Warren & Wetmore (more famous for Grand Central Terminal), was dedicated in 1906. Two things in particular make the fountain interesting. First, the fountain was intended to be a drinking fountain – for horses. And second, Robert Ray Hamilton was a great-grandson of the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Alexander Hamilton.

Well, that’s the end of today’s walk. For those who wish to visit Riverside Park in person, the closest subway lines are the 1, 2, and 3 lines. Just get off at stops between 72nd and 125th Streets, and then it’s just a short walk west to the park. (Note: Not all trains stop at every station.) If you want to see the monuments I’ve featured here, stay on the path than runs parallel to Riverside Drive, as most monuments are located along the edge of the park or in park medians that divide the roadway at various points.

Although it’s not Monday yet in the United States, it’s Monday elsewhere at this point – and so I think this is a good walk for Jo’s Monday Walks! Have you checked out Jo’s blog? If you haven’t, I know you will enjoy it.

Views of New York City on a Foggy Night

My first Finding NYC blog post, more than one and a half years ago, showed some of my favorite photos of the New York City skyline. (You can find that post here.) One of the best views of Manhattan is from Gantry Plaza State Park, along the East River in Long Island City, Queens. The park is a wonderful place to watch the sun set over the city, and the city lights at night can be magical.

Last night we went to a restaurant not far from the waterfront, and afterwards we walked down to the park to view the city. The clouds were coming in, and fog was descending. It certainly was a different view than usual! Still, even without being able to see the skyline, the city was beautiful. Would you have guessed that this is New York City?

This was definitely not the night to use the viewers – as demonstrated by my wife! Regardless, we had fun. And on a night like this, we had the park to ourselves.

The fog was not so thick that we didn’t spy the Queensboro Bridge in the distance. This is one bridge that looks better at night, when the bridge’s structure is less visible.

There are always the views of Long Island City and the gantry cranes – the fog had not obscured them yet.

Or how about this view of the Hunter’s Point Library construction site, with its unique architectural design by architect Steven Holl? I can’t wait to see the library once it’s finished!

Here’s another close-up view. Doesn’t it look intriguing?

Finally, a photo of the vintage Pepsi sign. Even with some of the neon tubes unlit, the sign still glows brightly in the dark.

(If you want to visit Gantry Plaza State Park yourself, the directions are found here, in my earlier Manhattan skyline post.)

Exploring the New York Public Library

As I’m a voracious reader and lover of books and libraries, the New York Public Library – and specifically the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building – is one of my favorite places in New York City. Although the library now has annexes all over the city, this building, which first opened to the public in 1911, is the one that most people associate with the NYPL. Today, I thought I’d take you on a tour of the library.

Here’s our view as we get ready to cross Fifth Avenue and approach the main entrance to the building. As you can see, the building is an example of Beaux-Arts architecture. Doesn’t it look promising as we approach?

As we cross the street, we see the famous library lions. Since the 1930s, they’ve been known by the names Patience and Fortitude.

During the Christmas season, the lions wear evergreen wreaths studded with pinecones and trimmed with a red bow.

On either side of the main entrance are magnificent fountains. If you look closely, you may be able to see the netting that prevents birds from perching on the statues.

Make sure you look around as we go through the entrance. The details on the huge bronze doors are incredible, and the arched ceiling of the portico is also magnificent.

We’ve entered into the grand Astor Hall. The white marble reflects the light shining through the front windows.

Here’s one of my favorite details in the entire library – a small marble plaque set into Astor Hall’s floor. The plaque remembers Martin Radtke, a Lithuanian immigrant to the United States who educated himself during regular visits to the library over the course of his life. Upon Martin’s death in 1973, the library discovered that he had left his savings to the library – $368,000 in all. How special that he has been honored in this way.

There’s so much more to see as we explore the library’s many rooms and corridors. Can you imagine sitting at one of the tables for a while, reading a book you’ve requested from one of the librarians? If you have the time, we can catch up on some news in the periodicals reading room, or explore an atlas in the Map Division reading room. And there’s so many interesting architectural details and art to experience as well. Don’t forget to look up! The ceilings display more fine craftsmanship.

Periodically throughout the hallways you may spy these lions along the wall, remnants of the original water fountain system. You can’t get a drink of water from these fountains today, but they are still fun to see.

One of the most impressive rooms in the library is the Rose Reading Room, which stretches the length of a football field. The Rose Reading Room has just reopened after a lengthy restoration process. The ceilings are beautiful in this room as well, and there are so many other interesting architectural details to explore.

Let’s not forget to head down to the ground floor. As we exit the elevator, we spy this rare artifact: a set of pay phone booths! Unsurprisingly, none of them are in use.

And then we come to the library’s Children’s Center. The entrance to the Children’s Center is guarded by lions as well, although these two are made of Lego blocks.

The Children’s Center is a magical place, with a mural of various New York City landmarks stretching around the room.

Best of all there are the original stuffed animals that inspired author A. A. Milne to write the children’s book Winnie the Pooh.

I hope that you enjoyed our tour. There are even more treasures to be discovered if you visit the New York Public Library for yourself. The library even offers free tours on a daily basis. The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building is located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, between 40th and 42nd Streets. (Yes, the building stretches the length of two city blocks – but the short blocks!)

A personal note: I wrote this post as a tribute to a wonderful friend and family member that we lost this week. Roy lived an incredible life, full of love and family adventures. His wife Rosie, my cousin, has become a close friend as we’ve collaborated on family history projects. Roy had lost his eyesight over the years, but he still participated in numerous book clubs and loved to read. He was one of those special people who are life-long learners. Somehow, writing about a library seemed like the perfect way to honor his memory as his family prepares to celebrate his life tomorrow.

A Hidden Treasure: The First Street Garden

Tucked in between two buildings on First Street on the Lower East Side is a hidden treasure: the First Street Garden. A community garden supported by the Lower East Side Girls Club, the garden is only open limited hours – but it is still worth walking by, even if you have to peep between the metal fence rails. One sign explains that the Garden was created and maintained by volunteers working with GreenThumb, an almost 40 year old NYC Parks initiative that “helps local residents transform vacant properties into attractive green spaces.”

One of the reasons why the First Street Garden is so special is that a series of murals of “women who have changed the world” have been painted on the walls on either side of the space. There’s this mural of the late journalist and social justice advocate Dorothy Day. The banner above her head reads, “All of our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy rotten system,” a quote often attributed to Day but likely not something she actually said.

Next to her is a portrait of Sojourner Truth, a 19th-century abolitionist and woman’s rights advocate.

The gate was locked on the day that I visited, but I still spied these murals of Rosa Parks, known for her role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1956, and Shirley Chisolm, a New Yorker who became the first African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. (Further down the wall was Susan B. Anthony as well.)

I also noticed this small mural of Ella Baker, a civil rights activist and human rights activist. There are numerous other small murals as well, certainly worth exploring further when the gate is unlocked.

As one sign on the wall indicated, the Garden’s participants are also engaged in an experiment in sustainable design, and bamboo and recycled materials have been used to build some interesting structures. In warmer weather, the Garden would be a wonderful place to relax and read a book for a while.

Want to visit the First Street Garden yourself? It is located on First Street between First and Second Avenues. The closest subway station is the Second Street station, which is accessible from the F train. (Additionally, an access point for the First Street Green Cultural Park is located just down the street from the First Street Garden. You’ll always find original, fresh street art there.) According to the sign on the gate, the garden is open on Friday afternoons, 4:00-6:00 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4:00 pm.

Subway Station Art: The New Second Avenue Line (Part I)

The New York City subway system doesn’t add new stations very often, but many New Yorkers have been eagerly awaiting the opening of the new Second Avenue subway line. The line, which for now only consists of three stations, has been on the drawing board for more than 100 years. It officially opened on January 1, 2017, and has increased access to Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

One exciting benefit of the opening of these three new stations is some new offerings in subway art as well. Each station is unique, and I plan to offer a tour of each one in the upcoming days. Our first tour is of the art installation at the 72nd Street station. Titled Perfect Strangers, the more than three dozen glass mosaic images by Vic Muniz celebrate the diversity of the people who live and work in the neighborhood that surrounds this subway station. As there is ongoing debate about the American president’s immigration policy, New Yorkers have stood united in the fact that we value diversity and treasure our immigrant friends, family, and neighbors. This weekend in particular, I thought that writing about artwork that emphasizes those positive values was important.

Here are some of my favorite parts of this installation. I’ve also added a few close-up views to give you a sense of the magnificent detail work. I’d love to include photos of them all, but that would make for a very long post! The glass tiles reflect a lot of light, making the images challenging to photograph.

As you look down the stairs towards the platform, you may also spy the words, “E Pluribus Unum.” The motto of the United States, this Latin phrase means “Out of many, one.”

If you’d like to see Perfect Strangers for yourself, take the Q train to 72nd Street. Most of the figures are located on the mezzanine level, but keep a sharp lookout in the areas between the street level and the mezzanine – there are more figures on every level, and tucked around a few corners as well!

Kerry James Marshall at the Met Breuer

One of the wonderful things about art is that it offers so many different perspectives of the human experience. As an art lover, I appreciate that museums in recent years have worked to make art offerings more inclusive, allowing visitors to be exposed to those different perspectives. That is one reason why one of the current exhibitions at Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Met Breuer annex excites me. The exhibition, titled Mastry, offers almost 80 works by African-American artist Kerry James Marshall. Mastry covers two full floors of the Met Breuer building, and the artwork reflects Marshall’s unique perspectives of African-American life.

I found this description, taken from the museum’s website, very appropriate: “[T]his … exhibition reveals Marshall’s practice to be a complex and compelling one that synthesizes a wide range of pictorial traditions to counter stereotypical representations of black people in society and reassert the place of the black figure within the canon of Western painting.” As I looked at the paintings, I was struck by Marshall’s choice of very dark pigment for the figures – accentuating their blackness in a compelling and beautiful way. Most paintings had multiple layers – paint, then pieces of text, advertising, photos, or other images, then more paint. The closer you look, the more symbolism and detail you’ll discover.

Here are some of my favorite paintings from the exhibition:

 

I also really liked the series of paintings contrasting the dream versus the reality of public housing projects. The paintings are known as the “Garden Project” series, as the housing projects all had the word “garden” in their names. Here are three of the paintings from the “Garden Project.”

To give you a sense of the scale of Marshall’s artwork, here is one of the paintings with museum visitors in front of it. (This one also shows how much patience I had to have in order to get the other photos I took!)

Want to see Kerry James Marshall’s Mastry for yourself? The exhibition is only open through January 29, 2017, so you’ll have to hurry. The Met Breuer is located on Madison Avenue at 75th Street. If traveling by public transportation to the museum, you can take the 4 or 6 train to the 77th Street Station. There is also a bus stop for the M1, M2, M3, and M4 buses close by.

Take a Stroll with Me Through Rockefeller Park

It’s a cold, snowy day in New York City, and I thought it was the perfect time to take you on a stroll of Rockefeller Park (albeit on a warmer, sunny Autumn day!). The park, named after former New York state governor and Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller, is often not on visitors’ radar. As you’ll see from this post, I think it really should be, as it offers a peaceful, relaxing walk with a variety of sensory experiences – the soothing sounds and sights of water, iconic views of the Statue of Liberty and interesting architecture, the stimulation of seeing wildlife, gardens, and public art. Outside of Central Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Rockefeller Park is probably my favorite outdoor space in the city.

So let’s start our tour. I usually take the subway to the World Trade Center area, near the Oculus transportation hub. Once we exit the station, we head west on Vesey Street toward the Hudson River, a walk of just a few blocks. Along the way, we pass One World Trade Center and the 9/11 Memorial, Brookfield Place (an indoor shopping center), and the Irish Hunger Memorial.

We’ve now arrived at the Hudson River, which stretches along the west side of Manhattan. We have officially entered Rockefeller Park. Here, let’s briefly turn left and walk a short distance. There are two tall, narrow sculptural columns, titled Pylons, created by sculptor Martin Puryear. (Remember Martin Puryear? He created the wonderful elephant sculpture in Madison Square Park, shown in this previous blog post.)

As we look across the water, we spy the Statue of Liberty in the distance. A little to the right is the former immigration center turned historical site and museum, Ellis Island. And further in the distance, that’s New Jersey!

Turning back and walking in the other direction, we enter the main part of Rockefeller Park. First, we discover the lily pond, the sound of the small waterfall along its one side creating a sense of zen. It’s too late in the season for water lilies, but there are some wild Mallard ducks taking a swim.

Along the edge of the lily pond, we spot this poem by Mark Strand, “The Continuous Life”:

What of the neighborhood homes awash
In a silver light, of children hunched in the bushes,
Watching the grown-ups for signs of surrender,
Signs that the irregular pleasures of moving
From day to day, of being adrift on the swell of duty,
Have run their course? O parents, confess
To your little ones the night is a long way off
And your taste for the mundane grows; tell them
Your worship of household chores has barely begun;
Describe the beauty of shovels and rakes, brooms and mops;
Say there will always be cooking and cleaning to do,
That one thing leads to another, which leads to another;
Explain that you live between two great darks, the first
With an ending, the second without one, that the luckiest
Thing is having been born, that you live in a blur
Of hours and days, months and years, and believe
It has meaning, despite the occasional fear
You are slipping away with nothing completed, nothing
To prove you existed. Tell the children to come inside,
That your search goes on for something you lost—a name,
A family album that fell from its own small matter
Into another, a piece of the dark that might have been yours,
You don’t really know. Say that each of you tries
To keep busy, learning to lean down close and hear
The careless breathing of earth and feel its available
Languor come over you, wave after wave, sending
Small tremors of love through your brief,
Undeniable selves, into your days, and beyond.

As we walk further, there are some Canadian Geese gathered on the expansive green lawn. They are probably taking a break as they make their way south for the winter. On another day, we might see many other birds, but our focus today turns in a different direction.

Coming up, The Pavilion, by artist Demetri Porphyrios, is nearby. I always find its architectural details interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the site of weddings in warmer months.

We’re coming to my favorite part of the park – an enclosed area filled with bronze sculptures by Tom Otterness. Does the style seem familiar? I’ve written about other Tom Otterness sculptures, found in the 14th Street/8th Avenue subway station, here. You can choose to view these sculptures as whimsical, or look closer to find the darker commentary on the financial system. It’s up to you. Otterness titled this collection of sculptures The Real World. Some of the sculptures are in plain sight, while others take a little closer look to discover. Here are some examples of what we find.

I love how these sculptures invite visitors to interact with them. On a busier day, I can see children playing around them, people eating their lunches next to them. Today, we catch these two visitors looking at their cell phones, as they sit next to a phone sculpture!

We still aren’t done – there are autumn flowers in the gardens to enjoy. Let’s see what we discover there.

We’re reaching the far end of the park now. Ready to take a break? We can sit a while on these benches, maybe watching the anchored boats bob in the water, or read another chapter in the book we tucked into our bag. If we squint as we look into the distance, we might even catch a glimpse of the Empire State Building!

Well, our walk is at its end for today. Thank you for joining me!

Although today is not a Monday, I think this is a good walk for Jo’s Monday Walks. Have you checked out Jo’s blog? If you haven’t, I know you will enjoy it. Unfortunately, I don’t meet the January theme for Jude’s Garden Challenge, having discussed an Autumn garden instead of a Winter one, but her blog is definitely worth checking out as well!