Day 1 NYC.

My sister’s apartment is half a block west of Central Park, so that seemed as good a place as any to start my first walkabout. Walking card number 30 took me around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis reservoir. Since I didn’t do the whole walk, I have outlined the part I followed in red.

The photo at the top of this post is a panorama of the NY skyline looking from west to east across the reservoir.

Central Park is lush and green, full of walkers and runners and children and cyclists and dogs. There are large open grassy spaces with moms and kiddies and pre-school groups passing the day. And plenty of benches to eat your lunch on or spend a quiet moment. What a friendly place this seems.

Two dog walkers extraordinaire passed by, their charges behaving impeccably.

The Park is getting ready for the Global Citizen Live event featuring performers and other famous people on Saturday. If crowd control is needed as would appear from my photos, think I will give it a pass.

On my way through the Park, I found evidence of sore feet, something I sympathized with later that day with almost 20,000 steps under my belt.

This is what you get when demand for downtown housing is high and land scarce.

I exited the Park on the east side, just a few blocks from the Guggenheim Museum. If the exterior of the building is interesting, the interior is a delight. Sadly, the ramps circling the central court are closed while being prepped for a new Kandinsky exhibition. This meant that only the second and seventh floors were available for the public. While the exhibitions I saw were noteworthy, I really missed the experience of walking up the ramps.

Along Fifth Avenue is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, lovingly called The Met. I’ve been to The Met a number of times (my niece used to work there) so I gave it a pass today. I think the Museum had lots of business to keep it hopping.

My return walk to NYC West took me through Central Park again. I love the sycamore trees in the park (see below) and this sign I spotted on the way out. Tomorrow another adventure. Stay tuned!