A few hours in NYC

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After a surprisingly restful night in our tiny, but very expensive, JFK hotel room, we took an Uber into Manhattan, and got dropped off at Schwartz Luggage Storage, the only place to leave luggage near Grand Central Station. The business is less than bare bones, and not the cleanest place in the world, but the employee was pleasant, and the prices reasonable...

From the storage place, we walked to Times Square, and then down to the entrance of the Highline. As it was a warm sunny Saturday the park was crowded, but still pleasant. There is a huge development going in next the entrance:

Hudson Yards is the largest private real estate development in the history of the United States and the largest development in New York City since Rockefeller Center. The site will include more than 18 million square feet of commercial and residential space, state-of-the-art office towers, more than 100 shops including New York’s first Neiman Marcus, and a collection of restaurants curated by Chef Thomas Keller. The urban development will include approximately 4,000 residences, The Shed, a new center for artistic invention, 14 acres of public open space, a 750-seat public school and a luxury hotel with more than 200 rooms.

The Highline is a beautiful public space: Owned by the City of New York, the High Line is a public park maintained, operated, and programmed by Friends of the High Line, in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. A revolutionary public space and urban revitalization project, the High Line is an ambling plant-lined elevated parkway converted from a long-abandoned freight line snaking above the west side of Manhattan. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the 1.5-mile parkway, which sits 30 feet above street level, wraps around Hudson Yards, catalyzing exciting new development along its way. It has received more than $190 million in public and private funding to date and is one of the world’s most successful urban revitalization projects.

We strolled the whole length of the park and back, and then walked back to get our bags, and dragged them to the lovely Grand Central Terminal, where we caught a train to Old Saybrook, Connecticut. We were picked up by my mom and step-dad, and after going out for dinner, we went to their home and fell into bed!

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Photos

Ogre's lair
Note the barricades in front...

Luggage storage
Schwartz's...the only place left near Grand Central to leave your bags...very minimal infrastructure...!

The Hudson Yards Project construction
Vessel – created by Thomas Heatherwick and Heatherwick Studio, one of the world’s foremost design visionaries, and Heatherwick Studio, is a new kind of public landmark: engaging and interactive, meant to be climbed and explored. Comprised of 154 intricately interconnecting flights of stairs—almost 2,500 individual steps— and 80 landings, Vessel will lift the public up, offering a multitude of ways to engage with and experience New York, Hudson Yards and each other. In total, Vessel will offer a mile’s worth of pathway rising up above the Gardens.
Influenced by Indian stepwells, made from hundreds of flights of stairs going down into the ground, the dramatic design of Vessel creates a stage set for New Yorkers and visitors from around the world: geometric lattice of intersecting flights of stairs, whose form rises from a base that is 50 feet in diameter that widens at the top to 150 feet. It is constructed of a structural painted steel frame, its underside surfaces covered by a polished copper-colored steel skin.

The Hudson Yards Project construction
Opening in spring 2019, The Shed will be New York’s first multi-arts center designed to commission, produce, and present all types of performing arts, visual arts, and popular culture. Driven by experimentation, innovation, and collaboration, The Shed will be a center for artistic invention bringing together leading artists working in every art form with leading minds in the humanities and sciences. The Shed’s most notable design feature is a telescoping outer shell that deploys over the plaza adjoining the building to provide a 120-foot-high, temperature-controlled hall. As the building expands and contracts, it can work in many configurations, welcoming multiple events simultaneously. When the shell is nested over the fixed building, the 17,000-square-foot plaza will be open public space that can be used for outside programming.

The Highline
This is the vegetation that naturally grew on the abandoned railway line..

The Highline
Hudson Yards in the background, with the "Vessel" to left of Bill's head...

Along the Highline
This apartment building will have glass encased bathrooms, with a tub in the front, looking over the park!!!

The Highline
The crowds!

The Highline
More of the crowds...the grassy area is open in the summer for picnicking and sunbathing...

You are Welcome Here
A beautiful welcome to everyone, from the Friends of the Highline....

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[Doug Beebe]

He is our president