"How was the walk this year?" usually garners great answers from everyone who participates.
This year I'm imagining almost everyone of us answered the exact same way... "Hot!"Temp records in the area were broken, including 97 degrees nearby in Teterboro, NJ, and heat indexes all over New York were 100 degrees and higher.
It was hot.
I broke the first sweat just taking the starting point picture!
But- as always- there's such great camaraderie on the walk, knowing we were all in it together made it more than bearable.
We stuck to the shaded side of Broadway the entire way- the walk along Central Park certainly helped- and by the time the hottest part of the day arrived, we were walking through SoHo where the doors to the stores were wide open and flooding the sidewalk with air conditioning.
We may have taken just an extra stop or two along the way to stand in those doorways, but who was counting?
The other change to this year's walk?
Change.
For 11 years we've stopped at La Famiglia Pizza in Times Square for lunch and a break. This year as we arrived... all of us anticipating the air conditioning... we found it closed.
What to do in New York City when the corner pizza place is closed??
Um... walk to the next block where there's another great big pizza place.
This year we also found that our 10-year-running tradition of finishing the walk at Water Street Pub was over as the Pub was closed and under construction.
(we weren't devastated... to be honest, the food wasn't great to begin with..)
So we headed a few blocks over in DUMBO and had a great meal at a new place.
For me, it drove a point home.
New York changes as do we all.
That was always the point anyway.
In major ways, in almost imperceptible ways... it changes.
But it remains New York.
And every year we go to remind ourselves of that.
Its foundation is bedrock, after all...
See you next year!
Some pics...
September 11th, 2013
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| At the start, 207th and Broadway. It will be interesting to see this space get built up over the next few years... |
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| The long hill up... 193rd to 170th... all uphill. |
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| And the long hill down. 168th to 125th... all downhill. (thank goodness.) |
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| The half-way mark, where we picked up a couple more... |
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| Last year it was a giant spider... this year, the whales have inhabited the Museum of Natural History |
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| Folks lining up outside just to get down... |
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| Heading into Times Square. Don't let the picture fool you, I'm in in the middle of the street. There were the customary thousands of people sharing the walk with us whether they knew it or not... |
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| Herald Square and the great Macy's building |
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| The 'Catch Up!' point at the Flatiron Building |
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| Our customary pint at the Beeckman Pub, where some others joined us before we headed to... |
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| The entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge |
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| Lady Liberty doing her job... |
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| End of the Walk, September 11th, 2013! (and a Brooklyn Bridge facelift thrown in!) |
After the Walk...
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| The Empire State Building from underneath the bridge |
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| Liberty at night |
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| A few scoundrels considering whether or not to jump into the East River... |
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| no comment. |
