Just One More Reason to (Heart) NYC

We finally got down to visit the Highline, a new park that is up on an abandoned elevated train track in Chelsea, my old and beloved neighborhood. I can't count how many times I've gone under those tracks, always kind of pathetically race-walking to avoid the fat, random drips of water and (worse) pigeon poop. So, wow, what an amazing thing it is see how different the city and all those familiar places look when you are just a couple of stories above it all. They did all these plantings of native flowers and grasses, and played up the old railroad tracks in utterly simple and fantastic ways. I'm smitten. (We went back three times in four days. The last time was with my cousin Kev, when he visited, but bad blogger me did not have my camera that day.)

What I love most, I think, is how varied the vistas are as you walk along. There's Phillips auction house, which makes the most of its Highline-side real estate by displaying a batch of contemporary art to be auctioned off, and then there's also a stretch that borders some sculptor's moldy old backyard, which is filled with towering stacks of removed insulation, a very sad looking Statue of Liberty replica, and some other junk. I'm sure that'll change - probably just as soon as that guy's landlord figures out how to shoehorn him out - but for now it's a little slice of life up there.