A lot of what I love about living in New York City is that you don’t ever really have to plan anything to end up doing something truly great. Such was the case for us one recent Sunday. The crew and I (minus one pre-teen at the time) headed over to Riverside Park with no real plans in mind.
I know that NYC can be a pretty intimidating town, especially for those visiting for the first time. But my greatest advice to anyone planning a trip here, especially around this time of year when it’s cool outside, but not too cold, is to walk. Take a map helping you catch the train to anywhere in the city and just walk.
There is always something happening and not even the most well-informed NYer can keep track of it all. Sometimes, the fun isn’t even due to a particular event happening in town, but rather to just everyday NYers enoying the city.
On this particular day we walked into the park just as the sun was starting to set. To some this might be an indication that things are winding down. But not in my lovely city. On the contrary, people were out and about, enjoying the sights and eachother’s company.
Hudson Beach (Riverside Park 105th St entrance, lower level) was alive with activities. From the swing-a-rings, to the beach volleyball, to the crazy lady with the hoola-hoop (which eventually smacked my little one in the face unfortuantely), to bike riders, and runners, and all sorts of folks, big and small, listening to music, laughing, taking in the last few rays of light left.
There are also tennis courts, a very mall playground, and not too far away along the path there is also a skateboarding park. But we just walked and people watched. We sat on the long steps of the park, enjoyed our refreshment as the sun finally hid behind the NJ/Hudson hirizon, leaving us feeling happy to have experienced it all.
For those of us who live here, it is days like these the best represent the true NYC Moment. So take a break from all the other awesome stuff, and slow down to dig your feet in the sand and watch the sunset in Riverside Park and discover yet another reason why we love this city so much.
Para este blog en Español, escuchen mi segmento “A NYC Moment” en Cinch!
