| Visitors to New York check out the main attractions, | | | | give way to you. (I've not been hit once in 30 years!) |
| like Times Square, the Statute of Liberty, Rockefeller | | | | Then double back into Grand Central. Find the |
| Plaza and Broadway, but there's so much more to | | | | downtown entrance from Grand Central (from the |
| experience in Manhattan! Manhattan is made up of | | | | open area go to your left and follow the corridor |
| neighborhoods, each with its own identity and culture | | | | downtown). Here you'll face Park Avenue South which |
| and excitement. Explore Manhattan by walking -- you | | | | goes toward Greenwich Village. Across 42nd Street is |
| can take the subway or a cab to the area, but be | | | | a restaurant, and Park Avenue is on either side. A |
| sure to walk once you're there, so pack your | | | | couple of blocks downtown from Grand Central is the |
| comfortable walking shoes! | | | | Murray Hill area, a quaint and elegant neighborhood -- |
| The Grand Central Station area is a perfect example. | | | | reminiscent of areas of London. There are stately |
| To begin with everyone must experience the | | | | townhouses (brownstones in Manhattan parlance) |
| cavernous Grand Central train station with its 2-story | | | | alongside apartment buildings. You might be a block or |
| windows on each side and gigantic domed ceiling, | | | | two from the commercial areas of Manhattan but you |
| complete with drawings of star maps. Don't hesitate to | | | | feel far removed! |
| look up, but be prepared to dodge the scurrying | | | | East of Grand Central, "toward the East River" for |
| workers busy on their errands -- time is of the | | | | natives, brings you to the UN area, with many |
| essence for them -- and they'll walk right over you! If | | | | newly-constructed apartment buildings, and a consulate |
| you have the time, check out the lower level which | | | | here and there. But, on your walking tour, be sure to |
| has a number of restaurants and oh, so cool, deep | | | | check out Tudor City which is downtown from 42nd |
| leather chairs in the center, and, of course, the famous | | | | Street between First and Second (that's First Avenue, |
| Oyster Bar. The Oyster Bar has the best seafood in | | | | but NYers never add the Avenue). Tudor City is a |
| the area, but the attraction is the ambiance: tiled walls | | | | collection of brick apartment buildings built 2 stories |
| and a high ceiling, and the feeling of eating in a | | | | above the street. It's an enclave all to its own, with |
| restaurant eons ago in an old-fashioned train station. | | | | wrought iron fences setting it off from the rest of the |
| Grand Central Station, which is found at 42nd Street | | | | busy Manhattan world. Walk around and feel as if |
| and Park Avenue, is home to both subways and the | | | | you've stepped into a different time era! |
| commuter railroad, MetroNorth, which goes "upstate" to | | | | Walk up First [Avenue] to 50th Street, and there's a |
| Westchester County and Connecticut. But did you | | | | whole new unique neighborhood. Here, you'll find the |
| know that Grand Central sits right in the middle of Park | | | | Sutton Place neighborhood, and you can feel the |
| Avenue? Park Avenue has a narrow, go-around | | | | wealth of times past. There's a lot of building being |
| elevated street that circumvents the Station, but the | | | | done here and razing of the older buildings, but the old |
| wide Avenue itself stops at 46th Street and begins | | | | upper-class, moneyed elite air still remains, with an art |
| again at 42nd Street. Can't tell you how many times a | | | | deco building here and there. And intermixed here and |
| bewildered tourist stopped me and asked what | | | | there are the 5th floor walk-ups -- how do any of |
| happened to Park Avenue and how do I get to Park | | | | these tenants walk up with bags of groceries?? |
| and 50th Street? | | | | And, if your feet allow, walk down 53rd Street toward |
| Ok, here's your exploring-Manhattan exercise: Go up | | | | Third [Avenue] and enter into the Citicorp Atrium to chill |
| the escalators from the Station. Here you're in the | | | | out. There's a number of food choices, both fast food |
| walkway through the 200 Park Avenue building and | | | | and sit down, and you just might be lucky enough to |
| continue walking uptown. (There's no north, nor any | | | | be there when live piano music echoes from the |
| directions in Manhattan; there's only uptown and | | | | multi-story open area. Here you are, two blocks from |
| downtown and toward the Hudson River or the East | | | | Sutton Place, and you're back into the commercial |
| River.) From 200 Park Avenue go across the street to | | | | area and the 21st Century. Leave on the Lexington |
| 230 Park Avenue and continue through the building in | | | | side, walk a block to Park [Avenue]. Face downtown |
| the Art Deco tunnels and walking out again into the | | | | and walk back to Grand Central toward the 230 Park |
| wide and bright main thoroughfare of Park Avenue. | | | | building at the end of the Avenue, savorying the bustle |
| This is a busy business section of Manhattan -- watch | | | | of NY's commercial area, and just imagine if the |
| out for the taxis and the black Town Car radio cars! | | | | people you pass are lawyers, bankers or into real |
| They move to turn no matter if people are in the | | | | estate. If you're lucky enough to be there in December, |
| crosswalk; but it's just a game to them, and act like a | | | | enjoy the chill in the air and anticipate the Christmas |
| New Yorker and continue walking, and they always | | | | spirit with the holiday lights brightening Park Avenue. |