Through The Mists of Time (Second Leg of East River Stroll, Second Chapter)

Though it's only been two months since my last posting, it feels like a lifetime.  I left you all somewhere around 18th Sreet...in the time between, I've been to Italy and back, and today (at the very end of November) did the Third Leg of our East River Walk.   Though much chillier than our last stroll at the end of September, it was another bright blue-sky and sunshine kind of day...likely the last one we're going to have for quite a while.  With the sun beating on our bods as we walked from 60th to 96th Streets, mostly right along the river, I realized that I had to "rewind in my mind" so that I could bring you all "up to speed" and have you caught up with our trek along the East River (and FDR Drive) from the Manhattan Bridge to the very top of the island.

The walk from 14th to 23rd Streets was a mixture of narrow paths with fencing along the river to keep pedestrians away from city and Con Ed buildings, and some small but welcome patches of green. 

I have to note that we were seeing quite a few more people making the East River Walkway their home (even more the farther up the walk we went)...much more so than were spied on the West Side.   Another thought that would come back to us again and again is how much homogeneous our fellow strollers, bikers, runners were on this side of the city (largely Asian closer to Chinatown, many more young "punker" types on the Lower East Side and, as we kept walking farther uptown -- getting closer to midtown Manhattan -- much more middle- and upper-middle class white and African American).   Of course, for every theory, there are exceptions that shatter the rules, like these fisher-people and local "eccentrics"...

                                                                                In the high teens, the path became more dense with foliage...

...and we moved into an educational stretch of the path, where strategically-placed signs along the shoreline's railing delved into the history of this part of the waterfront, including what was across the water

(Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Long Island City).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Sacajawea's Indian Guide instincts kicked into high gear (again) and she couldn't resist pointing out some of the finer points of far shoreline to the Old Guy.

We also learned a few things about one of our favorite foods...the humble oyster and it's place in the history of our fair city and the East River (though I doubt there are many eatable crustaceans coming out of those waters these days, no matter how much cleaner Riverkeepers says the water is).

Would love some oysters right now...I'm thinking Malpeques, Welfleet and my personal favorites, Belon.  I'm more a fan of West Coast, followed by Nova Scotia oysters (love European oysters, but they're very hard to find here, even at the fabled Oyster Bar, where I actually did partake of many yummy oysters not too long after this leg of the walk concluded).  Also just tried the recently relocated and reopened The John Dorey -- small, but very tasty, oyster selection.   Restaurant decor isn't quite as underseas "fantastical" as in it's original location on Tenth Avenue, next door to Mario Batali's Del Posto in the meatpacking district, but it's much more open and airy now that it's right next door to The Breslin on the new "hot" stretch of Broadway, around 30th Street.  Have I mentioned before that one of the world's great food/drink pairings is Guinness Stout and Oysters that have just been pulled out of Galway Bay, served at Moran's Oyster House near Galway City in Ireland?   Heavenly...and I don't even like beer all that much!

With her scout juices flowing, Sac had to take one last look at the map of our route, though it was pretty straightforward...

We resumed our stroll up-river, receiving more education on local flora and fauna as we started walking through Stuyvesant Cove Park.  

Sty-town and Peter Cooper Village had been to our left side, just across the FDR Drive, for the better part of our walk from around 14th to 23rd Streets.   This little stretch of park along the rive was yet another "homage" to Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director-General of New Amsterdam (aka New York).  Those nearly impossible to rent apartments make up one of the largest and most successful post-World War II private housing communities.  Built in 1947, they are -- unfortunately -- the model for later, must less well-crafted housing developments that sprung up all over New York through the 1950s and 1960s.   They were the dreaded "projects" as my mother and most of her generation called them...and they were pretty unattractive in all their brick sameness.  However, Stuy-town was better planned than most, with an abundance of green space and a real "park-like" atmosphere.  I remember being in an apartment there once (lived in by a "friend of a friend" who was having a party).  I don't recall it all that well, but do remember a spacious about it, especially for an apartment in an older building.   This little park was a pretty pastiche of flowers and shrubs, even as fall was starting to make its cool appearance.

Just past this greenery, we came to a mass of cemented path that had been colored with either chalk or paint...

...leading to the 23rd Street Boat Basin.

Which is where we'll start the next chapter of our stroll.