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"...
...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
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.
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.
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