I love Hudson River Park. Do you know it? It's New York City's little secret. It's the Big Apple place to go away from cityness. It's a place to go if you seek a horizontal refuge from Manhattan's vertical forest.
I discovered it only a couple of years ago, but knowing of it improved my life ten-fold in an instant.
I live on Mulberry Street, roughly where Houston Street bisects Manhattan Island. It's nothing for me—an almost daily bicycle commuter—to get over to this park, which runs just about the full extent of Manhattan Island along the eastern side of the Hudson River.
At about Christopher Street, there's a long pier (PIER 45) that has been brilliantly landscaped. Serene, uncluttered, soft, quiet; these are the words that describe this pier. I call it my pier. It's my place to re-group.
Often, I just go over there to put myself in a different state of mind away from the pressures of my life. I can focus and plan and sort and think creatively. I usually have my Olympus voice recorder with me, so I can, if I choose, to make a diary entry/sound file. More than a few times much of my sound file ends up being a soliloquy on the beautiful expansive view before me. It's so inspiring.
I particularly like going to this pier when there are only a few people on it: This means going either very early in the morning or during inclement weather. I remember more than once being out in the rain or snow or cold and having the entire pier to myself.
For someone who has lived in big cities for nearly 35 years, I suppose it is somewhat of a confession when I say that I like to get away from it all at times. Suburbanites who hear me complain about the noise and congestion of city life just look at me and say, So, why do you live in the city if these things bother you? Unfair, I say.
Anyway, I write about Hudson River Park—and Pier 45 in particular—in this blog because I believe it is a perfect place for Spartanista Vegans to meet.
