We had lunch in Chelsea after getting a late start and getting caught in the rain. It worked out well that we had slept late because it was so rainy that morning.
We headed to the Upper East Side. Lenox Hill is part of the UES and was our first stop. It was very business like and fast paced, sort of what you think of when you think of career people in New York.
Upper East Side. It's strange because some of the apartments in the Manhattan neighborhoods I thought were more affluent are more affordable than the ones in the more diverse, rapidly gentrifying, community feeling Brooklyn neighborhood we loved (where gun violence still isn't unheard of). This city is sort of an anomaly, it seems.
Peyton goes: "look, this is great...that one has nice lighting". He meant the flippin chandelier. Dude, really?
I wasn't a big fan.
Peyton: 5/10 for safety and affordability, but loud
SD: 3/10 because it was very loud and overwhelming and it felt so business like
Our next stop was Yorkville. It was better. We stopped at a park by the river and visited with a few nannies. They were sweet and basically said that there were some nice people in the area, but a lot of snooty ones, too (they were more diplomatic than that, of course!). We also stopped in a grocery store for a bit.
This ain't your Kroger's olive bar!
Yorkville was definitely a step up from Lenox Hill, but it still wasn't my favorite at all!
Peyton: 6/10 for affordability, safety and accessibility; but lacked cohesive community
SD: 5/10 because it was family friendly, but not very diverse and I felt like it had aspects about it that were a little pretentious
It was late afternoon at this point and we took the subway to Harlem next. We got out and I was a little nervous. We walked around Central Park, which was fine, and then went further into Harlem and I got more nervous. There was just a lot of graffiti and a lot of people sort of hanging around on the corners and more housing projects. We made our way back toward the park that borders it and Morningside Heights and visited with a super sweet older black man and his granddaughter. He told us some about the area and I got a better feeling about where we were. Michela, the little girl, was SO smart and kept telling me a lot about leaves and insects and stuff (she told me science was her favorite subject). I ended up finding out that her grandmother homeschools her and I thought that was so cool! She was so adorable and SO articulate. We also talked to a (for what it's worth, young white) couple with a baby in the grocery store. We decided we needed more time in Harlem.
We walked through the Upper West Side a bit and then came back to the room. On the way back we ran into a drunk guy (like he literally bumped into us) who was having "partner issues" and kept using the word "existential". He was interesting. He talked about everything from his status in the city to race relations and what it was like to be a black man (and a gay man). Whew!
The Upper West Side seemed like an easy, safe area. Maybe not edgy enough, though.
7/10 for safety, amenities and diversity in some areas
SD: 7/10 for safety, and accessibility; however there was a lack of a community feel
Peyton got a shower and went back to the UWS for more scouting and I stayed in a chilled out and wrote a blog post and such.
These little people had a great day playing with Peyton's parents and picnicing with their cousins!
No comments:
Post a Comment