Ward Island
I've made a couple of trips off Manhattan lately. The first was for a walk on Ward Island, a small island with a park just west of Manhattan.
I took the tube to 102nd street where there is a steep hill outside the station (very unusual in Manhattan). It reminded me of the story of a child in Portsmouth (which is also very flat and the only incline on the island is a small hump-backed bridge going over the railway) who thought that the word for hill was 'bridge'.
Ward Island is connected by a pretty draw bridge. The centre part moves upwards to the top of the supports, which contain counter-weights a bit like in a lift.
On the island there's a park and a walk round most of the perimeter. There were some cute fluffy yellow ducklings with hissingly protective parents.
There is a wooden bridge the connects to Randall's Island park which probably would have been a more interesting walk. But there were some topless youths hanging out on the bridge and I was too nervous to pass them. It is hard to assess whether people pose a threat if you can't see their clothes.
The area under the bridge is reserved as a marine invertebrate sanctuary and there are educational signs about the supposedly teeming (but invisible) life below. It may not look like much but if you are a whelk it would no doubt seem like paradise.
I asked a passing cyclist for directions at one point and he stopped and chatted. He had a very intellectual outlook on life. An engineer, karate and kung fu black belt, married to a lecturer in Eastern philosophy, he had a wide-ranging knowledge of philosophy, politics and history, including European history and New York social history, and was also an extrovert. His mind seemed to brim over with ideas and we kept talking. In the end he got off his bicycle and walked with me all the way back to Chinatown (about a 2 hour walk) and we had one of the most interesting conversations I have had for a long time.
