The High Line

This is actually at the end of the High Line. The High Line is an old elevated railtrack that has been renovated to become a linear park and walking trail. There have been alot of plants and vegetation put in, so much so that there are three gardeners employed full time. After much buzz, the High Line opened about three months ago. It is opening in stages and only the first, 1 1/2 mile stage has been completed.
















This is at the beginning of the High Line when one comes up the stairs from the ground level. Notice the architectural detailing on the left where the concrete resembles railroad tracks. (Love it!) The picture on the right is The Standard Hotel which one walks under when on the High Line. The architecture makes it look like something from the 1960s but it was specifically to cantilever over the High Line. In advertising, the Standard's slogan has been "You show us yours, we'll show you ours." Cute.

The Jane Hotel &"The Mansion" where I stayed in NYC

The first half of my vacation I stayed at the Jane Hotel. The room was quite small but the bathrooms were awesome (the best of anyplace I have stayed in NYC) and the showers had the rain shower heads. The place was a little out of the way but near the High Line (stunning pictures to follow). The hotel had an "energy saving" measure which was a small brass rod that went into a hole in the wall that turned everything (lights, electricity, the fan) on simultaneously. It was OK except there wasn't a way to turn the fan off while watching TV or blogging so it could get cold and the sound was irritating.

The Mansion was resplendent in history..From The House of the Redeemer website,
The House at 7 East 95^th Street was built between 1914 and 1916 to serve as the town residence of Edith Shepard Fabbri, a great granddaughter of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, and her husband, Ernesto Fabbri, an associate of J. Pierpont Morgan...The House was designated a New York City Landmark in 1974, and is considered by many architectural historians to be one of the most distinguished examples of early 20^th century residential architecture in New York City.

I had a 4th floor servant quarter room (very big room), I also had the choice of 3 bathrooms. It was very quiet and nice, I could come and go as I pleased. It was right in the middle of the museum district and Sunday I scored free admission to the Smithsonian Design Museum (Andrew Carnegie's old mansion) and visited the Ukrainian Institute (the last home of Peter Stuyvesant's last direct descendants, another old mansion). I didn't take a picture of the inside but these are two shots of the outside.

The first pictures are of the inside of my room at the Jane Hotel. My belongings are on the single bed w/ the TV above it, the free water bottle is on the shelf.

Moving day to The Mansion

So today I packed up my stuff at the Jane Hotel and moved "The Mansion" aka House of Our Redeemer (it will now be known as the "The Mansion", since my father thinks House of Our Redeemer sounds too C Street). I got there and the lady who is the manager (?) showed me around. The elevator is one of those that you have to open and shut the door (I hate those!), its the original elevator from 1907. It has no memory chip, which basically means that if you are going to the fourth floor (where my room is located) and someone presses the button on the 1st floor it changes direction and goes back to the 1st floor.
So I was like, "No problem I'll take the stairs". The lady was like "O.K", so we were already on the fourth floor and she showed me where the stairs were...I think the stairs from the fourth to the second floor were for servants only...let me tell you if I was a servant, I would have revolted! The stairs were twisty turny w/ no hand rail on the left side and I had on my slippy black shoes. It was terrible! ...the stairs were different shapes and the stairwell was very narrow.So after managing to maneuver down it, I got to the door that opens to the second floor regular stairs and the doorknob isn't like a regular doorknob, its more like a drawer pull embedded into the door and I am pulling and pulling, its not opening! I was thinking "There is no way I am going all the way up those stairs again." But then a guest came behind me and showed me that you have to twist and pull. After we got to the second floor I went into the chapel and said a prayer and then went to see the manager and told her I changed my mind about the elevator. She showed me how to work it again. So say a prayer.

ice cream fix

I would really like to get some ice cream while I am here but it seems like ice cream and I can't seem to make time for each other on our schedules...I went by a PinkBerry at around 11:15 am, they didn't open till 12:30 pm. The Tasti-D-lite only accepted cash, I didn't have any. The gelato place in the Chelsea market (love, love this place) wasn't open this morning. Hopefully I will score an ice cream hit soon.

Here are some photos from my Amtrak trip. Today I did a lot of walking around, some shopping. Ate the perfect pain du matin muffin at Sarabeth bakery, served w/ a side of attitude. Had an overpriced cocktail at the hotel bar, something w/ Hibiscus syrup in it.



This was the old passenger train station in Buffalo. It was disheartening to see all the abandoned factories and other relics left behind by America's post industrial contraction in manufacturing.
This is the current Amtrak station... smaller and more practical, but not the same in terms of glamour. After Buffalo we continued into a part of New York called the Mohawk valley that was small towns and beautiful scenery.

Made it to NYC

Got in a few hours ago. Totally wiped from not getting enough sleep on the train. The front desk suggested an inexpensive diner but it looked depressing, the only people in there were cops, so I chose a Mexican restaurant. The food must have been made by Bhutanese elves wearing organic cashmere who swill Grand Marnier in their spare time it was so expensive. Found the entrance to High Line though.

The beginning...

The beginning was a little late to began. I am taking Amtrak from Dallas to Chicago and then from Chicago to New York. The train was supposed to leave Dallas at 3:40 pm, we left at 7:40 pm. When the lady at the counter in Dallas told me it was going to be late I just laughed, b/c what can you do?
It wasn't light again until well into Missouri, but there were two highlights from the first night. Mineola TX has the coolest restored train station...it been redone to highlight its historic roots including its yellow chrome looking waiting benches. The station is illuminated in small white Christmas like lights. The other highlight was seeing the capitol dome in Little Rock lit up at 2am in the morning (never been there before). Without further ado my lame pictures from St. Louis (this cheap camera doesn't take pictures very well from a moving train)
This is Busch Stadium before we pulled into the St. Louis Amtrak Station.

This after leaving St.Louis, looking back at downtown in the distance while going over the Mississippi. The arch is in the middle of the photo. St Louis is a little gritty.