Since the weather is so much warmer I have been walking to and from work pretty much every day. It's about 30 minutes, 25 blocks, and a nice way to wake up/wind down and squeeze in incidental exercise.
This morning I noticed daffodil and tulip flowers bursting from their buds, which made me happy. The planters around the city are going to be yellow, purple and red beacons of colour in a matter of weeks. Green buds are visible on the trees too and the air feels lighter.
Depending on my mood I have four ways to walk home. I can do the straight shot down 6th Ave, which takes me past Macy's at Herald Square and a whole bunch of cheap wholesale jewellery stores on the edge of the garment district.
Or I can take 5th Ave and pass the Empire State Building, hit the Flatiron Building (above, at dusk) at Madison Square and walk past all the chain clothing stores (BCBG, Gap, JCrew, Banana Republic, Anthropologie, Club Monaco, H&M, Intermix) and check out what's on sale.
Or I can start off down 7th Ave at Times Square, pass Penn Station mayhem and the Fashion Institute, swing by a supermarket in Chelsea to pick up dinner or breakfast things.
Finally I can go diagonal on Broadway, which takes me through ripoff handbag central and the grimier parts of the fashion district, via all the squares, and cut back at W23rd to 6th.
And when I have to cut through to 6th Ave I usually do a zig zag, so I end up on a different street each time. There are still streets I wander down and realise I've never been down it before. What, a tapas joint just two blocks away? What's this beer and chicken shop within 5 minutes walk? Three enormous stationery stores in a three block radius? Who knew?
I never know which way I'm going to go until I head out the door.
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