The Highline

Today I found my favorite spot in New York. Throughout the summer there have been multiple vying for the top placement, from the shaded benches by Washington Square Park where I can hear the jazz band play to the stone steps of Union Square where the skaters come at night to the boat pond at Central Park where you can sit on a hill and watch the soothing sails of the boats below you. These were the parks that were in the running. Then there were the other not so conventional spots such as the dark corner of The Grey Dog where you can get the best grilled cheese in New York or the cool second floor lounge of Rubin where I can sit in the a.c. and chat with friends. But no, while all of these are great and wonderful and special in their own ways- my ultimate favorite spot in the city was discovered today.

The Highline.

Converted from an old elevated railway station, the Highline runs along the lower west side of Manhattan from Gansevort (right below 12th street) to 20th street, but will eventually run the entire length of the southernmost part of the rail from Gansevort to the West Side Yard in Chelsea. The railway was abandoned in 1980 and throughout the years tough wild grasses, shrubbery, and trees began to build up between the rail slats. In 2004 city funding was portioned out for reconstruction of the line to a park and in October of 2009 the Highline was officially opened for public use. Preserving many of the natural plants that had sprung up the Highline was turned into an elevated garden of sorts, with wooden and rock pathways running from end to end amidst wildflowers and all sorts of beautiful plants. All sizes and lengths of benches are spotted intermittently throughout the Highline and resting on those seats are as many a variety of people as I've seen anywhere else in the city, from artists and poets to tourists, families and lovers. Nestled in between the Hudson River and the Meatpacking District up to Chelsea, the Highline offers a unique view of New York. Above the city, you can truly see the beauty of its architecture that is sometimes lost when you are among the buildings themselves. With the river on one side and the city on the other it is possible to see how New York isn't fighting against nature even if it is built out of "neon and chrome". It is actually possible that New York with its skyskrapers and towering buildings is an extension of nature. An island of metal littered with beautiful parks and surrounded by waters of a deep heavy blue the city itself is a work of art. And the Highline allows you to see and realize this. It is a soft spot in a town of rough angles and raw edges. And it is without a doubt, my favorite place.

After discovering it today, I bought some delicious gelato (my first since Italy) and stretched out on one of the warm curved wooden benches and thought back to a marvelous weekend.

Saturday, K and I ventured uptown to MOMA because we discovered it was something we both need to check off our lists. She is one of the best people to visit a museum with. Not only did she remind me of student tickets, she then asked if it was cool if we wandered the museum on our own and met up at a certain time. I've never been brave enough to ask people I go to museums with this same question, but I loved her for it. I've always felt that going through a museum with someone was a bit like having them read over your shoulder, an awkward uncomfortable feeling where you aren't sure if you should mention what you know about this certain artist or the technique that was used in that specific painting and hate that you feel hurried in the women photographer's room because they seem really enthused about getting to the Jackson Pollock exhibit. So getting to go through MOMA on my own was an unrequested but appreciated treat. There was so much to see I could hardly breathe, and I hate feeling rushed in museums so I granted myself time to see it all- from Andy Warhol's soup cans to Helen Levitt's photos of New York to Van Gogh's "Starry Night"- the musuem, just like all museums, contained to much for me to take in and ponder over in one day, but no worries I have a lifetime to come back and see more, and the exhibits change so often that there will always be something new to consider and fall in love with.

Then Saturday night I headed uptown for a fun night with E and M. I really love being old enough to not be the "6-years-younger" baby sister any more. I mean obviously nothing I do can catch me up those 6 years, but as I get older the differences between M and I shift and change to much more relatable things. It's no longer, I'm thirteen and have braces and she is nineteen and has rush, but problems and trials and joys that seem so less distant than they did at thirteen. And its a comfort to know that the more I grow the smaller that distance will become.

Come Sunday there was lunch and church and 7-11 free slurpie searching with two new friends, G and E, and Shutter Island movie night in the lounge and one more night spent on a cool couch. And before I discovered the Highline today, I went to lunch with a sweet college friend Marion, and her dad and sister.

And just now I got back from the cafeteria and running into J, J, and W (my friends I made Friday!) and from the sounds outside my window it sounds as if New York is in for a storm and I don't think thunder and lightning and rain has ever been more welcome than this moment. There's something magical about a summer storm, and I haven't had one yet.

Here's to hoping there's a storm.

-Mandy