Running in the Big Apple

Union Station in Washington, great example of a railway architecture
but the platforms lacked the grand halls of the European stations.

It was a quick trip.  I arrived in the morning off a direct flight from Dubai and spent most of the time in Washington in a windowless room reviewing documents.  On the upside, I caught glimpses of the Washington monument from my previous visit to these parts over 30 years ago.  I was also able to catch up with 3 colleagues from the Denver bid.  Almost 36 hours after I arrived I was a at the spectacular Union Station in Washington boarding a train to NYC. 

The experience was interesting as there was a real sense of decay through this part of the journey.  Union station building and retail areas was spectacular, the platform ordinary, the Accela high speed train was primitive, Baltimore was rusted and Penn Station in New York like something from a Scorsese film from the late 70’s.

Union station again.  It was all down hill to Penn Station in NYC on the almost fast Accela train.

My meetings in NYC were on Madison Ave, straight out of the set of Mad Men.  There is something quintessentially American about brick skyscrapers with large header tanks on the roof as was the case with RATP Dev’s offices.  I had a nice morning run along the bike path on the west side of Manhattan to the Finance District before running up Broadway through SoHo, the Village and back into Mid-town.  That evening some colleagues and I had a few beers in the slightly gritty East Village as I continued my efforts to tick off most of the areas on Manhattan without seeing any typical NYC sights (Statue of Liberty, Chrysler Building et al).

Central Park on a clear, cool and crisp morning run.

Once my work was finished I planned to spend the weekend with friends from Mumbai who had relocated to NYC and now lived on the Upper West Side. They had purchased an apartment which they had renovated and were in the process to adjusting to the many changes from India.

Pat and Milya in there newly renovated apartment.  It is a long way from Mumbai!

The weekend was busy.  A long run through Central Park on a crisp sunny morning was followed by a trip to the local Irish Pub to watch Australia vs New Zealand in the World Cup Final. I then started the shopping expedition to buy a Penny Board and an NYC shot glass for Lucy along with an electric oil burner/candle melter for Ada. Ada often wants the strangest things, once I remember Kate and I speeding a day wandering around toy stores in Berlin looking for a pogo stick! 

Just to prove I was actually there.

Skyline of the Upper East Side

The view towards Downtown

You have to love Halloween.  Here is Han Solo, towing the
Millennium Falcon with the 3 yo dressed as a wookie.  Mum was in full
Princess Leia outfit!

Even though the shopping was a failure, at least I was able to wander around the very trendy West Village including a trip to the best skateboard shop ever, Uncle Funky’s! It was Halloween, and I must have forgotten how much American’s love Halloween. 

Two weary Time Lords on the steps out front of their house

The streets were crowded in preparation for a parade and people were all dressed up trick or treating. Some had gone to extraordinary lengths!

The next morning was the NYC Marathon we studiously avoided Central Park for our run instead following the western shore of Manhattan north before cutting back through Harlem past Columbia University and back into the Upper West.  
























The shopping saga continued so it was off to Time Square to get the shot glass and a final prowl around Mid Town and the Upper West looking for the oil burner.  At this point I realized that the electric oil burner would be useless given the voltage difference. 

The view south with Manhattan on the left white on our way to run through the Bronx

I decided to cut my losses and had a long walk back past Central Park where the marathoners were finishing and the streets were crowded with middle-aged men and women wandering around in their blue Tata Consulting NYC Marathon blankets. At this point I remembered why I don’t enter big races!

All the Smurfs after the NYC Marathon