Birds of Inwood - Visit Teri's new blog about birds!

Birds of Inwood - Visit Teri's new blog about birds!
A visual journey exploring the birds of Inwood and Northern Manhattan

Pictures from 70 Days of Walks: Days 29 - 35

This post is the fifth in a ten-part series titled Pictures from 70 Days of Walks. To recap: The idea is to take a walk of 2.5 miles every day for ten weeks, observe the sights along the walk, take a picture, and maintain a photo diary of the walks. Why? Since the typical New Year's resolution to get in shape often fails, usually within the first weeks of January, the resolution may take something else to make it interesting. Exploring the neighborhood and city makes the plan potentially more exciting.

Grand Central Terminal
Day 29. Grand Central Terminal is a good place for indoor walking. On this day, a film crew was shooting a commercial. 

Let the spirit of adventure take charge. Sometimes, just getting out of the house or apartment and into fresh air may be enough. The fitness goals will take care of themselves. Modest weight loss should ensue, provided the walks are accompanied by some concerted effort to control pastry and/or beer consumption. The sorry truth is that walking doesn't burn as many calories as cross-country skiing or running, so it's necessary to reign in the baguettes.

Central Park
Day 30. Central Park, near the southeast corner. Frozen, timeless.

Even if the weight or fitness goals fall short of expectation, you can still get out of this the memory of new adventures and a meaningful visual diary.

Cargo Cafe, Staten Island
Day 31. Now we're getting somewhere. After a trip on the Staten Island Ferry, a walk on Bay Street in Staten Island
turned up sad and silly clowns on the facade of Cargo Cafe. Notice the winter sky and bridge in the window reflections.



This series may turn out to be a snow and ice diary. January 2011 was the snowiest month in New York history. According to several news reports, 56 inches of snow has been recorded at Central Park so far this winter. 22 inches of snow is the seasonal average. And it's just the beginning of February.

SoHo, Chanel store, winter
Day 32. Ballad of the sad night walker in SoHo. View of the Chanel store.

Last week, we were noticing the Hopper light (after the paintings of Edward Hopper) in the urban landscape. This week, it's color. The ice island of Manhattan has started to look like a black and white movie, as you'll see in a couple of these photos.

Greene Street, SoHo, night
Day 33. More window shopping in SoHo, early evening. A pleasant orange glow from Hugo Boss.

Because of weather conditions, on a couple of days it made sense to walk at night. Window shopping in SoHo seemed like a good idea. Walking at night involves a different set of perceptual skills than during the day. Artificial illumination and neon signs mark the way forward.

Perry Street, Bleecker
Day 34. Blue tile archway in house on Perry Street, near intersection with Bleecker. Greenwich Village. 

Walking through the Central Park Zoo and then strolling down Park Avenue to see the installation of roses definitely served as the highlights for the week. A few adventures spoke to the need to escape the ice island of Manhattan, while other walks served more mundane purposes like buying groceries.

chili wreath, Bedford St., Greenwich Village
Day 35. Thank you, person of Bedford Street, for putting this chili wreath on your gate.
Gorgeous, and a sign of warmer times to come.

We're now halfway through this plan. Am I in better shape? Yes. My clothes fit better. But you know what's even better? Of course you do. It's watching two polar bears taking a nap.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from January 29 - February 4, 2011. See many more from this week in this set on Flickr WOTBA.


Posts in this series:


• Pictures from 70 Days of Walks: Days 1-7 (posted January 8, 2011)
• Pictures from 70 Days of Walks: Days 8-14 (posted January 15, 2011)
• Pictures from 70 Days of Walks: Days 15-21 (posted January 22, 2011)
• Pictures from 70 Days of Walks: Days 22-28 (posted January 29, 2011)
• Pictures from 70 Days of Walks: Days 29-35 (posted February 5, 2011)
• Pictures from 70 Days of Walks: Days 36-42 (posted February 12, 2011)
• Pictures from 70 Days of Walks: Days 43-49 (posted February 19, 2011)
• Pictures from 70 Days of Walks: Days 50-56 (posted February 26, 2011)
• Pictures from 70 Days of Walks: Days 57-63 (posted March 6, 2011)
• Pictures from 70 Days of Walks: Days 64-70 (posted March 12, 2011)

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