We had only one play to see today and the weather was absolutely perfect. So we decided to ride around New York on bikes. We started off near the Chelsea Piers and decided to ride south.
A very pleasant ride down the Hudson River bikeway brought us to the financial district. We had lunch there in the shadow of the new Freedom Tower, the replacement to the World Trade Center.
We went to see the 911 monument. I found the fountain curiously unmoving. I understand the idea behind this memorial, but it just for me it lacked the emotional impact of something like Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial.
The new town certainly looks better than the old Twin Towers. Those were a eyesore from the moment they went up. This tapers slightly, and the lines create a sense of upward motion as well.
The transportation hub, designed by famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, is impressive, at least from the exterior, although I am hardly convinced it is worth the nearly four billion dollar price tag.
John and I wanted to revisit St Paul’s chapel. We had been there a couple months after the attacks and found the displays from around the country moving. It was, however, closed up pretty tightly for some unspecified renovations.
From here, we cut through the maze of streets in the old part of downtown towards the Battery. Our plan was to explore the bike path along the East River. Unfortunately, this bike path has the charm of the one along the Los Angeles River. It takes you through some pretty depressing post-industrial parts of New York, and in places it is not particularly safe. One small high point is where you get to see the Brooklyn Bridge.
Somewhere around the United Nations we cut over to the West Side and returned to Chelsea to clean up and take a nap.
In the evening, we went to see our final play of time in New York, The Color Purple. This revival is generally supposed to be much better than the original. I vaguely recalled reading the book and seeing the movie a couple decades ago. The plot seemed somewhat familiar. But most of the audience knew every world already by heart. For me, it had the feeling of being not at musical revival but a religious revival.
