At the Houston airport on my way to New Jersey on Sunday, I suddenly realized that this trip was going to put me in very close proximity to my friend Alice, who I hadn't seen in a while. I quickly sent her a text message, and we arranged to have dinner on Tuesday.
Tuesday morning, I got another text from Alice. "I have an Idea where we should meet. Have you ever been to the High Line?"
I hadn't. The High Line is a 1-mile long linear park in New York City, built along -- get this -- a long-abandoned, defunct elevated railway. It's an amazingly beautiful pathway, filled with lush vegetation and colourful wildflowers, as well as musicians and other buskers, art installations, and some of the coolest views of the lower west side of Manhattan.
Needless to say, I was all over that.
We figured out the details, and that evening after an early dinner, we walked the length of the park.
This place is positively brilliant. I kept asking Alice, "Can you believe you live here?"
She just smiled.
If you've never been, if you're ever in New York City, you absolutely have to go. Who knew such beauty could be created from an abandoned railway?
(Related: why on Earth don't more cities do this with their own abandoned lots and railways?)
