5th Ave Between 72nd St and 70th St

Living on the edge of Central Park seems to certainly have it's perks; however I don't think endless streams of tourists can be counted among them. The street is, of course, beautiful – with lush trees, and beautiful modern and classic architecture all living side-by-side.

I'm very perplexed by the double-decker tour buses that ride around up here. This is one area of town where it's significantly more enjoyable to walk around at street level. There isn't much to absorb from afar. Sure, the park looks nice, but what good is it if you don't at least walk in at some point? And while the Frick is a great building to look at, it's even better if you go inside.

This is not a problem unique to this area. The city is facing an epidemic of lazy tourists. Sitting on a bus as it zips around town is one of the worst ways to get a feel for Manhattan. You don't get to see the shops, you don't get to smell the food, you don't get to even see the texture on the cobblestones.

New York is a walking city, it's that simple. You can visit here, not spend a dime, and have a fantastic time by simply walking the town. As long as people take the proper precautions and keep an eye out, they'll be as safe as they are on any bus. If you have it in you, it shouldn't take longer than a few hours to walk from The Battery up to the southern end of Central Park. And no more excuses for getting lost – not with this blog at your disposal!

Lexington Ave Between 78th St and 76th St

Lexington Avenue is a street that exists with dual personalities. North of 42nd St, it's a bustling thoroughfare lined with endless stores and dotted with subway stops. However, further down the island, it dwindles down, first when the subway shifts west to park avenue, and again when it unceremoniously ends at Gramercy Park.

Up around here, these particular blocks can very very crowded. The subway station at 77th St is home to only four stairwells leading to the platform. In the morning hours, it's amusing to watch people filter in from all directions.

Most of the buildings up here are low-rise apartments, with the exception being the Lenox Hill Hospital on the west side of the street.

Lexington is similar in a lot of ways to Madison Avenue. Both flank Park Ave, which despite it's size, is rather barren. So much of the overflow ends up on these two avenues. Lexington also is home to a lot of buses, however unlike Madison it makes up for it with plenty of great places to eat and visit.

78th St Between 3rd Ave and Lexington Ave

This residential block is full of color and charm.  A mixture of old and new buildings fight for space with the trees and plants. Sitting between two busy avenues, this stretch has it's own share of construction, dilapidated buildings and closed stores – but they're few and far between.

In a way, it's a very common street for the area. It's rather heavily-traveled in the morning and evenings since it's only a block away from the 77th St Lex line station...Which assures that the strategically-placed Starbucks sees plenty of commuters each morning.

York Ave Between 76th St and 74th St

Back up on the far east side is this very quiet street, a trait which I attribute to simply how wide it is. There's a "chasm" feeling here as the buildings all sit rather low and far apart. A lot of the structures here are older, and their architecture really shines through in places – details big and small pop out everywhere.

There's a handful of restaurants and businesses here; none of them chains, so it has a very nice local feel.

There were some billboards around some of the corners, and they all had a sign above them, which in my mind made no sense: "Win these posters and other related prizes". What? Win grimy street bills? What related prizes? How? What does that mean? Does anyone have an answer?

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73rd St Between York Ave and 1st Ave

Consisting mostly of old brownstones, this section of 73rd St has a great deal of character, both in terms of grid and grime, and in terms of detailed beauty.

The York Ave side of things is rather imposing with the large Sotherby's building in view and two towering (condo?) high-rises. Both condos, with driveways, fountains and small gardens, constrast greatly to the rest of the block, which is much more humble. I would think the newest feature here is the Ronald McDonald house- which looked more like a high-class hotel than anything else. The small local shops that lined the street (Little Shop of Crafts!) were quaint and blended-in well.

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FDR Dr Between 79th St and 77th St

Depending on where you are, there is actually a considerable amount of sidewalk space alongside the FDR (on the other side of the barrier, of course). The most obvious is the large promenade / park which sits between the East River and the street- but every now and then, there's some walking space along the west side of the FDR as well. In this particular case, it was a little bit of both.  Around here there's a south-bound entrance, which provides a little bit of pedestrian walking space. At 78th St is a park along with an overpass to the river-side promenade- which provides some really interesting views.

Obviously around here, the focus is on the unique characteristics, and there are certainly plenty of them. The overpass to the park is interesting to me.  Basically, unless you plan your route you could find yourself stuck on the wrong side of the FDR for 10 blocks. 

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