New Yorker Makes Epic Tour Of Downtown Manhattan

Walks five long miles, for some definition of “walking”

Pulled reluctantly from her rapt viewing of the coronation yesterday, Kina spent the rest of her Saturday walking around the city with us—a family ritual that long predates her arrival on the scene. Starting from 29th Street, where we ate a lunch of pasta and salad, we made our way to the Madison Square Park playground (with its legendary tire swing), to the base of a statue for some drawing (a couple of excellent portraits and landscapes in pencil and ink), down Broadway to Union Square (where she yelled back and forth with me into one of the city’s only working playground pipe intercoms), down the sidewalks of University Place to Washington Square (where she inquired about the many weed vendors), through the Village to Morgenstern’s Ice Cream (for a scoop of strawberry with sprinkles), across the street to what Kina calls the “Tanuki maze” (a painted labyrinth that is perfect for chasing), and across town for dinner at one of our favorite Thai restaurants.

All of this travel was by foot—to the tune of roughly five miles, eventually. Whose feet? Depends on how closely you were watching.

I’m not sure we’ve ever had a Parade that wasn’t a full-size construction paper edition. Today’s is an exercise in color and tone, and it was a joy to make it with Kina.

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