Our penultimate walk has the distinction of being the only one to touch all five boroughs. The same can be said of this week's focus: the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. This route visits memorial sites in all five boroughs - some grand and others understated. Note it is the only route to use transit during the course of the walk (the Staten Island ferry) though the walking distance of 26.2 miles is still maintained.
In New York City, professional sports is as popular a conversation topic as pizza or the weather. Home to some of the greatest dynasties and underdog stories alike, we'll tackle three boroughs this week to visit their home fields. We start at the Barclays Center to visit the Nets and Islanders, then cross the Manhattan bridge to visit "The World's Most Famous Arena," Madison Square Garden, home to the Knicks and Rangers. Next is a long walk to the Bronx to visit the world's most successful professional sports franchise, the New York Yankees. We conclude with a trip to Queens to visit those lovable losers of Citi Field, the New York Mets.
Our last movie-focused walk is also our first in our home stretch of special walks covering multiple boroughs at a time. Here we draw inspiration from the 2002 Spike Lee film "25th Hour" and the Edward Norton monologue contained within called "F*ck New York." In it, Norton's character Montgomery Brogan rails against the people and neighborhoods that make this city what it is. We'll visit as much as we can of the soliloquy, from Chelsea to Wall Street, Bensonhurst, Alphabet City and everything in between.
Our walk this week traverses the many bridges that connect Manhattan to all parts east. Starting with the Ed Koch/Queensboro bridge, we snake through Randalls Island before systematically tackling the nine bridges that connect Upper Manhattan to the Bronx. Not included in this map due to route revision constraints are both the walk over the Third Avenue Bridge and the 2.5 miles from Henry Hudson Park to the train at 181st Street.
In what could most succinctly be described as a walk about nothing, we visit some of the most iconic locations from the iconic NY-set sitcom Seinfeld. Starting at the Nexus of the Universe (East 1st Street and First Avenue), we'll visit Pendant Publishing, determine if a soup and a sandwich counts as a meal, and pick up a marble rye on our way home. We'll also hop over to Frank Costanza's house in Queens to shoot some pool. Here's to feeling good all the time.