We love to walk. With the exception of that week in Paris last year, when our 2 ½ year old daughter asked to be picked up and carried, every single day and always before our rented apartment in the 6th arrondissement was even out of sight, we walk almost everywhere the suburban layout of our town allows (which, sadly, is not very much). But in Paris, she couldn’t even make it to the curb on her own two feet!
In New York, however, she is infinitely more willing to match us stride for stride, which is a very good thing indeed.
Since I was a young boy, I have been in love with the city of New York, the island of Manhattan. I could walk that city all day and all night long – and have on a number of different occasions. To paraphrase Mr. Sinatra, If you can walk there, you can walk anywhere. It is one of my parental goals to pass along my love of the city, in general, and more specifically, for seeing and traversing it on foot.
It is for this reason that the recently published (February 2007) City Walks for Kids – New York edition is so near and dear to my heart. At the core of these 50 suggested strolls is a love of the big city and a desire to share that metropolitan passion with children. No longer does walking New York City with kids have to be a complicated or scary affair, even for a family making their maiden voyage to the greatest city on Earth. The city itself is cleaner and safer than ever before and Chronicle Books is, in the form off this comprehensive and thoroughly enjoyable collection of fifty New York City walks, standing in as proxy for the most knowledgeable tour guide you could possibly find on the streets of New York. These are walks laid out with children of all ages in mind and will have your troop spending time in, and seeing, some of the lesser-known (to typical tourists, anyway) but beloved New York sights, institutions, parks, buildings, landmarks and open spaces.
Each walk is featured on its own single, thick and colorful card (about the size of an index card) and includes a cleverly illustrated and playful map, customized to that particular journey, on one side and all the particulars of the sights you will be visiting on the other. The cards are the perfect size, enabling you to carry them in a pocket or purse and have you looking fairly innocuous to the natives, since you will not need to unfurl a giant map as you walk around.
All relevant transportation details are provided, with relevant subway and bus routes and stops clearly marked on each card, as are the website addresses of the some of the featured attractions along the way. So, if you are the planning type, you can log on and preview portions of your family’s upcoming adventure from the comfort of your own home.
Each itinerary is going to take, on average, a couple hours, which is a fair amount of time to be on the move with kids. Luckily there are restaurants, sidewalk food carts and shaded parks with benches scattered all over New York City – so your gang will never be too far from food, drink and rest – even if everyone else is rushing about.
Buy City Walks with Kids – New York Edition today from Amazon.com!
Related Articles
Walking and Children (for good health)
Biking and Walking Tours of Europe