Slowly recuperating from a bout of Covid, I’ve taken up small walks to start to regain my strength. Previously 10k steps was a good day but living in NYC often meant going beyond that. Lately though I’ve really slowed down and needed to get back to it.
Our apartment in the Upper East Side is just a few blocks from the East River. (actually, on Manhattan, everyone is just a few blocks from a river!) There’s a lovely esplanade you can stroll down and get in some good steps with an easy pace and no hills. Perfect for my current state. Lots of other folks enjoy it too with their runs or dogs or partners and friends. We had not really explored this much previously and now suddenly it’s my favorite place to walk.
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We’ve been several times at night when it’s simply beautiful with the lights of Roosevelt Island reflecting off the water. (See pic above) In fact in that shot you also see the Queensboro bridge and behind that Cornell Tech.
Tonight we we were sitting on a bench watching the water go by and I suddenly realized it was flowing north. That seemed odd to me because south of where we are is the New York Harbor. I had thought a river would empty into a harbor on its way to the sea. But clearly not?!
Thank heaven for search engines and people who put explanations about these things on the internet! I soon came to learn that the East River is not a river at all but a Salt Water Tidal Strait. The current actually changes on a daily basis with the tides and other tidal phenomenon around Long Island and Manhattan. We might go there another time and the water will be flowing south! (I’ll believe it when I see it)
I also came to find out the Hudson is not a river either but an estuary. From Wikipedia: “an estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environments… Estuaries are subject both to marine influences such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water, and to fluvial influences such as flows of freshwater and sediment.”
I find it funny that these are called rivers but are not. Maybe someone decided that a wide flow of water next to a big city had to be called a river. Otherwise it would make the city seem like some backwater town. And that’s the last thing New York would want to be considered I’m sure.
