Railroad Park and Art Museum

Time is flying and days are much too short, though we get up early and home late every day. Commuting by subway costs a lot of time and besides having lots of exercise by walking all the steps up and down subway stations, we spent quite a bit of time on trains these days. But, that's exactly where you meet the whole "melting pot" of NYC...

The High Line Park and the new Whitney Museum were on top of our to-do-list and on "Black Friday" we combined nature and culture instead of going shopping as many locals do on that day because of special sales on this day after Thanksgiving. Many stores open very early, at 6 am or even earlier, and some streets (especially Broadway) were packed with people.


The High Line is an old elevated railroad track, which opened in 1934 and was mostly used for carrying goods to and from Manhattan's largest industrial district. In 1980 the last train run and demolition was discussed, until in 2012 eventually a group, called "Friends of the High Line" took the initiative and commissioned a famous design and landscape architecture team to plan a new "strip park" with "authentic" plants and flowers, with stages, deck chairs, art installations etc. It took until fall of 2014 when the park - constructed, planted and opened in three sections - was accomplished and the whole thing, from the Hudson Rail Yards and Javits Convention Center (north) down to the Meatpacking District, through different neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan, was opened.

Designed by famous Italian architect Renzo Piano the new building is situated between the High Line and the Hudson River and makes the collection much more attractive than before, besides increasing the space. While the indoor galleries are rather plain (with movable walls for changing exhibits), the outdoor space - several museum terraces towards the river and the High Line – are spectacular and offer a completely new perspective of Chelsea and the Meatpacking District.