Discussion: 20 city blocks to a mile?

That was the old rule of them, but back then, there were no gps devices with which to check. But when I saw you'd walked only 26 blocks but for 1.62 miles, figured you must have walked a bit crosstown, too, and that is confirmed by your gps track.

If you'd turned right at 59th, gone over the bridge, and walked for another 2 miles, you'd have arrived where my family lived for 50+ years. Alternatively, if you'd gone south from Grand Central for 27 blocks and also made your way over to First Ave, you'd have been at the place where I went to high school. Now, those are tourist sights that not everyone sees ;-)

59th St + 2 miles north...wouldn't you be up in Spanish Harlem? Or would you be in the Bronx by that time?

The NY Marathon course comes south from the Bronx...maybe close to your parents' house. I hope you've done that race...it's a wonderful experience; full of 'tourist sights!' :-)

Across the 59th st bridge from Manhattan is Queens, heading east, not north.

Oops...didn't visualize walking over the Queensboro Bridge. I know the Marathon runners come into Manhattan on that bridge...but can you walk over it on other days too?

Two miles east of the bridge would probably be Jackson Heights or Astoria? Archie Bunker country? Back in the early '70's I used to drive over that bridge every morning to my office on the BQE. Can't imagine why; guess I just wasn't a real New Yorker then.

There is a pedestrian walkway on the bridge. My cousin Matt used to run home sometimes from his teaching job at York College in Jamaica. Or looking at the map, he probably took a train part of the way. That was when he lived around 90th st on the west side, but he has moved up near Inwood Park and I don't think he runs over the bridge anymore. There was a time when he lived in Jackson Heights,too, maybe 20 years ago.

We lived in Maspeth, south of Jackson Heights, east of where the BQE meets the LIE. 65th Place and 52nd Ave.

About 15 years ago, when my mother still lived there, I stayed at her place for several days while she was in a hospital in Elmhurst. One day, as I was walking the mile or so over to visit her, there were a couple of inches of snow on the ground. Half a block ahead, there was a guy shoveling the side walk, and beyond him, a runner coming in my direction. The runner very deftly swerved around the guy shoveling, and even though that meant running through a snow bank, he didn't miss a beat. "Wow," I thought, "just like a good orienteer." As the runner got closer, I could see his face, and I suddenly realized it WAS an orienteer! It was Greg Balter, running from his apartment (that he shared with Boris G) to work.

What a great story!