by Yvonne Vávra
It’s one of the simplest objects in existence: a ball. Yet it has the power to unleash extraordinary drama, inspiring billions of opinions about where it should go, who should kick it, and what should have happened instead. World Cup summer in the city is about to begin, and we’re in for a spectacle.
But my personal entertainment started about a month ago, when European soccer fans reacted with outrage and disbelief to NJ Transit’s bold decision to turn a $13 train ride to MetLife Stadium into a three-digit expense. Many promptly announced that they would simply walk instead. Ten miles from Manhattan? Not so bad. Just enough to march themselves into the proper match-day mood. After all, fan marches to the stadium are a cherished soccer tradition in many countries.
I spent a few wonderful hours in forums and comment sections where Americans tried to explain to Europeans that, no, you cannot stroll along I-95 or through the Jersey marshlands. A destination worth visiting that isn’t reachable on foot? The Europeans found this absurd. The Americans found the Europeans absurd. Both sides gradually lost their minds. Meanwhile, I had a blast following arguments over whether the New Jersey Turnpike is beautiful in spring.
For those of us raised on different transportation traditions, the idea that not every place is walkable can be difficult to grasp. That’s how I once found myself dragging a suitcase through a stretch of desert between the Las Vegas airport and the Strip. I had taken the wrong bus and, seeing the lights glittering, deceptively close, I arrogantly thought I could simply walk over. So I did, a lone pedestrian, dropped into the wrong species’ habitat. And I made it.
What is walkable and what is not? Our sense of distance doesn’t always follow logic. Would you walk from 72nd Street to 96th Street? No problem. From 72nd Street to Times Square? Maybe not. That’s all the way down in Midtown! Roughly the same distance, but a completely different world. It’s emotionally remote.
What about Columbus Circle to the American Museum of Natural History? Absolutely, no questions asked. Columbus Circle to the Empire State Building? Don’t be ridiculous, that’s a train ride. Yet it’s only three blocks farther, and three tiny Midtown blocks at that.
The city exists in two dimensions: the physical one and the emotional one. We don’t experience distance in miles so much as in familiarity. The Upper West Side is home, where everything makes sense and everything feels like it’s right around the corner. Anything beyond is a whole other story, and getting there is a journey. Rockefeller Center may be no farther away than the Reservoir, but reaching it requires crossing more mental borders.
Personally, I never mind the trek. I love to walk everywhere and watch the city morph through its many different faces. Just last weekend, I set out for a simple walk to the West Side Community Garden on 89th Street. But then I thought I could pop by the Hungarian Pastry Shop at 111th, strolled a bit through Morningside Park, ended up—for reasons I can no longer trace back—in Riverbank State Park at 138th Street, which offers a great view of the Upper West Side waterfront, and finally entered the garden of the Morris-Jumel Mansion at 160th Street.
It was an unexpected amount of ground I covered that day. Quite the hike for a windy Saturday. Had I planned it in advance, I might have talked myself out of it. But the city kept giving me reasons to continue, and each interesting thing made the next one seem close. That’s how distances disappear.
There’s nothing better than losing myself in the city. Nothing else lets me think without my thoughts elbowing each other out of the way. It might not feel the same in the Jersey marshlands, but maybe some stubborn soccer fans will try and live to tell. Oh boy, they really shouldn’t.
Still, I admire the willingness to look at something everyone takes for granted and ask: Why? Why not try another way?
We’ll soon have a chance to do that ourselves. During the World Cup, a temporary soccer field will be installed in Tavern on the Green’s mostly unused parking lot near 67th Street. For a few weeks, a space reserved for cars will become a place for people. Once the tournament is over, it will likely become a parking lot again.
Why?
Yvonne Vávra is a magazine writer and author of the German book 111 Gründe New York zu lieben (111 Reasons to Love New York). Born a Berliner but an aspiring Upper West Sider since the 1990s (thanks, Nora Ephron), she came to New York in 2010 and seven years later made her Upper West Side dreams come true. She’s been obsessively walking the neighborhood ever since.
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Nice work, Yvonne. “Would you walk from 72nd Street to 96th Street? No problem. From 72nd Street to Times Square? Maybe not. That’s all the way down in Midtown! ” Loved that. Emotionally remote indeed!
This city has great walking. I love walking from the north tip of Manhattan to Battery Park. Another is to the 90th St ferry, across and through Astoria.
Let’s get the community involved and turn the Tavern on the Green parking lot into useable space: playground, soccer field, dog park
Did you know the Adventure Playground and tots playground, both just north of the driveway to Tarvern in the Green, only exist because Robert Moses started cutting down trees there in an attempt to put in an 80 car parking lot? Mothers on the UWS, then as now, proved to be a formidable bunch.
https://www.tclf.org/sites/default/files/microsites/landslide2024/locations/adventureplayground.html
And without Robert Moses, traffic would be a complete nightmare.
Absolutely they are an inspiration!!
Maybe the dads on the UWS can do our part and rally to keep the Tavern on the Green soccer pitch?
Posted last week: https://www.westsiderag.com/2026/05/26/mini-soccer-field-coming-to-unused-parking-lot-in-central-park-for-the-world-cup 😊
Manhattan is such a wonderful place to walk. On a nice day I’ve walked from the Lafayette St. REI up to my apartment near Columbia University. There is simply so much to see and distract myself with.
Another lovely article that captures our neighborhood and city culture. And please, M. Keirnan, no dog park needed immediately adjacent to a restaurant.
Same idea for bicycling.. We have our own “zones” that we’re comfortable riding through, and others that we’re not. New York is not Amsterdam or Copenhagen, and the idea that bicycle advocates have of making it so is simply not in our DNA or our much larger geography. The entire central part of Amsterdam is roughly the size of Greenwich Village and Chelsea combined—not any bigger. You can’t force this on the entire population without some pushback. We’re our own unique city, and this requires multiple forms of transportation.
Stop trying to make New York some other place.
Amsterdam is tough for pedestrians.
Bicycles have right of way and are everywhere.
Also there have been cuts in public transit including trams
Amsterdam and Copenhagen weren’t like they were some decades ago. They actively chose to prioritize human transportation over cars. I’m a pedestrian, not a biker, but we definitely have some more streets we can take back from vehicles.
Define “human transportstion”. Does it include only pedal bikes and not e-bikes or even e-assist bikes? Same question for scotters. And of you’d allow eBikes why not Teslas?
Those cities are much smaller than the NYC metro area. The NYC metro area when you include the suburbs and exurbs interdependent on NYC is about 83% of the size of the entire Netherlands and close in size to the entirety of Denmark. Also the centers of Amsterdam and Copenhagen that American urbanists idealize have zoning that YIMBYs (which overlap with urbanists a lot) would not be happy with.
Copenhagen is a part of Denmark and the center left political party the Social Democrats held onto power by being anti immigrant. Geert Wilders was successful in making Islamophobia and anti immigration more mainstream in the Netherlands. Historically, there is this idea that Denmark is for Danish people and the Netherlands is for Dutch people and this balance being upset is why conditions for the far right are more favorable in Europe. They may have this urbanist ideal city, but the increased social friction that is happening is causing a lot of problems that NYC and America at large simply cannot afford. America is not perfect, but urbanists insist on wanting perfect to be the enemy of good.
Emotionally remote – SO true!!
I don’t know. The East Side border guards are notoriously grumpy, and getting a visa takes forever. And the exchange rate! Don’t get me started on the exchange rate! And the vaccinations required are so annoying.
Spent several years studying in the Netherlands.
Dutch mates were baffled that I walked so much.
A 10 minute walk was too much for them – they biked.
I walk to Washington Square Park occasionally
Yes a 10 or 15 minute walk is routine in NYC.
But LOL such a walk is too much for the Dutch.
They bicycle the shortest distances.
Like Americans in cars
“Would you walk from 72nd Street to 96th Street? ” Absolutely and did it daily.
During COVID my 80 year old husband and I walked along the Hudson River Walk from 96th, up 72nd to Broadway and back to 93rd. We loved it.
Sadly, now, back and leg problems keep him from doing so, and it breaks my heart when he says “remember when…”
Cherish walking in the City, some of us no longer can..
So true: “emotionally remote,” But it’s more than that. Who the hell wants to walk in Midtown? Far too many people, and half of them are tourists with zero situational awareness.
I walk everywhere as buses and trains are a disease waiting to happen.
I love walking in NY. I have lived on the upper west side for about 60 years. Unfortunately, walking is not as enjoyable today as it used to be. The city used to be loaded with sometimes quirky, interesting stores, where you could buy anything you could possibly want. Today on line shopping has decimated this type of store. The city was full of wonderful restaurants, often owned by recent immigrants. Today many restaurants are part of mini chains. And don’t get me started on the bicycle, motorized whatever devices that are all over roads, bike lanes, sidewalks everywhere. But in spite of all these changes, I still love walking here.
Sigh. As one ages, the question becomes not “How far WOULD you go?” but “How far COULD you go?” The answer changes from day to day, depending on the condition of one’s knees and feet, but it’s usually “Not as far as I used to, nor as much as I’d like to.” But to Yvonne’s interesting point about mental borders, walking 5000 steps along the east side of Central Park West, where there are few cross streets, somehow feels much easier than walking the equivalent number of blocks. Not to mention the presence of benches for brief rests.
thoughtful article. re walking to midtown from UWS, I like to walk along the Hudson. no stark transition from UWS to midtown until you have to go east
What a wonderful piece — thank you, Yvonne!
The NYT must be getting story ideas from the Rag! Check out this piece from Opinion section today!
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/07/opinion/world-cup-new-york-new-jersey-transit-walk.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Great article!
Is it my age? The changing landscape ( oh my! more hi-rises post COVID? Businesses closing / opening). I’ve resided on the UWS over 25 years but my doctors are downtown east side . I’ve had them 15-30 years and see them annually. This year I got lost for both appointments. Everything looks the same starting at about 59th. There are no unique markers like Central Park, museums or even the Sun! Just hi-rises ..I can’t tell North from South anymore. It’s like my first visit. So I resort to asking cops or strangers. And their assistance is still the same, helpful and caring😊. My doctors are too kind to tell me it’s partly age. Sadly for me and patients one of them is retiring. It has its ups and downs , including the changing city!
Whether you’re new to the City or have been here a lifetime, there’s no better way to truly get to know it than to walk its neighborhoods. Set a formal itinerary or simply stroll aimlessly. I did this when I first came to NYC out of school. It was the best way to overcome my fears and apprehensions about the place. Also taught me those areas to avoid.