Bike Ride in Central Park

View from Belvedere Castle in Central Park, New York City

I decided today to ignore the bellhops.  It is not normal for me to disregard the rules so openly, but I was on vacation and I wanted to have a 100% barefoot day if possible, and it being the 4th of July seem to inspire me.  So I did not put on my sandals when we left the building and continued to do so for the rest of the trip.  I was confronted several times, usually when I was heading back up and would tell them, I'm going right to my room and that seemed to appease them.

Today we planned a bike ride in Central Park. We walked to the bike rental place and got the bikes and helmets and then they asked we walk out bikes to the park.  It was a slow ride around the park and we stopped several times to rest.  My sister and her daughter are not use to biking, so we took some breaks to enjoy the views and see some sites.  At one point we stopped and hiked in a bit to see Belvedere Castle.  It is a very nice tiny little castle, basically two rooms on top of each other which are reached by climbing the spiral stairs inside the corner turret.  The second level has a large observation deck where you get some good views of the park and city.  We could also see a crane and turtles down below.

It took us several hours to ride the 6 plus miles around the park and when we were done everyone was beat and ready to relax in the cool room.  So today was my first 100% barefoot day in New York City.  It was also the first time I ever rode a bike barefoot.  I didn't think I would be able to do it, but it was fun and the little raised bumps on the pedals didn't bother me at all.

Heading to New York City Barefoot

My shoes came off on Friday evening at 4:47 pm, for what I hope is the last time for the next week.  The family is heading to New York City for several days of site seeing.  My research says the real tourist places will make me wear shoes, but everywhere else I should be fine.  I didn't bring a keyboard with me, so I'm hoping to get caught up over the next few days of our complete adventure.

On the way down to NYC on Saturday we stopped at two highway service centers with no problems with me being barefoot.  I visited the restrooms at both stops.  Getting out of the van at the second stop I was surprised to feel the pavement was cool, even though it was a dark black color.  I gathered from this sensory input that the sun had not been shining much in that area that day. It was cool that I could gather additional information just from being barefoot.

Once at the hotel we drove up to the valet parking and quickly dropped all our gear onto the side of the driveway.  I headed inside to grab a luggage cart and since I didn't see a bellhop I just grabbed the nearest cart and brought it outside.  Upon returning the bellhop was not very pleased with me.

I checked in barefoot and then I went to see the bellhop again to let him know our room number, he informed me that I was required to wear shoes in the lobby and it didn't matter if I had religious reasons, and he listed several other reasons that didn't matter.  I was none to pleased.

My daughter wanted to see the pool so I put on my sandals and we headed back down to the lobby to get to the pool.  Sandals already and I hadn't spent a day in the city yet.  I was a little bummed out.  My sister was willing to head out so we left the two kids behind and I wore my sandals down to the lobby again and once outside took them off and we headed to Central Park.

My sister had seen a video of a Pizza Rat in NYC and she was hoping to see a rat while we were there.  Our luck was with us, we say several rats and also 5 raccoons.  After just a little exploring we headed back.  Once at the hotel I slipped on my sandals to trudge across the lobby and took them off in the elevator.

So much for being barefoot 100%, but still was barefoot a lot.