First stop is Chelsea Piers, a thirty-acre sports and recreation complex on the Hudson River. The original Chelsea Piers has an interesting history: In its heyday all the luxury liners and immigrant ships arrived and departed there. It was the planned destination of the Titanic and is where the Carpathia brought the survivors. Also, it was the departure point for the Lusitania. For more on what it was and is, visit http://www.chelseapiers.com/.
The Health Club at Chelsea Piers defies description. "Enormous" and "State of the Art" are understatements. It is immaculately clean, light, and expensive. The breadth of equipment, space and activities is like nothing I have ever seen. Benjamin and I had a wonderful, long swim on Saturday afternoon in the beautiful pool overlooking the Hudson River. Sunday morning brought me to Asphalt Green, another health club, this one on the East River -- the opposite of Chelsea Piers in mission as well as location. You could spend a boatload of money at Chelsea Piers (and have a great time doing it). Asphalt Green is dedicated to providing fitness and sports opportunities to people from all walks of life. Walking through the front lobby, I could see that it is truly a community facility.
Asphalt Green's pool is the largest I have ever experienced -- an actual Olympic-size pool. Sadly, I do not have a picture, but you can take a look at http://www.asphaltgreen.org/. Even more sadly, I swam only a few laps and was informed that the pool was closing for lessons. But at least the laps were long ones!
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