Torture and Shopping on Fifth Avenue

[Edward]

23 December 2007, Sunday

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2165/2132489258_f9769ba2e5_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sudentas/show/)

[pianoman11686]

Catchy title.

[alonzo-ny]

I thought the shopping would be the torture!

[lofter1]

Her red sweater could be considered a form of torture ...

[The Benniest]

Her red sweater could be considered a form of torture ...

LOL

[BrooklynRider]

Her red sweater could be considered a form of torture ...

She'd probably be upset that you failed to notice her matching earrings.

[MidtownGuy]

Seeing this title, I immediately thought of last week, as I was accompanying out-of-town cousins while they shopped along Fifth.
There were times this holiday season that I thought New York, especially midtown, was bursting at the seams in a way I have never seen. We've always gotten big crowds during the holidays but this seemed off the charts.
I think the sidewalks on the "Disneyland" part of Fifth need to be widened because the number of tourists and pedestrians just keeps increasing. Which leads me to say that I support creating European style pedestrian zones along certain streets and certainly the adoption of a congestion plan to control unnecessary vehicular traffic in the core of the City.
Certain areas like that stretch of Fifth are just out of control. It looked like a whole stadium's worth of people were squeezed onto the sidewalks like sardines! Don't even get me started on the baby-stroller-gridlock. Cars shouldn't remain in control of so much space where pedestrians are obviously congregating in gigantic numbers almost all year long.

[Ninjahedge]

I walk across that every day to get to work. Some days are better than others, but it is a real hassle getting through all the pedestrians!!!!

I end up walking IN the street half the way cross town to avoid the shoppers/tourists/vendors/carts/garbage/lampposts/scaffolding/"planters". All the trucks parked (not even delivering half the time) on the crossroads does not help things one bit!

Oddly enough, I like it better than walking through the subway dungeons and having to pay to do so! ;)

[The Benniest]

What's so bad about the subway "dungeons?" :P Maybe it's just New York, but when I was over in places like Barcelona, Paris, and Munich, their subway's were nice and clean.

Maybe not... :confused: Just curious...

I walk across that every day to get to work. Some days are better than others, but it is a real hassle getting through all the pedestrians!!!!

I end up walking IN the street half the way cross town to avoid the shoppers/tourists/vendors/carts/garbage/lampposts/scaffolding/"planters". All the trucks parked (not even delivering half the time) on the crossroads does not help things one bit!

Oddly enough, I like it better than walking through the subway dungeons and having to pay to do so! ;)

[ASchwarz]

Barcelona and Munich have modern subways, but defintely not Paris. Excepting the Meteor Line, their system is as old and worn as in NYC.

Fifth Avenue seriously needs to be widened. The same could be said for 2nd, 3rd, Lexington, 6th and 8th Avenues. All are much too narrow, especially in Midtown. Why do we have SO much space for cars in a neighborhood where the pedestrian and subway traveler dominate?