New York City is dotted with these little parks. On a city-wide map,they seem tiny and insignificant. This one is only 1.4 acres. But what a nice place: views of the lower reaches of the Bronx River, a kayak and canoe launch site, some nice sculpture, etc.

Next to Hunt’s Point Riverside park is Rocking the Boat, a non-profit venture that teaches city kids to build wooden boats (by hand!) and also offers free boat rides to the community in the summer. “Kids don’t just build boats; Boats build kids.”

Hunt’s Point Produce Market is the largest wholesale produce market in the world, sitting on 113 acres with 1 million square feet of interior space. it was closed on a Sunday morning, but the guard at the truck gate told us that pedestrians and retail shoppers are welcome too. “Some people just buy a couple baskets of strawberries and a head of lettuce.”

Presumably this rock is Hartland Schist, the local bedrock.

Not far from the Produce Market is another little green oasis – Joseph Rodman Drake Park, where the Hunt family members were buried in the 19th century. Young Mr. Drake, a descendant of Sir Francis and a renowned poet, is also buried there.

This fellow was enthusiastically washing his shiny new 2013 SUV. “I’m just getting started,” he explained. His supposedly dirty car was cleaner than mine after it has been washed.

I bought three CDs for a dollar a piece. In a small, chock-full storefront, this man ekes out a living (or I suppose he does). One half of the shop is used furniture. The other is miscellaneous small stuff: CDs, VHS tapes, books, dishes, old electronic equipment, hats, clocks, toys, hats, knives, coffee mugs, hair dryers, etc. I wonder where he gets his inventory.

Finished off with a delicious lunch at Real Azteca – a Mexican restaurant just off Southern Boulevard.

• Bronx,
• Hunts Point