City Hall Park: An Oasis ... With Rats

When I'm looking for a relaxing place to eat outdoors during my lunch break, I head for the benches in the nearby Trinity Church cemetery.

But I had heard a few of my co-workers mention that they go in the opposite direction to City Hall Park, so I decided to check it out.

I've now made three brief visits, all after work or during the weekend. But I still can't bring myself to go during lunch. Just a few months after we moved to New York, I read an article in the New York Times specifically about the rat infestation at City Hall Park. I don't know if the anti-rat measures the article mentions worked, and I'm not about to test it with a peanut butter sandwich in my right hand.

Even so, the nine acre park is a downtown oasis, with a lovely fountain, views of City Hall and plenty of benches. Now if I could only get those photos of rats out of my head ...

NYC: The World's Rat Capital?

I'm forcing myself to be able to look at rats.

I completely realize that my fear of rats is unreasonable, especially considering I probably live in the rat capital of the world. So a few weeks ago, when I was waiting for a train by myself, I didn't turn away when I saw a rat frolicking in the subway tracks. I looked him dead in the eye.

And then I looked for more. I saw somewhere between two and five. I know there were at least two because I saw them playing a game of tag. My other sightings could have been just those two, over and over again. Hard to say.

Before, I consciously avoided gazing where I thought the rats were lurking. But when Paul and I were waiting for a train together a few weeks ago, we tried to pass the time by having a contest to see who could find the most rats. Alas, our train came before any were spotted.

On Friday, however, when I was actually on the subway, I spied a rat running down the platform. I don't think I'll ever be able to accustom myself to that.

I smell a rat

I saw my first New York City rat.

Actually, I think it's the first rat I've ever seen.

I was just starting to descend the steps to the subway after work Monday, and there it was on one of the middle stairs. I briefly considered going down anyway, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Luckily there's lots of subway entrances around my work, so I just crossed the street to another one. A couple of guys coming up the stairs saw the rat, too, but they weren't as stunned by it as I was. I think one of them got out a camera.

Surprisingly, I've only seen one mouse in New York, and that too was at the subway. This one was on the tracks on Saturday as Paul and I were waiting for a train to take us to the Brooklyn Museum. That one gave me only a slight shudder.

As much as our kitties sometimes annoy me, I do like that they probably keep the mice away from our apartment. I know my fear is irrational, but it's probably not going away anytime soon.