UWS Walking Tour App

| 16 Feb 2015 | 08:12

    By [Sharon Elizabeth Samuel] A new, self-guided walking tour of the "Upper, Upper West Side" is now available, with written and audio descriptions of the 13 sites it highlights. Created by writer and photographer Andrea Simon, the tour begins at West 72nd Street and the Eleanor Roosevelt Monument and ends at Grant's Tomb near West 122nd Street and Riverside Drive. Along the way, Simon included many of her favorite spots, such as Pier 1, Zabar's, the People's Garden, the Firemen's Memorial, Columbia University, the Hungarian Pastry Shop and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The tour takes three hours to complete at a leisurely pace and stopping at each location. The app also provides a Google Earth map and address for each site. A longtime resident of the Upper West Side, Simon was approached by GPSmycity.com to create an application back in August. She chose to focus on her own neighborhood, and says that the tour is actually "more 'Upper' than 'West Side.'" Simon wrote and photographed the site descriptions herself, and also recorded her own voice for the audio portion. Her motivation was simply to cast the neighborhood she has always loved in the best possible light. "The app contains all that the Upper West Side is about: good food, beautiful views, churches and memorials, as well as the community." The "Upper, Upper West Side" tour is available on iTunes, and can be downloaded to an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.