Sun 5 May - New York City, NY

A beautiful spring Sunday calls for a Central Park picnic. Do what we assume the New Yorkers would do.

We are so organised that we leave the apartment and are on a uptown train by 8.30am, with a need to change train at 4th Street station. Once there, we realise that we are ridiculously early for a picnic so we get off, deciding to look around Washington Square Park, made known to us by the movie "The Visitor" and its drumming scenes. As we reach street level we recall a big NYC event is on today "The 5 Boros Bike Tour " which covers 40 miles of bicycling in New York, through all 5 boroughs and over 5 Bridges. Apparently the tour is attended by more than 30,000 cyclists.

6th Avenue is closed and happy cyclists are everywhere. A policeman was needed to help pedestrians cross the street.

Washington Square Park is part of Chelsea and the homes surrounding the park look very nice. The park is in spring bloom and looks great. And yes, we find yet another plaque with Michael Bloomberg's name on it and a reference to the park's restoration a couple of years ago.

As we enter Washington Square Park, we are invited to play chess by a guy who has a sign that says "never beaten". We decline, but chat with the guy for a little while. There are about 10 chess tables as part of that corner of the park and it appears that anyone can sit down and play any opponent.

We liked this odd couple. A young Rastafarian and an old white man with a wheel chair.

Of course, there is a monument to George Washington in Washington Square Park. The arch is quite impressive. The guy in front somewhat less so...

The views beyond the arch looking north are also good. The lady in front doesn't look too bad either...

This is the first time that we saw a squirrel since arriving in NYC and it was very tame. By the end of the day we probably saw hundreds, all seemingly comfortable with humans around. Easy food perhaps...

Back to the subway at 4th Street station before we continue north to Columbus Circle which also is the southwestern entrance to Central Park.

For those not good with compass directions - we started at the bottom left corner of this map.

Central Park is enormous and we know we won't cover it all today. The key program is to act like locals and relax in the park. It's very easy to do... The park has lots of distinct facilities and areas and you don't often notice that there may be 20,000 other people there. Of course we were also early...

We love the tunnels under roadways - perfect location in any movies for a mugging or assault.

Today you don't need to use the tunnels. No traffic is allowed in Central Park from Friday 7pm to Monday 7am. In fact, according to the website, thru traffic is only allowed during peak hours.

Policing of Central Park is done on horse apart from other means.

We can't help but zig zag through the park, as we don't have a map, but also because its all fantastic. Di is a fan of Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter. She stops for a chat...

Hello mugger? Where are you?

We stop for coffee near the Boathouse where they hire out row boats. We are definitely coming back to do some rowing!

There is so much to see and do in Central Park and we stumble onto this 3,600 year old Egyptian obelisk as part of our wandering. Vanderbilt brought it to the US and it has been in Central Park since the 1880's.

We find the buskers in America often to be better than bands we see in pubs and these guys are true to that finding. They play great cool laid back jazz and are all excellent musicians. Perhaps need some marketing help though... Call themselves "The Central Park Jazz Band" and are not too good at asking to be paid something. We contributed a donation and sat for a while to listen.

Lunchtime - and our picnic location is the Great Lawn (it is "only" "pretty good" according to some spiel we saw...) near the middle of Central Park.

Food is all homemade / prepared and yummy. Chicken legs, potato salad and bean salad.

We feel kind of lazy and lie down on the lush grass to soak up the sunshine and atmosphere like many locals around us.

It soon gets hot and we decide to tan the lily white bellies. Thanks Hans for the photo (not!)

The Bethesda Castle was built about 100 years ago and is used as an observatory for weather but is also a great viewing location for around the park and beyond. The castle is free to get in, which we love, so up we went to explore and see the views.

You can see the Great Lawn from the top of the Bethesda Castle which is where we had our picnic.

Down the hill from Bethesda Castle.. what's this? Hans can't believe it.

Hans is trying to deny his heritage....

We have to admit it does look pretty good after nearly 140 years it was "imported" to the US, that was the word they used.

We are now near Central Park West and 72nd street so we wander south on the sidewalk for a couple of blocks. The architecture is great. It must be very very expensive to live here, Upper West Side.

But having lots of money does not stop some other driver from crashing into your nice car... these guys were not going any further without a towtruck. Where the other driver and his or her car was we have no idea.

At the corner of Central Park West and 72nd Street is the Dakota building, known for being the place where John Lennon was shot and killed at its entrance back in 1980, coming home with Yoko one evening.

The Dakota building's doormen keep the plebs from blocking the entrance so Hans was guided to the spot where he is standing for this photograph.

Despite its tragic past, the Dakota building is spectacular, very ornamental and with huge apartment windows all around it.

Back into Central Park just across from 72nd Street and we find the Strawberry Fields memorial.

Of course, this spot attracts anyone who loves the Beatles and these guys were just casually jamming together, singing Beatles songs. We assume that just about anybody can rock up and join the band as there were 4 guys playing guitar at one stage (and a Japanese looking woman on bass guitar and an subcontinental Indian woman on tambourine, Beatles certainly had broad appeal around the globe).

Central Park has another large grassed area called Sheep Meadow and seems even more popular for picnics than the Great Lawn.

This is the Mall, a lovely trees lined walkway. Very popular for strolling on a Sunday afternoon. This is also the stretch of Central Park you see in movies such as "When Harry met Sally" and "Kramer vs Kramer".

Heading back out to the south of Central Park we come across some guys playing baseball a bit more seriously and we sit in the bleachers for a while to watch the action. Fun.

Well, 5 hours after arriving we leave the park. On the way we opt for a quick (ha ha) loo break before heading home. Mr Bloomberg will be getting an email about lack or limited public toilets from Di - at least 10 minutes wait to get in the door! No wait for guys so no email from Hans...

Outside the park on Central Park South, we see lots of horse carriages and vow we won't be taking this tourist trap. $50 for 20 minutes minimum fare. The horses are cute though.

This one is patiently waiting opposite the posh Marriott hotel.

We wander further east on Central Park South and come to The Plaza hotel and 5th Avenue, but these will be checked out further on another day.

We need a coffee and get quite a good one, but at a high price, in the famous FAO Schwartz Toy Store off the south east corner of Central Park on 5th Avenue. Nice to sit by the window and watch the world go by for a little while in this posh part of town.

Onto the subway on Lexington Avenue and we are home after 5pm. We are tired yet again after another full on day and have leftover malaysian curry for dinner and a couple of drinks before yet another relatively early night. Good night.

 

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