Yesterday I had brunch with an old roommate and her parents in midtown Manhattan. After we parted ways, I spotted a Baskin Robbins. I haven’t been to a BR in years, so I popped in. I got a single scoop of my childhood favorite flavor, World Class Chocolate. I sat outside next to an office park water fountain and ate my scoop. The weather was perfect and a cool breeze was blowing. Life was perfect, and was about to get even more beautiful.
I finished my scoop and figured I would just head back to my hotel and figure out what to do from there. As I walked toward the subway, I noticed I was only about four blocks away from the South end of Central Park. Change of plans!
I entered the park and grabbed a quick look at a map of the park on my iPhone. With my bearings in tact, I headed North, wandering along trails and enjoying the natural beauty and the sights of happy people all around. Eventually I came upon the Bethesda Fountain and rowboat pond. A crowd had gathered to watch an acrobatic comedy troupe perform. I decided to stay and watch too. These three guys were hilarious. They really had the crowd engaged, and people just kept flooding in to watch. The whole performance lasted about a half hour and was riotously funny. I was so engrossed and laughing so hard, I lost track of time. When the show was over, my cheeks hurt from laughing and I had a little tear of happiness in the corner of my left eye.
I crossed over the rowboat pond bridge and entered “The Ramble.” What a perfect name for this area. Trails lead you this way and that, always yielding some beautiful view of a small meadow, a hidden nook of the pond, or just a quiet tree covered hideaway. And I did in fact ramble about, forgetting my Northbound goal. I’m sure I didn’t see even half of this section of the park, but the parts I did see were such a peaceful experience.
When I exited The Ramble I headed North again. I decided I wanted to make my way to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Resevoir (or “The Big Lake”). I stopped for a pretzel and a soda along the way. When I finally got to my destination, I was impressed with the size of the Big Lake. I decided to circumambulate the reservoir with all the other joggers and walkers. About half way around I realized that the lake is much larger than it looks. Despite my feet feeling a bit tired after two hours of walking through the park, I kept on going.
Once I reached the North end of the lake, I decided not to go any further North into the park. Instead, I continued around the lake, took some pictures, and found my way back through the park toward my hotel. Essentially I started at 55th Street, meandered through the park up to 97th Street, then Walked back South to 77th Street where my hotel was.
Three hours of walking in the park left my heart swollen with peace and happiness. The laughing of children in playgrounds, the cheerful barking of happy dogs running about, the canoodling of lovers on blankets, the laughs of the crowd at the acrobatic performance, the shouts of excitement at the baseball and volleyball parks, the groovy beats and moves at the disco roller-skate park. All of these wonderful sights and sounds filled me up with joy and made me feel connected to nature and my fellow man. There’s no question that yesterday I fell in love with Central Park
And, though I am returning home to San Francisco later this evening, I’m quite certain that I’ve left my heart in Central Park.
© logan for Loganotron, 2010. |
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