Central Park…New York

Central Park in New York….a release from urbanity. A day of sunshine and a day to shed winter inhibitions…..April 2011

This is in response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Urban

Central Park – A Welcome Escape

Ice Symphony

My first visit to Central Park, New York was in the winter of 2007. The blanket ban imposed by weather had restricted my entry to the skating rink ( South entrance); a buggy ride. The visit in October 2009 was a bonanza and I made full use of my 12 day stay in the city (October 12-24)

Green Cover

The ‘Park’  was in full bloom, dazzling and electrifying, a  package of nearly 25,000 trees landscaped into a nature retreat from 59^th Street East /West to 110 Street East/West Manhattan. The in-between swathes of green add to the openness of the Park and made full use by children and adults as personal fiefdoms.

I started from Bethesda Terrace, the Bow Bridge, the Conservancy, along the Lake and the Loeb Boathouse, stopped for a bite at the restaurant and headed towards Belvedere Castle, the Great Lawn, past the Metropolitan Museum of Art or The Met, entrance is from the street side and on to the East Meadow and Conservancy Garden.

Day Two:  The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, a 106-acre body of water constructed in 1862 feeding the Pool and Meer, for a fabulous view of New York skyline, weaving through assortment of joggers, pram-pushers, pet walkers, kids of all sizes and senior citizens.

Day 3:  From 96^th East it was Harlem Meer right on top E 110 and then turned back via the Great Hill on to the Summit rock, the Arthur Ross Pinetum, the Shakespeare Garden, Strawberry Fields, dedicated to John Lennon, on to the Tavern on the Green and the Rink, the starting point.

It was a phased-out walk to savor the serenity and the theatrical production of colors around me. The American Elms, in abundance throughout Central Park, are the color suppliers with their oblong, serrated  leaves dark green now a brilliant yellow. The reds and oranges are the Callary Pear heart-shaped leaves while the Norway Maples and Pin Oaks add to the symphony with deep yellow, russet and bronze. The Pine Oaks are found at Strawberry Fields, along the 59th Street Pond and the Dairy lawns. Spotted Red Oaks, the stately Silver Linden with symmetrical oval crowns and green and silver leaves and Willow Oaks along the Great Lawn, the Bow Bridge and Loeb Boathouse.  The russet glow belongs to the Cedar crowd on Cedar Hill above the Glade.  It is an identification parade of Ginkgo, the Beech trees, the nodding Eastern Hemlocks and the easily identifiable Weeping Willows casting their shadows in the algae green waters of the Pool.

In between, the watery clouds spoilt my fun of watching sunlight flirt with nature’s bounty.

A welcome escape.