Central Park has provided an oasis of greenery in the big city for 150 years. It has trees, meadows, lakes, sculpture, and all kinds of attractions. My walk covered just a few acres, and I found the park enchanting. I plan to go back for more whenever I have a chance.
We walked into the park at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is an impressive sight, with a large glass wall. We walked around it and saw the obelisk, also called Cleopatra's Needle, which was made in Egypt in the 1500s and transported to the United States in 1879. Just south of that, we stopped to admire some unusual mushrooms that were growing under some trees. We meandered along, enjoying the warm summer day. We stopped briefly at the bronze Alice in Wonderland statue, which includes Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Dormouse, the March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, and several mushrooms, one of which Alice is seated on. Kids were climbing all over the statues, which I thought was in keeping with the playful theme.
We paused for iced tea at the snack area facing Conservatory Water, a small lake. Kids and adults were renting remote-control boats to play with on the water. It was a weekday, so the park wasn't very crowded, with tourists making up a high proportion of the visitors.
The walkway passed under a couple of very attractive bridges. We saw a couple of cops on small motorbikes. Their main function seemed to be answering questions for tourists.
We walked west around the large lake. Once past that, we reached our final destination in the park, Strawberry Fields. It is named after the Beatles song in honor John Lennon, who lived at the Dakota, which is nearby right across from the park. We walked on a narrow path that wound around among the bushes and trees. For a while, we couldn't see or hear anything but a bird. Consciousness-expanding! We came out at the edge of the park at the Imagine mosaic. A man was placing rose petals all around the mosaic, in memory of John, while his dog lounged on a park bench. A couple of stands sold souvenirs.
And then we crossed the street out of the park. We'd gone the full width of the park, from east to west, and covered not even a quarter of the length. Plenty more left to explore.