Hello everyone,
We’ve had a great day today. We left at about 9.30am and walked the 30
minutes to the bike hire shop we had booked near Central Park. We got a
Groupon deal for 70% off each so paid just $13 USD each for four hours
of bike hire. While this was a great deal, the “customer service” of the
staff there left something to be desired. We’ve experience that a bit
recently in Boston and New York!
Once we had our bikes we set off around Central Park. When the city’s
gridded numerical street system was implemented in 1811, some green
spaces were set aside. But as more and more immigrants came to NYC and people lived in crowded, unhealthy conditions, it was decided more
space was needed. In 1853 state officials approved the purchase of land
from 59th to 106th Streets, between Fifth and Eighth Avenues. The land
was rocky and swampy and had previously housed small farms and
settlements. After a design competition, Frederick Law Olmsted, a writer
and farmer from Connecticut, and Calvert Vaux, an English architect won
with their “rural” idea of large open spaces and wooded areas too.
Construction began in 1858. Workers moved nearly 5 million cubic yards
of stone and earth and built 36 bridges and arches. They also planted
500,000 trees, shrubs, and vines. The landscapes were manmade and all
built by hand. Apparently the park fell into disrepair in the early
1900s and again in the 1960s, but the Central Park Conservancy (run by
volunteers) was started in 1979 and continues to this day, and as a
result the park is in good shape and is world famous.
We spent 3-4 hours riding a full loop of the park. We enjoyed
climbing up Belvedere Castle, saw lots of statues including an Egyptian
obelisk, heard graduations happening and saw the Jacqui Kennedy
Reservoir. We sat for quite a while at Bethesda Terrace and fountain,
which I think is my favourite place in New York City. The architecture
in this area is beautiful, and it was even better this time of year than
in winter when I last visited as the trees were green, there were lots
of pretty flowers and the fountain was running. The tiles underneath the
terrace are lovely too. We people watched all the graduating students
taking photos here.
We then sat in the southern end of the park and I went and got us some
sandwiches at a deli which were delicious. On the way though two men
were absolutely screaming at each other having a huge fight in the
street. It’s strange when you walk past a conflict in the USA, because
every single time my mind goes to “does one of them have a gun?” You
just never know. So I walked on quickly! We sat in the grass and relaxed
and ate our food, and reflected on how nice it is visiting somewhere
for a second time because you don’t feel the pressure of wanting to see
many different things. Instead you focus on your favourites from last
time and a couple of new things too.
We returned our bikes after another little ride and then headed to the
Central Park Zoo. We mainly came here to see the grizzly bears as the
ones at Calgary Zoo were off display two weeks ago, but we also enjoyed
the penguins, puffins and especially the sea lions who put on a really
funny display jumping up onto the side of their enclosure waiting for
the keepers to feed them. Then when they were fed they did lots of
tricks. The grizzly bears were pretty active too so we were glad we had come. We caught the subway back at 4pm, our first subway ride of the day. Our
hotel here is in a terrific location. We can walk to many major
attractions but also have the green subway line at Grand Central five
minutes away that takes us all the way uptown or downtown if we need it to.
We had a rest and then caught the green line up to the Bronx to Yankee
Stadium for the New York Yankees vs Baltimore Orioles match. Once in our
seats, it started to rain which was a surprise as this wasn’t in the
forecast. It rained for about an hour and delayed the game by 90
minutes. Thankfully our seats were undercover. Once the game started we
saw five home runs (yay!), 15 runs in total, a bat split in half, and
one ball hit the foul pole resulting in a home run. Lots of people left
early as the game ended up finishing at 11.30pm on a weeknight due to
the delay, but we stayed until the end. The Yankees conceded eight runs in the seventh
inning after only conceding one in the entire first six innings, totally fell apart,
and lost 9 to 6. We are seeing Baltimore play in Baltimore on Sunday so I
actually wanted them to win anyway!!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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