Central Park, NYC

Central Park, New York City: 843 acres of park in the midst Manhattan Island, New York City. A quick online search says it’s the most visited urban park in the US. I had never been but it sounded like a cool place to visit. I after all have been a lover of parks my entire life. . Sounded like a cool place to visit since I am a park connoisseur. But I  but never planned on it. First opened in 1858, Central Park was completed in 1876. I visited Central Park in 2023.

I remember learning about Central Park in college, and even knew the landscape architect’s name at one point (my husband also is a landscape architect). The only things I knew of the park came from the television Sitcom Friends which was set near Central Park, in an apartment above a coffee shop named Central Perk, and also of course, sadly, the Central Park jogger brutal attack back in 1989 (when I was only 24 years on this planet, so of course it left quite an impression on my brain).

In June 2023, when I stayed in Harlem, NYC for six nights, I was about a ten minute walk, 13 blocks,  from Central Park (specifically the Harlem Meer near the northeast corner of the park).

My husband and I visited Central Park on at least three occasions during our stay in NYC. I can’t be sure. I recall our first morning, we made a deliberate trip to the park, stopping at a deli on the way back to our brownstone. Another time we bought some Cajun fried calamari and made it lunch in Central Park. And on another day, we set out to see the park in it’s entirety (or at least skirt by its entirety).

NYC has Citibikes every few blocks (possibly less if you know the map and locations). We rented said bikes. I can’t tell you the cost because I don’t recall. It’s so much a mile, and you must dock every thirty minutes. What I mean by dock is, you need to find a Citbike rack, park your bike and check it out, or another again. For a standard bike, the cost is only $19 for 24 hours (but I believe you do  not need to dock every 30 minutes). I opted for said standard bike and mistakenly rented a pedal assist bike for my husband. I was okay with that because, hey, even though I’m old and out of shape, I’m strong (famous last words?).

Well, that dang standard bike was fun for at least one additional dock. After that, with all the gentle slopes in the park, I was fricken exhausted Still, I wanted to tough it out because I’m that stubborn. Thankfully, we had to park our bikes through the tranquil botanical gardens. That bought my heart some time. But after that, I had more hills to cover before I was absolutely exhausted.

Eventually, during one of our every-thirty-minute dock, I traded my conventional bike for a pedal assist bike so that I could keep up with my husband, and Central Park opened up. We took in as much as we could, traveling along paths through meadows, along green lakes lined with weeping trees. We rode alongside horse drawn carriages and through traffic jammed roads of NYC for 51 blocks, and pedaled around the entire perimeter of the park. Even with pedal assist bikes there was too much to see. It was all green, lush and a little muggy with a cool breeze – pretty perfect for a ride around the park. If we had more days, we would have definitely returned for some more detail trips.

A Quick Preview of Harlem

Not much running or hiking this summer (in fact, none). But there’s always an adventure, right? My first adventure for the summer is that I got to visit New York City. New York City (or even NY for that matter) was not on my bucket list. But it quickly made the list when my middle son was accepted into an orchestra for the Guitar Federation of America at the Manhattan School of Music.

And so, thanks to my son, off to Manhattan was I. It was a little surreal flying over that Manhattan Island skyline. We landed in LaGuardia on a Sunday evening and shuttled to a lovely historic brownstone in Harlem. It was like a bed and breakfast, without the breakfast. But we had a small kitchen in our room, which included a loft for our son’s girlfriend. We were a little less than a mile from the Manhattan School of Music which was perfect being that our son stayed at the dorm there on most nights.

So, let me tell you about Harlem. I loved it. It’s full of history, intricate architecture, excellent food and Central Park! The owners of our brownstone were great and gave us total privacy. The whole place was in fact private. I occasionally would see another tenant open or close a door but that was it. It was lonely inside the brownstone. But Harlem, it was not lonely. It was lively, reeking of marijuana and countless food joints. Many streets were lined with food carts (Jerked chicken, pork, warm nuts, etc.). I had my first New York pizza in Harlem. And I bought a blue paisley dress for $20 on the streets of Harlem. Harlem was not what I’ve heard about New Yorkers. Everyone talked to us. Everyone was friendly, regular people. We stayed six nights in the brownstone, ate at more than one deli (as there were about three deli’s on every block), plus enjoyed many other great eateries, including a gem that we ate at twice, Sylvia’s, Soul Food Restaurant (in business for 60 years!). Harlem is part of the big city though, so I was cautious and mainly stayed on the beaten path, especially after dark. I have to say, I very much enjoyed my time in Harlem, more so than any other part of New York City I visited  – I’ll try and preview some of those spots in my next post.