One of the most beautiful things about Manhattan is the aura of familiarity and romantism about it’s parks, a perpetual feeling that you’ve been there before or that you are about to witness something beautiful like a dream coming true, a couple about to get married and live happily ever after, an old man feeding the birds, the first notes to “Young at heart”, silence, than Tony Benett’s voice crooning “Fairytales can come true, they can happen to you…” somewhere among the trees, in the distance.
On the south side of Manhattan is Battery Park, one of the best places for feeding squirells and watching ferries depart to and from the islands (the ferry to Staten Island is free and on it’s way, it gets relatively close to Liberty Island, some say this is the best way to see the Statue, which isn’t necessarily worth visiting unless you really enjoy rip-offs).
And then there is Central Park and spectacular pink trees everywhere…although cherry blossoms could turn any April walk into a romantic escape in fairyland, I found something even more easy on the eyes: the Dogwood tree – a rare, statuesque presence with a japanese air about it. It’s name is no match for the beauty and fragility of the flowers and I will always remember it simply as “the most beautiful Central Park japanese tree”.
They’re umpire Ice Age rocks reminding you that it’s spring in New York after all, so you might as well start living in the here and now because that’s all you have.
What surprised me the most was the number of brides on sq/ft, impressive to say the least, which after a while became overwhelming and a little unnatural, but still a beautiful thing to see.
With only a few hours to spare in an 840 acres Central Park, we had to carefully choose our battles. A lot of spots were drastically cut from our “to do” list, but we still got to see some of the most photogenic places.
To get to what is called the most iconic side of the most famous park in the United States thanks to movie classics like “The way we were”, “When Harry met Sally”, “Kramer vs. Kramer”, “One fine day”, “The mirror has two faces”, “The out-of-towners”, “Annie Hall”, we took the subway to 72nd Street and Central Park West, then headed East towards Strawberry Fields, Sheep Meadow, Cherry Hill, Bow Bridge, Bethesda Fountain and Loeb Boathouse, the Hans Christian Andersen monument and Alice in Wonderland statue and saw them all in a New York hour (which – we learned it the hard way – is the older brother of a New York minute – “the interval between a Manhattan traffic light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn”, as Johnny Carson once said).
I loved the sight of Bow Bridge, the elegant shapes, the stillness and poetry about it, but like New York itself, it was much different in reality from what I had dreamed it would be. A part of me wishes she had stayed a just little longer to walk around the Mall or ride a rented bike, feed the squirells, do some birdwatching or whatever else new yorkers do.
Instead, we headed towards Bethesda fountain and terrace, another iconic movie location, another myth broken to pieces: as beautiful as it undoubtedly was, it always seemed bigger and more spectacular in movies. The Terrace Drive on the other hand, was unknown to me. It must have appeared in movies too, I just never saw it. And damn, was it magical!
After having spotted a White-Throtted sparrow (something you don’t get to see in Europe) but long before the lamp posts got lit for the night, we left Central Park with it’s historical treasures and hidden places, love stories and broken dreams.
Until we meet again.
Green Eyed Kisses,
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