Central Park in January
Since today was January 8th, it wouldn’t seem like a day to stroll in Central Park, but it was. As many people know, the Northeast has had a warmer-than-usual January thaw, and in New York it was in the sixties. It felt like spring.
I took a long walk in Central Park with my camera, taking reference snaps for another project. After a while, though, I realized I was just enjoying the park.
I went first to the Reservoir, entering at 86th Street, near the Central Park Police Precinct. The day was cloudy, and the reservoir was, I think, at its most beautiful, reflecting the sky in shades of silver and gray, with the occasional touch of blue. Since the day was so warm and beautiful, the lake was filled with ducks and geese, and the park was filled with people, walking their dogs, playing soccer, and watching children play.
The next stop was Strawberry Fields (the John Lennon memorial). People were standing around the “Imagine” mosaic, laying flowers and just standing, thinking, maybe praying. I overheard a woman say, “Oh, he’s here. The hawk’s here. I’m so glad.” She went across to the fence and peered up into the trees, and sure enough, one of Central Park’s famous hawks was perched on a tree a few yards from the memorial.
I thanked her for pointing him out, since I would never have noticed he was there, and she was clearly happy to have done me the inadvertent favor. She explained that she had lost a close friend recently, and seeing the hawk there every day was somehow comforting. Looking at him, sitting serenely on his branch, I could understand why.
I had decided to walk across the park, then back up the East Side to the Reservoir again. With all the leaves fallen, the trees were very dramatic – I took some photos of the strange shapes. (As an aside, we had watched “The Devil and Daniel Webster” – great old movie – a couple of days ago, so it was funny that the first statue I came to was no other than Daniel Webster.)
At the bridge above the Bethesda Fountain, I stopped to take pictures, and realized that down in front of the fountain was what appeared to be a wedding party. I say “appeared” because I wasn’t quite sure if it was a real wedding or a modeling shoot. The bride seemed to be posing, and there were only a few people there, which suggested modeling, but there wasn’t the elaborate camera and lighting setup which usually goes with a shoot. Perhaps it was a little of both. The bride appeared to be Asian, so perhaps they went there to take some special wedding photos to send home. A moment later, after I crossed to the other stairway, they were gone.
I walked up past the Boathouse (thank heaven for the ladies’ room there), considered having an expensive lunch there but decided to keep going, then crossed to the boating pool (officially called the Conservatory Water). I took some pictures of the Alice in Wonderland statue, then headed north.
I watched two puppies having a wonderful time wrestling. The owner of the smaller puppy tried half-heartedly to call him away a couple of times, but she was also enjoying the game. She explained that it was actually his first time out, and she was concerned that he might be a little overwhelmed. Personally, I thought she would have trouble living up to his first experience – he might expect this kind of entertainment to be laid on every time he went out!
I needed photos of the statue of King Jagiello and of the obelisk known as Cleopatra’s Needle, so I zigzagged up past the Metropolitan Museum, then up to the Gatehouse at the south end of the reservoir. From here, the reservoir looked even more beautiful, with flocks of birds everywhere. On the wall that extends from gatehouse to gatehouse and is usually invisible, covered with a few inches of water, hundreds of seagulls were standing, making the shape of the wall very clear.
I had one more stop to make. I needed a wall calendar, so I climbed the steps to the Met and headed for their wonderful museum store. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any that I liked, or had sold out, so I waved goodbye to Central Park, and headed home.
It may be days before my feet recover from my “stroll”, but it was worth it!
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