After a very long drawn out journey, we were exhausted. But jet lag kicked in pretty hard. We had an interrupted nights sleep and got up a couple of times before getting some solid sleep.
We get up at around 8.30 and explore the hotel. Four years and not much has changed. We visit the gym and cafe, rooftop garden area. We sit and enjoy a cup of tea and pastry.
Afterwards we chat to reception about changing our room. The bathroom in our initial room is a little too risky for me. A step up and a bath/shower combined. Too many trip hazards. As always though the AKA team look after us and find us an alternate room.
Once that is sorted we head out. Central Park is our first stop. The weather is stunning. About 12 degrees and full sun overhead. We jump on the subway at Bryant Park and head up to 59th and Columbus Circle. We emerge from the subway into the glorious morning sunshine, while simultaneously being set upon by pedi-cab drivers and an assortment of so called Central Park expert tour guides. We politely decline the “almost free ride” – which in reality is around $6 a minute – and cheap walking tours. We wander into the park, side stepping the throng of tourists, hawkers and street vendors. As we descend into the depths of the park the crowd thins a little, but it is Saturday morning with perfect weather, so it’s still busy.
We walk with no real destination in mind. We follow the winding and undulating paths past playgrounds, the carousel and eventually come to Literary Walk. Flanked on both sides of the walk are statues and monuments. We stop and read about the women’s rights pioneers monument. The historic monuments remind us of a quieter more gentle time, while the modern residents of the walk somewhat jarringly peddle their wares: artworks, trinkets, souvenirs, hot dogs, books and sketchers cram in as we walk our way towards Bethesda Fountain.
On the way we grab a quick hot dog from a street vendor.
We take the opportunity to photograph some late autumnal colour near the City Employees War Memorial flag pole. We spot a squirrel as it scurries gathering food for the winter. We look at the sculptures atop Bethesda Terrace before descending the steps. A wedding party is taking photos on the terrace, kids chase giant soap bubbles being created by a busker, “Hotel California” is performed by another busker on the pan-pipes, a saxophone plays sadly nearby as a talented vocalist sings like it’s 1930. Each sound swirls around us as we idle our way through the frenetic space, paradoxically serenity returns as we leave the space joining a pathway along the lake that takes us to the Lakehouse restaurant. Sadly the restaurant is still closed, a victim of the pandemic. There is talk of it reopening one day.
We continue past and join the main thoroughfare, East Drive, leading up to our favourite spot. No visit of ours to New York is complete without visiting Still Hunt. Frozen in a perpetual state of poised anticipation, the panther, shiny and black peers at us from its rocky outcrop. We sit opposite and watch him, imagining him coming to life, pouncing on an unsuspecting passer by. In the few minutes we sit there hundreds of people pass by, most oblivious to his stare. Some trudge up the hill in an endless chase for fitness, some glide panther like already at their peak fitness, mums push all terrain strollers as they chat to each other as cyclists glide by. Pedi-cabs, scooters and recumbent bikes all add to the constant stream.
We bid farewell to Still Hunt. He reminds me of Ricky, our panther like cat. Ricky often sits at our front door waiting and wanting to pounce on the unsuspecting magpies who, protected by the screen, taunt Ricky.
We wander deeper into the park, passing Belvedere Castle and entering the Ramble: a section of slim, winding and undulating pathways. As we walk through this cool and dark jungle like area, we pass a number of squirrels. We don’t see them, but we can hear them in the undergrowth and imagine them leaping out and nipping at our heels. The ramble takes us past the lake and a couple of bridges. The first bridge, Oak Bridge, is where we stop and take some photos. This seems to be a popular spot as the bridge creaks under the weight of the myriad tourists.
We continue our journey along the ramble, the forest on our left and the lake on our right as we emerge back into the sunshine and the second bridge. The well-known, famous bridge that has appeared in movies for decades: Bow Bridge. The bridge is teaming with people, much like ants would swarm on a dropped ice cream. And it seemed that everyone thought they were the only person on the bridge. People stood in pairs, or expansive thruples taking selfies, arms and sticks extended like praying mantises waving around in the air. We duck and weave our way across the bridge, I almost lose my one good eye on a selfie stick, but we make it across.
We turn right at the end of the bridge and slowly sweep our way out, heading towards the opposite corner on 59th to where we entered. From above our trek through the park resembles a large loop the loop.
We catch the subway and head home.
Before we head home we change trains at 42nd St and catch the shuttle to Grand Central. It’s time for some lunch. We visit Urban Spoon, a nice little eatery near Grand Central. I have a couple of tacos and Mardi gets a pizza. We sit at a table on the street for a while, before heading to the Market at Grand Central. We grab some supplies for our room: milk, granola, cheese, biscuits. We then catch the shuttle back to 42nd St. The train is packed, as we pull in Mardi quips “the snake slows, stops and vomits its guts up.” We spill onto the platform and ooze our way to the exit.
Our new room is ready and we rest for a while before unpacking. A bit later we grab some Tony’s for dinner: generous and tasty Italian dishes. It’ll do us for a few nights!
We get a fitful nights sleep/; jet lag is still stuffing us up, but we both manage a couple of three hour stints.
