Still, the old man of the bunch did what he always does - he got up earlier than anyone else in the apartment, got ready and headed out. With laptop in tow, the neighborhood Starbuck's provided a great place to check e-mail, do a little "bidness," consume a little decaf to start the day, and basically get out of the way while, back at the apartment, the girls invaded and conquered the tiny bathroom.
After thirty-one years of marriage, and a combined fifty-four years of fatherhood to two girls, a man comes to know exactly what to do when there is only one bathroom in a hotel suite, apartment, or condo. Get in, and get out!!!!!!
Later, I got the call. "Breakfast is ready!" We enjoyed a delicious southern breakfast of biscuits, sausage and scrambled eggs, cooked masterfully by our gracious hostess/daughter. I am so thankful that my incredible wife taught our daughters to cook, clean, and manage their homes and lives. It gives a parent a world of peace to know that your children can make it without you if they have to. Thanks to Debbie, ours can.
To show appreciation to my daughter for such a great meal, and also to expedite the "getting-ready" process for my two females, Paw got in the kitchen and did the breakfast dishes. There is nothing quite like standing at a sink in a kitchen built for someone who barely weighs a hundred pounds, while staring out the window at high-rise office buildings, and seeing snow flurries dancing in the air - cascading down toward the busy streets below!
When we finally bundled up and headed out, I never asked where we were going. I dared not inquire - for that would have ruined the many surprises our favorite tour guide had planned for us. I just knew that we were going. And, once again, at neck-brake speed.
After a brisk walk of several blocks, and the exchange of at least two different subway trains, we wound up at the only place in NYC that isn't covered by asphalt or concrete.
Central Park!
Central Park, which has been a National Historic Landmark since 1963, was designed by landscape designer and writer Frederick Law Olmsted and the English architect Calvert Vaux in 1858 after winning a design competition. It's current form was opened to the public in 1873.
The park, which receives approximately twenty-five million visitors annually, is the most visited urban park in the United States. It was opened on 770 acres of city-owned land and was expanded to 843 acres in 1873. It is 2.5 miles long between 59th Street (Central Park South) and 110th Street (Central Park North), and is 0.5 miles wide between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West. It is similar in size to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and Chicago's Lincoln Park.
Central Park is bordered on the north by West 110th Street, on the south by West 59th Street, on the west by Eighth Avenue, and on the east by Fifth Avenue. Along the park's borders however, these are known as Central Park North, Central Park South, and Central Park West, respectively. Only Fifth Avenue retains its name, as it delineates the eastern border of the park.
(Many thanks to the boys over at Wikipedia for the preceding stats and info.)
To the eye of the tourist, Central Park is a beautiful and welcome interruption to the hustle and bustle that surrounds it. There are large, low-hanging trees everywhere. Wide walkways, stately bridges and fountains, at least one lake, and benches galore adorn this pretty place. From forty-three stories up (later, we got to see if from that vantage point), you come to realize why it is named, "Central Park." It is like the proverbial oasis in the middle of the desert.
On the western side of CP, is the Dakota - the apartment building where John Lennon lived and died. The memorial to him - aptly named, "Strawberry Field" - occupies the portion of the park across the way from the Dakota.
Of all the beauty in Central Park, the one most welcome sight on this cold, Saturday morning was a large area with a sign over the door that read, "Men's."
While in the restroom, I sensed a line of men gathering at one end of the long parade of stalls. I could not figure out what they were all doing until I approached for a closer look. There it was! On the wall next to the sinks. The lone, hand, blow drier. It was SO cold outside that guys were lining up, NOT to use the facilities, but to stand with their hands under the warm gust of air that billowed out of the hand drier each time the poor button on the front was pushed.
I thought to myself, "these Yankee folks ain't so dumb after all."
After trekking through what seemed to be at least half of the 843 acres of the park, we did what every tourist in NYC eventually does. We stopped at a sidewalk vendor's cart for a genuine, NYC, Central Park, hot dog. I immediately thought of the funny old joke about the two Chinese businessmen visiting America, and NYC, for the first time. You'll have to contact me to actually "hear" the joke in person. Trust me, it is MUCH funnier that way!
While sitting on a arctic cold bench, as an arctic cold wind blew across the lake in front of us, we huddled up like three homeless people and hurriedly ate our hot dogs. The folks that came by on the walkway, along with the pigeons and squirrels that gathered around our bench, gawked at our food with a greatly lustful and almost famine-like hunger in their eyes.
We quickly wolfed down the dogs, and set out again.
Before we left the park, Sarah spotted (you-guessed-it) a Coffee, Pasty, and Belgian Waffle/Chocolate shop right there in the middle of Central Park. We went in and sat at a long wooden table with scores of other folks that we had never met. The hot coffee and hot chocolate they brought us was a welcome relief to the numbing cold in our bones.
It was really hard to finally get up and leave!
If you go to NYC, Central Park will obviously be somewhere on your, "To Do," list. As it should be.
What a beautiful place!
What a great city!
Thank you, Sarah, for taking us there, and for showing your old folks this remarkable landmark!
(Disclaimer: Yes, I know that the fonts look a little goofy in this chapter. Apparently, Blogspot doesn't like it when you cut and paste text from other applications! I tried, unsuccessfully, for the better part of fifteen minutes to fix this problem. My sincere apologies for the reader's visual inconvenience.)
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