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Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Central Park🌳New York🗽36 Hours

🌳 Central Park 🌳 New York 🗽
36 Hours
With its endless trails, hidden nooks, museums and nearby night spots, Central Park is that rare tourist destination that is also a pleasure ground for locals. Video Credit By Fritzie Andrade, One Glass Video, Kriston Lewis, Will Lloyd and Oresti Tsonopoulos on Publish Date September 17, 2014. Image CreditPiotr Redlinski for The New York Times 

In 1859, the sanctuary of undulating hills, bridges and lakes taking shape in the heart of Manhattan was described in The New York Times as a “noble work, which is so clearly destined to be the honor and delight of New York.” Neglect and decline in the 1970s threatened to snuff out that utopian vision of Central Park, but today, after years of restoration, it is verdant and flourishing — the rare tourist destination that is also a pleasure ground for locals. Depending on the season and cycle of life, one might be sunbathing or ice skating, sailing a toy boat or rowing a real one, listening to Shakespeare, rock music or the call of one of 230 species of birds.

Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Central Park’s more than 840 acres are dappled with sculptures, monuments and fountains that tell of the nation’s explorers, artists and heroes, both real and imaginary: Columbus, Beethoven, Duke Ellington, John Lennon, Alice in Wonderland. The park is also home to tennis and handball courts, croquet greens, a carousel, a castle, a marionette theater, a zoo and more than a dozen playgrounds. It is crisscrossed by horse-drawn carriages and ringed by astronomically priced apartments, luxury hotels and world-class museums. Yet despite its being a kind of three-ring circus, there are quiet trails and hidden nooks, museums and bars within and around the park where one can find a more tranquil, timeless Manhattan.



FRIDAY

1. Boldface Names
Download the free Central Park app to your smartphone. Its map allows you to pinpoint where you are, but more interesting, the app has audio clips of celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld welcoming you to the Mall and Literary Walk, or Whoopi Goldberg discussing Wollman Rink (where she learned to ice skate). Then, pretend you’re an aristocrat in a Merchant Ivory film and step through one of the iron gates near 105th Street and Fifth Avenue into the formal, six-acre Conservatory Garden (an official quiet zone), which is divided into three garden styles: French, Italian and English (don’t miss the Frances Hodgson Burnett Memorial Fountain with its sculptures of a boy and a girl, created in honor of the author of “The Secret Garden”). In the Italian garden, climb the stairs to the tall wisteria pergola, sit on a shady bench and observe the 12-foot-tall jet fountain below. Now is a good time to press play on the app and listen to Candice Bergen discuss the gardens. Before leaving, look down. At your feet, medallions etched into the ground carry the names of the original 13 states, including New York.


2. Museum Mile | 3:30 p.m.
Exit the gardens onto Fifth Avenue through the soaring wrought-iron Vanderbilt Gate, made in Paris in 1894 and once part of Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s mansion at 58th Street. Walk south. You’re on the aptly named Museum Mile. Already been to heavyweights like the Guggenheim? Stop by less-trafficked spots like the Museum of the City of New York, where you’ll find vestiges of the city’s younger days, including handwritten manuscripts by Eugene O’Neill. And Neue Galerie celebrates 20th-century German and Austrian art and design with works by Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann, Vasily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Then enjoy a lobster roll ($18) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s self-service roof garden cafe and martini bar (open May through late fall) as the sun sets.

A view of the park, looking north.  
Credit Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times
3. A Southern Crawl | 7:30 p.m.
Begin at the Plaza. Skip the buzzy Champagne Bar in the lobby and climb the stairs to the more-intimate Rose Club, where plush chairs are ideal for tête-à-têtes. A Bloody Mary costs $23, but, hey, you can almost make a meal of free nuts and popcorn. (The Plaza Food Hall is a great place to pick up pastries and other treats to eat in the park.) Then walk west along Central Park South, peeking into the windows of bars to see what pulls you in, from Whiskey Park to the bar at South Gate restaurant in the J W Marriott Essex House. When you reach the Museum of Arts and Design, go to the ninth floor, where you’ll find Robert, a restaurant and lounge with live piano music and views of Columbus Circle. Across the street at the Time Warner Center, there are several bars (as well as upscale shops), including the lovely Center Bar, where you’ll also find live piano music, and Landmarc, which serves casual bistro fare. For something fancier, there’s the Stone Rose Lounge.


SATURDAY
4. Early Birds | 7:30 a.m.
Bird lovers know that daybreak is magical. In the Ramble, a more-than-30-acre maze of boulders and trees, birding is especially rewarding because, according to the Central Park website, it is on the Atlantic Flyway, a migration route that birds follow in the spring and fall. Walking its shady arteries, it’s easy to forget that this section of the park is almost entirely man-made: The running water in the stream can be turned on and off as if it were coming from a kitchen faucet. (For those who get a later start, the Central Park Conservancy offers kits with binoculars, maps, a guidebook and sketching materials that you can borrow at no charge at Belvedere Castle.)
 
5. Into the Woods | 10 a.m.
On sunny days, Central Park’s vast lawns are littered with people. If you want a little peace — and a hint of the Adirondacks — head to the North Woods. Be cautious, though, as this is a dense, somewhat isolated area. That said, the 90 acres of wildflowers, trees, a ravine and a waterfall will transport you to the country. These woodlands (another bird-watching hot spot) were designed to block out the skyline and drown out the noise of the city with babbling water. And do they ever. Little wonder that the magician David Copperfield has said that this is the place he comes to when he longs to disappear. Look, too, for the nearby Pool, where ducks nestle on the banks beneath weeping willows. Farther north, at the Harlem Meer, you can try catch-and-release fishing.

6. Tasting Menu | 1 p.m.
When you’re in the mood for lunch, walk over to Trump Hotel Central Park and into Nougatine, the elegant yet “casual sister” of Jean-Georges. Here Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s prix fixe lunch menu ($38) changes with the seasons but includes an appetizer, main course like seared salmon with corn pudding and cherry tomato salad or organic chicken with ricotta gnocchi, market carrots and Roma beans, and dessert (the warm chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream is a must).


7. Star Gazing | 3 p.m.
Next door to the American Museum of Natural History is a giant orb in a glass box: the Rose Center for Earth and Space. There are few better ways to spend a rainy day than gazing at star clusters and galaxies during a show at the Hayden Planetarium, or watching an Imax nature film at the museum. Speaking of the museum, stop by to marvel at dinosaur fossils and to lie down (go ahead, it’s O.K.) beneath the 94-foot-long, 21,000-pound fiberglass model of a blue whale suspended from the ceiling.
8. All That Jazz | 7:30 p.m.
In the warmer months you can catch a concert or play in Central Park or at nearby Lincoln Center, but any time of year is right for listening to jazz while eating finger-licking fare like a catfish po’boy ($16) or bourbon-glazed barbecued baby back ribs ($24) at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. Part of Jazz at Lincoln Center, this intimate club has table and bar seating, all facing a vertiginous wall of windows behind the performers — almost close enough to touch — that lets in Central Park and the twinkling city lights.

9. Nightcap in the Park | 10 p.m.
The recently reopened, more rustic (think hunting lodge) Tavern on the Green at 67th Street and Central Park West has an oval indoor bar and fireplace to take the chill out of fall nights. For something more romantic, visit the outdoor bar where, beneath glowing lanterns, you can sip drinks with unromantic names inspired by boroughs, including the Staten Island (Cacao Prieto rum, coconut water, pineapple and lime juice; $14).
Rowing near the Loeb Boathouse. 
Credit Piotr Redlinski for The New York Time
SUNDAY
10. Waffles and Row Boats | 9:30 a.m.
Yes, it’s rife with tourists. But do visit the Loeb Boathouse, which opened in 1954. How often can one tuck into maple waffles with warm berry compote ($16) and watch rowboats glide by on a lake — in the middle of Manhattan? After brunch, go for a row (boats are $15 an hour; $20 cash deposit required).

11. Walk on the Wild Side | 11:30 a.m.
Tigers, red pandas, and an emerald tree boa are a few of the creatures you may encounter at the Central Park Zoo. There are penguin and sea lion feedings, a children’s zoo with a nature trail, and a 4-D theater. The zoo is tiny compared with the Bronx Zoo, but it is a delightful way to end a weekend in an urban jungle.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2014/09/17/hours-map/59698ea9f0a8aaf80030e4add5bb0226eb62f35f/0921-tra-web-HOURSmap-300.png

Central Park. October 17, 1905

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