We decided to have a day exploring around Central Park. We headed for the blue subway at 50th and 8th and caught the train up to 59th Street Columbus Circle station. We exited the station and crossed over Columbus Circle and headed into the park through the Holiday Season Columbus Circle Markets. We meandered our way through the park enjoying the relative fresh air, grass, trees and scenic natural environment whilst trying to spot birds and squirrels. Plenty of both were on show.
We continued exploring - taking photos as we went - and eventually stumbled upon the Imagine tile mosaic in the Strawberry Fields section of Central park near the Dokota Building where John Lennon lived. Like last time there was a small gathering of slightly odd people loitering around the Imagine mosaic. No real idea why. We walked past and headed towards the pond in the centre of the park and then onto the old castle like structure that is now used as a weather gathering station. We stayed here for quite a while as the sun was setting and it was such a nice peaceful and elevated place to spend some time relaxing and escaping the frenetic pace of midtown Manhattan.
We even spotted a clever Squirrel who had built a shelter on the outside of the building between the window pane and the stone work (see photo below). What a champion.
The cold finally forced us down and out of the park and we headed for the Upper West Side to explore and check out Zabar, a fantastic fresh food store that the owner of our apartment suggested.
We checked out some real estate prices and were surprised that there are some very affordable apartments for sale, although there are some extravagantly priced ones also. We stopped by a cafe and had a snack and drink and rested from all of our walking around the park all afternoon then we headed off for Zabar.
It was a great place for fresh food of all sorts. You really can eat well in New York without having to cook anything yourself. All sorts of ready made fresh food on offer for all dietary tastes. We picked up a mix of fresh olives and some 'bible bread' which is really just a fancifully named cracker.
We then started to head back downtown making our way back to our apartment. We stopped by a coffee shop for a 'natural break' and had ourselves another warm drink. I had a Soy Chai and it left me feeling a little bit over full, never a nice feeling.
As we were now only about 25 blocks from home, even though we had started around 80th Street (our apartment is on 46th Street) we decided to walk the rest of the way. We enjoyed our walk through the Upper West Side heading down Broadway which has great shops, restaurants and cafes on it. We really liked the Upper West Side. It has a much more relaxed and less frantic feel about it compared to midtown where we are staying. It seems cleaner and is much less busy, although still very much has a New York feel to it.
We joined up with 9th Avenue at Lincoln Centre around 64th Street and continued the walk. It was slowly changing from an Upper West Side feel into a Midtown feel. Very different vibes in these two areas, both of which are great.
Finally back to our apartment after a huge day of walking, probably 10 miles or more and time for dinner, showers and journal updates.
Today's Weather
Wind: Variable at 6 MPH (5 KT)
Visibility: 10 mile(s)
Sky conditions: overcast
Temperature: 53.1 F (11.7 C)
Dew Point: 39.0 F (3.9 C)
Relative Humidity: 58%
Pressure (altimeter): 30.05 in. Hg (1017 hPa)
