{"id":1,"date":"2016-05-30T16:27:44","date_gmt":"2016-05-30T16:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/followmenyc.com\/?p=1"},"modified":"2024-01-04T22:17:15","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T22:17:15","slug":"central-park","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/index.php\/central-park\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Expedition: Central Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">There\u2019s nothing quite like being awestruck by the sheer beauty of the huge buildings towering over you in NYC. The city itself is grand, but for my first expedition I wanted to visit something a little more natural, Central Park.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The first thing I did after arriving was buy a delicious hot dog from a small food court located near the entrances of the park.\u00a0I began to explore as I chowed down on my treat and noticed some kids playing around this beautiful\u00a0statue. As I got closer I was surprised to find out the statue was Alice from the book (and later movie) \u201cAlice in Wonderland\u201d. I read that book as a child and it was nice to see this statue greeting me as I explored Central Park. I did some research on the statue and it turns out a man named\u00a0George Delacorte commissioned it<span class=\"s1\"> after his wife passed away. She use to love reading the book to their children.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/followmenyc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Alice-in-Wonderland-Statue1.jpg\" alt=\"Alice-in-Wonderland-Statue1\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Alice-in-Wonderland-Statue1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Alice-in-Wonderland-Statue1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">I continued to walk and walk (I couldn&#8217;t help myself!), admiring the beauty around me. I really liked the park, and felt a lot more connected to the city by visiting. It was nice to experience some natural beauty in a city full of man-made wonders.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">Eventually I found my next destination, the zoo!\u00a0Central Park Zoo was really nice. I really liked the Rain forest and all it\u2019s different tropical birds from places like Madagascar and the Victoria Crowned Pigeons of New Guinea. I enjoyed taking a look at the frogs, snakes, toads, and lizards. There was so much variety in this zoo considering its\u00a0relatively small\u00a0size.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">As I left the zoo I wondered what else there might be to do. I wandered around and it soon became apparent that there was still plenty more to discover in the park.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>I stumbled upon the Belvedere Castle and was not only amazed by the impressive old architecture but also impressed with the surrounding area itself.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>I enjoyed views of the Delacorte Theater, the Great Lawn, and the Turtle Pond.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Inside the Castle, I found Henry Luce Nature Observatory. There were telescopes and a pretty nice little field pack that contains binoculars and a good amount of reference materials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Along Central Park\u2019s southwestern edge is an impressive 15-acre field called the Sheep Meadow, where people relaxed and ate lunch with one another. It was a Quiet Zone and had strong rules\u00a0to keep it quiet. Most pets are prohibited from the area and audible music is strictly forbidden. Because of the quietness of the area, it&#8217;s very popular amongst a lot of people in the city as a way to &#8220;get away&#8221; from all of the noise of New York City. It was nice to sit down on the grass and enjoy a nice relaxing rest before I continued on my journey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Next I came across\u00a0a few people playing instruments and singing. They were actually\u00a0quite\u00a0good and had a tip box out so they could make some money for their time. I always found it admirable that people could open themselves and their art up for public consumption. I can barely give a speech in front of a group of people at my job, but these musicians were brave enough to play in front of people they&#8217;ve never even met.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">I continued on and visited the historic Central Park Carousel. The original park carousel opened in 1871 and was kept moving by a blind mule and a horse, who walked on a treadmill in an underground pit.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It has become one of the park\u2019s most popular attractions and judging from all the people that were gathered around, it&#8217;s still pretty popular.<\/p>\n<p>Overall I really enjoyed my visit to Central Park. I can see why it&#8217;s become such an iconic part of the city. It provides a getaway to nature without ever leaving NYC! I&#8217;ll absolutely be visiting Central Park much more in the coming weeks and can see it becoming a regular stop during my weekend routine.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/followmenyc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/delightful-the-garden-nyc-2-conservatory-garden-central-park-good-ideas-1024x685.jpg\" alt=\"delightful-the-garden-nyc-2-conservatory-garden-central-park-good-ideas\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/delightful-the-garden-nyc-2-conservatory-garden-central-park-good-ideas-1024x685.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/delightful-the-garden-nyc-2-conservatory-garden-central-park-good-ideas-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/delightful-the-garden-nyc-2-conservatory-garden-central-park-good-ideas-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/delightful-the-garden-nyc-2-conservatory-garden-central-park-good-ideas.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s nothing quite like being awestruck by the sheer beauty of the huge buildings towering over you in NYC. The city itself is grand, but for my first expedition I wanted to visit something a little more natural, Central Park. The first thing I did after arriving was buy a delicious hot dog from a &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/index.php\/central-park\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;My First Expedition: Central Park&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/followmenyc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}