Who hasn’t heard of 5th Avenue?, the beautiful Audrey showed it to us in Breakfast at Tiffanys, another of my favourite classic movies. Mind you the avenue is a bit empty, not like nowadays, as in the city that never sleeps there is activity in its streets anytime of the day.
I love getting up early to go to Central Park for a run. I access it through 5th Av. passing in front of Tiffany’s little window, which is only a few metres away. There are various routes for runners, sometimes one branches off, I imagine he or she is taking a more exciting route so I follow them to see it. If you like running I encourage you to see the city from that perspective
And if you still feel like moving your body, in the winter the ice rink in the park is a very good alternative to have fun.
In the west of the park in the 72nd street, is the Dakota Building where John Lennon lived, as for today it still has tons of visitors, considering that this was also the place where he was murdered.
Inside the park, just crossing the street, there is a mosaic with the word “Imagine” as a tribute, it is located in the gardens of “Strawberry Fields”, named like this in honour of his song. As a curiosity I’ll tell you I read that when they opened the gardens some diplomats sent presents, the URRS sent birch trees, Canada maple trees, Holland daffodils and the princess Grace Kelly RABBITS, females, so they wouldn’t extinct, curious eh?
Going north of the park is the big Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, the same one my partner in crime Virginia and I went across in a very hot and sticky summer day, this is something New York has, in the summer you melt whilst in the winter you froze, it is full of contrasts.
The view of the skyline from the north of the reservoir is spectacular.
Before we started our walk we went to the Neue Gallery, which is in the east of the park, on 5th with 86 St. It is a museum where they exhibit German and Austrian art from the beginning of the 20th century. There is an amazing painting there that I was very keen to see, “The portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” by Gustav Klimt, they made a movie based on it called “The woman in gold” with Helen Mirren, actress I love. I recommend you watching the movie as well as admiring the beauty of the painting.
Close by on 5th and 80 St. is the Metropolitan Museum of Art aka The Met. It has an imposing façade and it is massive. Right on the other side of the park is the American Museum of Natural History, yes, the one on the movie “A night in the museum”.
Central Park is also full of magic little corners where you can sit to read or write. What better reading for NY than a book that was born here, in a very special place, I will tell you about another day and whose author is fan number one of the city. “Algún día no es un día de la semana” by Sol Aguirre.
I know it’s not in English yet, but you can already find it in Italian and English will follow very soon, I am sure.
It is a book you’ll never stop laughing with, whether you are waiting for the plane or on the beach, you’ll laugh your head off. Reading it is like talking with your best friend, it has inventiveness, freshness, wit and as I mentioned, lots of great sense of humour.
Sol even has a blog that I insistently recommend called lasclavesdesol.com, I know I keep repeating myself, and you might not even speak Spanish, but if you do, I don’t want you to miss out on the opportunity to have fun with her, as my friends and I do.
One of Sofia’s favourite places, the protagonist of our book, is Magnolia Bakery, yes, it rings the bell right?, it is where Carrie Bradshaw buys those amazing TO DIE FOR muffins, in fact, the first one they open is very close to her fictional house, which is not more than a door in Perry St., but Sex and the City freaks love these things, don’t we?
So dear nomads, we are on our way to Bleecker St. to buy and muffin and to write more posts about this wonderful city, I might just stay in that neighbourhood and tell you all its secrets, or find more special places to show you in Central Park.
ENJOY!
