September 19, 2019
I am a big fan of hotels that offer breakfast. It is so nice to have breakfast without making an extra stop. I skip the eggs and have English muffins with peanut butter which is my favorite breakfast with a cup of coffee. Toast the muffins, spread the peanut butter that gets gooey with the heat of the muffin and I am in heaven.
As many times I have been to NYC, I hadn’t spent anytime in Central Park. I was looking for new things to do and this was on the list. I booked an hour long horse and carriage tour though the park. I couldn’t have been more impressed with the tour guide and the company (NYC Horse Carriage Rides), although it was a bit more expensive than other tours, I felt like I was getting quality.
The guide said that the park was first approved in the 1850’s. It wasn’t a park back then but rather a residential area that was cleared and landscaped. He pointed out the park was originally designed to be seen from a horse and carriage as they didn’t have cars back then. Throughout the tour, the guide pointed out areas that were used in films. As we went through the tour, I felt like most of the park was pretty recognizable, Central Park has been used in a lot of films.
One of the busier spots was “Strawberry Fields”, an area of the park that is living memorial to John Lennon. People gather at the memorial which is a round tiled area which at the center say “Imagine”, people were there singing his songs. The tour guide said that singers show up every day to sing his songs. I have to say, I was quite moved, John was killed close to 40 years ago, most artists would have been forgotten about but his music lives and as I thought about the songs thought they are a just a relevant today as they were back in the 60’s and 70’s.
The Dakota, where John Lennon Lived, overlooked the spot. We were told that his wife Yoko still lives there and wondered if she heard the music coming from his memorial on a daily basis.
So many of the buildings around the park have history, they also come with a high price tag. As the tour guide pointed out some of the buildings with recent real estate deals, I think to myself, even if I win the lottery, I still couldn’t afford those apartments.
That evening, we had made reservations for dinner and then a play. We had dinner at Orso, an Italian restaurant, a street up from the Music Box theater. I had my heart set on artisan pizza and was disappointed to see that due to renovations, they did not have pizza on the menu. At the end of the meal I realized that I had one of my best meals in New York City and then wondered, would I have felt that way if I had ordered the pizza? Sometimes being pushed out of comfort zones ends up being the best experience.
Afterwards we saw Dear Evan Hansen at the Music Box Theater. Both Sophon and I enjoyed it. Neither of us knew a lot about it going into the play which was part of the fun seeing the play.
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