Carriage Ride Through Central Park

When we finished at The Plaza Hotel, Steve hired one of the carriage drivers to take us on an hour long ride through Central Park.

Frederick Olmstead and Calvert Vaux won the design contest for Central Park in 1858. The urban park in middle-upper Manhattan consists of 843 acres, and is 2.5 miles long and a half mile wide. It's the most visited urban park in the U.S., and one of the most filmed locations in the world.

The carriage ride allowed us to see all the significant sights in the park while the carriage driver shared interesting information about them.  I wish I would have taken more pictures and better notes to share with you, but I was enjoying the carriage ride and listening intently to our driver.

~ Bethesda Terrace and Fountain [pictured below] ~

~ Daniel Webster Statue ~

My hubby was intrigued by the London Plane Trees throughout Central Park.  Their mature bark peels off in irregular shaped patches.  It's a hearty tree providing lots of shade in the park.

In Central Park West [between 71st and 74th Streets] is a 2.5 acre garden that pays tribute to the late John Lennon - Beatle singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist.  That park entrance was the one we used frequently during our visit, because it was close to where we stayed.  It's also where our carriage ride ended.

The west end of Central Park was Lennon's and Yoko Ono's favorite because it was close to their apartment.  After his death, the garden was named Strawberry Fields after the title of Beatle's song, "Strawberry Field's Forever."  It is also called the Garden of Peace.

The iconic black and white "Imagine" mosaic  in Strawberry Fields is named after another famous song by Lennon of the same name, evoking hope for a world without strife, war, or conflict.

[Internet Photos]

Our carriage driver told us Strawberry Field was actually a Salvation Army children's home in Woolton, England, a suburb of Liverpool. Lennon had fond memories of going to garden parties held there as a child, because it was near his auntie's house where he lived. The orphanage officially closed in 2005. 

After our carriage ride, we took the subway to Ground Zero using Metro cards Steve acquired before our arrival.  We not only had the challenge of making sure we got on the right subway, but swiping the card required a bit of technique for the turnstile to operate on the first swipe. I felt like a dumb tourist until I was told by a local that Hillary Clinton had recently been filmed in a subway station having difficulty getting through the turnstile on her first swipe too! I'm surprised she rode the subway [not the usual mode of transportation for high profile people], but I'm sure it involved publicity for her political campaign.

More about Ground Zero and other NYC landmarks to come...