Central Park After the Winterstorm
January 21, 2011
I took these pictures in Central Park the day after the fourth snowstorm this season. Just less than a month into winter and New York City already has more than its average snowfall for the entire season. (source: weather.com)

Central Park is big. It is 51 city-blocks long and 3 blocks wide. The area I took these from is merely 3 blocks by half-a-block on the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, or about 1/100th of the park. Because a pond sits there -- and I suspect a lack of literary inventiveness on the landscapers’ part -- that corner of Central Park is simply called, “The Pond”.

The south end of Central Park at 59th Street is at the heart of NYC’s finer tourist districts. It is where The Plaza Hotel -- a 20-story French renaissance luxury chateau built in 1907 -- and Apple’s flagship store with the glass cube storefront are located. Not far uptown are the Met, the Natural History Museum, and “The Mall” where famous movie Central Park scenes were shot.

The north end of Central Park, however, had for years been a no-man’s land because of nearby neighborhoods that, rightfully or wrongfully, have earned notoriety in the New Yorker’s mind. (source: yahoo answers)

But that’s no longer true if my googling is right. I have not been there but apparently neighborhoods north of Central Park have been greatly “gentrified” in recent years. Families started moving there. Clinton holds his office there. And Central Park North is home to Dana Discovery Center and the Conservatory Garden, the park’s “only formal garden”. (source: wikipedia.org)

Still, if you’re just visiting and can only spend a few minutes at each of New York City’s many famous landmarks, Central Park South may be all that you need. Its pond, paths around natural rock formations, and distinctively New York skyline looming above the treetops will more than adequately serve you well in laying claim to that famous adage coveted by every traveler -- “been there, done that”.

 Click on a picture to enlarge.
The Pond.
Bridge on the north end of The Pond.
Buildings on Fifth Avenue.
Buildings on 59th Street.
I had to wait for people to ride their sled downhill before taking this shot.
Noontime sun on East Drive where horse drawn carriages take tourists into the park.
View of The Pond from the bridge. The Plaza Hotel is the classical-looking building with the green roof on the right.
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