New York - part 2 (Sun 7th & Mon 8th October)

Sunday 7th October - woke up about 8am again, got showered & ready, checked emails & facebook, checked & noted subway directions and left the hotel about 10.30am to head to the subway & Central Park.  Was a bit overcast so I took my umbrella just in case, didn't learn from my trip up the Empire State Building tho and didn't take a jacket or cardi. Suffice it to say I have learnt my lesson now.  Managed to navigate the subway just fine & got off at the correct stop.  I had decided to start at the top of Central Park (110th Street) and walk my way down to the bottom (59th Street), would be a good bit of exercise. Got off the subway & headed towards some trees & found that it wasn't Central Park, made my way back, looked for signs, couldn't see any, it started to rain lightly at this point, so after about 20 minutes of walking up & down streets I finally found someone to ask, and found out I was 1 block away.  LOL  Eventually found the entrance to Central Park & started walking along the main road/pathway, after about 5 minutes I thought I was going the wrong way so looked for a sign to tell me where I was, I found one, it said I was beside the North Wood, it showed a map but no indication of where I was on that map, thanks.  So I took another path & headed in what seemed to be a general 'down' direction.  After about 20 minutes of walking, and passing other useless signs, I finally found a sign with a "you are here" and found I was going in the right direction - yay me! - so I continued on.  I came to the Conservatory Garden, walked around that & continued on my 'down' way.  It was shortly after this that I made my 1st mistake, I went off the main road/pathway towards the centre to see a water feature.  Walked around a bit, found the main road/pathway again & headed off in what I thought was a 'down' direction, came to a sign that said "West 100th St entrance" and thought 'Damn! I'm going the wrong way', so I turned around & walked back in the general direction I had just come. I then came to a large sign with a map of the whole park, which I took photos of so that I had some sort of reference for when I came across one of the unhelpful signs. A short distance from that big sign I came across a sign for the Great Hill, and it was after looking at this map that I realised I was going in the wrong direction, I was nearly back at the place where I first entered the park. ARGH!!!  By this time it was raining heavier, my shoes (which are made of fabric) were wet, the bottom of my jeans were wet & I needed to pee. I took a deep breath, held my bladder in, made the decision to NOT go off the main road/pathway and started off in the correct direction.  A sort while later an official park vehicle came by so I stopped them and asked them for directions and they were very helpful.  I think I annoyed some of the runners as I was walking in their lane, but there was no way I was venturing off that main road/pathway & getting lost again, also I really needed to pee, and was at the point of going into the bushes when I found a restroom. Thank you my guardian angels. In a better mood I set off once again, not in any rush as I didn't have anything else planned for that day.  I passed a couple of 'attractions' & I went off the main road/pathway to see them but came back the exact way I had gone, I was taking no chances.  Even with getting lost and the rain it was actually a very nice walk and my feet didn't hurt much either!!  About 3 hours after I entered Central Park I found myself at the entrance at 59th Street - the main entrance with the information booth. *maniacal laugh*  I sat down for a couple of minutes to get my bearings, found Broadway & headed off to Times Square.  

110th Street entrance to Central Park.

Pond in Central Park, complete with ducks.

They even made the ducks their very own beach!

First coloured bird I have seen, all I've seen are black or brown coloured - think it is a Blue Jay.

What a surprise!!  Squirrel in Central Park.  And do not fear, this is the only squirrel photo in this post. :-)

Part of the Conservatory Garden.

Path I followed that led me astray.

This made me feel like I was walking through the bush back home.

Very much like home.

One of the signs I kept seeing telling me this is the North Woods. Where am I exactly? Well now where is the fun in knowing that?  *maniacal laugh*

Finally!! A sign that shows me where I am. Was a bit of a downer to find out I was very close to where I had entered the park.

The Reservoir.  Taken with zoom as I was not leaving the main road/pathway.

Lovely building overlooking Central Park.

Another cool building.

Turtle Pond.  Very, very green water, and can't see many turtles.

There's a turtle!! Oh, he moved, well those are it's air bubbles.  LOL

John Lennon Memorial in Strawberry Fields.

List of all the countries who endorsed making Strawberry Fields a Garden of Peace. Was proud to see my country's name on the list.  :-D

OK, how does one renovate a lawn?  Regenerate or repair I can understand, but renovate?  Nup, just made me giggle.

The 59th Street (main) entrance to Central Park.

By the time I got to Times Square it was getting rather chilly so I decided I should buy a sweatshirt or jacket from one of the street vendors (they are quite safe as they have to have a licence!!) But, alas, they didn't have one I liked in my size so I ended up buying a $5 black pashmina shawl, which helped a little bit.  I finally found the Times Square Visitor Centre & spent some time in there looking at the displays, and watched a short film on the evolution of Times Square.  I then headed off to Hershey's World followed by M&M's World and then stopped at McDonald's for dinner before braving the subway back to the hotel.  Got back to the hotel about 9pm, checked facebook & emails, transferred photos, got into bed to watch tv and found a documentary called "The American Musical" on one of the local channels which featured Times Square so I watched that.  Found it quite interesting so got the tablet & did some googling in bed and then fell asleep reading an article on Vaudeville.  Woke up about 2am, closed the tablet, turned the tv & lights off and went back to sleep.

The Ed Sullivan Theater.

The Broadway Theater.

Times square looking down the street.  Was amazingly busy even tho it was raining & chilly.

Times Square looking up the street.

The Times Square New Year's Ball inside the Times Square Visitor Centre.

They actually had a few interesting displays.

Just because it's so pretty.

The entrance to the Times Square Visitor Centre.

So very pretty.

OMG!!  A real live actual mounted policeman!!  Didn't get the policeman's name, but the horse is called Shane.  And I have to say he was very well behaved with all the people coming up & touching him & posing for photos, the policeman behaved well too.

Hershey's World of Chocolate. Wasn't actually that big. And right across the street is . . . . 

. . . M&M's World.  And yes, I once again lost all willpower & common sense when I went through the doors & bought enough M&M's to last the rest of my trip.

Monday 8th October - Columbus Day in USA, a national holiday, big celebrations & parades all over the nation, and of course one of the biggest parades is in New York.  I did think about going on a harbour tour but when I saw the amount of traffic on the bridge at 8am I decided against it.  The parade didn't start until 12pm but I think people went in early to get parking & seats.  At 10am the traffic was still thick so I decided that I would have a day in my room sorting stuff out & getting organised for check out early the next morning.  Sorted photos, updated blog, watched tv and slept.  Had a shower late afternoon and then headed down to the hotel restaurant about 6pm to have the Brazilian BBQ Buffet for dinner.  Stuffed myself to nearly bursting point, then went back to my room & started packing my bags, of which I had an extra one as the post office was closed on Monday so I couldn't send anything back to G for safe-keeping.  Not an exciting day, but a good one nonetheless. :-)