At the top of Central Park

I tend not to spend much time on weekends in Manhattan. It’s not that there aren’t great things to do in Manhattan – there are, and I’ve written about them. But when you spend a solid hour and a half commuting Monday through Friday, sometimes on the weekend, you need a break.

Cathedral of St. John the Divine

But this weekend I made the trek, and not just my normal trek to downtown, or to midtown for a show. I headed up to 110^thStreet and Central Park West. My friend and I both had parties to go to that evening around 100^th Street on the east side of the park, so we met up at a café near the northwest corner, got something to eat and drink, and had a nice chat. On my way to meet her I stopped to snap a few photos of St. John the Divine. Sometime I’ll go back and take some pictures of the interior, since when I was there seven years ago it was under renovation.

 After we ate, we meandered into the park to make our way across and slightly south. I’d only ever seen this bit of Central Park from a bike, so it was neat to explore a little and see what the north end has to offer. It was definitely way less touristy than the southern end of the park, which is in itself a recommendation.
There’s a lake, and a swimming pool, and some really gorgeous little gardens. Some of the buildings we could spot along the east border of the park were pretty too. We passed a man in a tux, hands in his pockets and blowing bubble gum, and then a wedding party, out for photos. We assumed the man wasn’t the groom…

 We got turned around a little as we left the park because some streets dead-end at the train line up there, but eventually we both made it to our parties. It was a really lovely outing, made better by the fact that despite some threatening rain clouds, we didn’t get wet.

 This doesn’t count as my “getting lost” outing (I really need to do that soon) since my friend knew where we were, but it was great to wander through an area of the city that I hadn’t explored before. Are there any parts of Central Park, or any other park, that you’ve stumbled upon and loved?