Weekend Adventures Part II -- Central Park

This morning I woke up to a cloudy but not rainy sky. So I decided I should make another attempt at going outside. I was browsing the New York Times travel section for New York when I came across an article about taking the local buses as an alternative to walking and taking those tour buses. The article recommended taking a bus that starts just a few blocks from where I am living. This reminded me of my summer in Berlin where I discovered a local bus that goes to all the tourist attractions. So I was really excited by this article and decided to see where this bus will take me.

Well, okay, the bus goes up Manhattan, along Central Park. And it was supposed to pass by some museums and such on the way. I thought it would be nice to stroll around Central Park and maybe some other neighborhoods if they looked interesting on the bus.

So I got on this bus which went through Korean Town. Korean town is a really nice little place with all sorts of Korean shops. I went back later and walked around. I saw a restaurant that has fried rice on top of half a pineapple. So cool. I need to try out some of these places.

Anyway, after Korean Town, the bus took me along some very expensive looking stores, all the way up to Harlem. I got off at the northeast side of the park and started walking around the park. I walked around some trails and came across a stream:


There was a duck bathing in it. Very nice, very calm. I found the park to be very relaxing. It's almost like going on a hike. Except there were quite a few other people around. The day got nicer as it went on. The sun even came out.



I also saw a big turtle in the stream. There were also many stone bridges and other stone features. It must have been so cool to construct a park. I can't imagine how much work it must have been to make this place.


After a while, I found the road again and all I could think of at that point was, "where are all the ice cream trucks?" There were none in sight. I was also getting hungry. So I walked a block away from the park and found some little corner stores. I walked into one that was playing Latino music. Oh, I think there was a Puerto Rico parade this weekend because everyone had flags. Anyway, I looked around the store and found some plantain chips (see picture below). They were really good, by the way. I went to the cooler and saw some Ben and Jerry's ice cream along with some other weird looking things. I didn't feel like trying any of those things out so I just stuck with the chips. I found a ice cream selling cart later and got some overpriced ice cream.

After getting the chips, I climbed The Great Hill, which wasn't all that great. And then I looked for a place to sit and eat these chips. Somehow, I ended up back at the same stream I was before. So bizarre. I think I had my directions wrong.























There was fish in this stream! At first I thought it was garbage. The park is actually pretty well kept. But then this orange thing started swimming around. I never got a good look at them but there were three big orange things swimming around. Maybe they're karp?

After walking around for a few hours, I took the bus back. I think the bus is a good alternative if you have time to spare. The subway is all dark and such. There's a lot more to see on the bus. We passed by the Museum of Natural History. Very big museum.

Anyway, it was a good day. Even though I've been to so many places, I still get this feeling of uncertainty whenever I first step foot outside to explore a new place. Right after I got out the door this morning, I thought, "Why should I take the bus to go to Central Park when I could just walk around Korean Town a little bit, maybe take the subway to Central Park, and then go back to the apartment?" But I'm glad I went. Once I got sufficiently far away, there was no turning back.

I've been going without any kind of maps so far. Not even a subway map. I think a lot of things would make more sense if I had one. But I think if I had a map, I would be looking at it a lot. And Manhattan is enough of a gird without sufficient subway stops that I can't possibly get lost. I think I will get fit from all this walking.