Another GLORIOUS day in New York City – the temp hit 30°C (that’s 86°F – it’s like learning a new numerical language here).  So we decided to spend it sitting under a tree in the park watching the people, taking photos and soaking up the atmosphere.

First off though, ML needed a new pair of shoes, so we subway’d up to West 72nd Street on the Upper West Side…..  Slightly prettier buildings up this end.

…. to a shoe shop that stocked what she wanted and we were served by a man who must have been in (if not, close to) his 70s by the name of Joseph.  ML tried on ALL the shoes in the shop.  I tried one pair on.  I have to admit – shopping for shoes is not my most favourite of activities – I’m happy for other people to be purchasing, but I can never make a decision and because of my ultra wide clobbers, comfy shoes that I like are generally tricky to come by…. until today!

ML and I share a foot size, so yesterday when she was becoming desperate for some new shoes we purchased the Birkenstocks for her to wear, but would become mine once she’d found some she actually liked. (I secretly got her to wear them in for me)

Then today – I spotted these little merino wool numbers.  Joseph got me my size, I tried them on, not one, but two women on either side of me told me that their significant partners (both men) had these shoes and that they loved them.  “So, am I buying men’s shoes?” I quizzed them, but they assured me that plenty of women buy them as well.  Anyway, I don’t care, I’ve worn men’s shoes in the past and if my feet get any wider, I’ll be wearing them in the future as well!  But let me tell you how comfy these shoes are.

So comfy y’all! (listen to me becoming Texan)

Across the road from the shoe shop was this business.  Only $399 –  Bargain.

Remember how I said that every street was lined with scaffolding?

They’ve built it around the trees – so that’s something.

The shoe shop was just down the street from Strawberry Fields in the Park.  I love this memorial.  There was a busker there with his guitar playing something that wasn’t by The Beatles or Jon Lennon, or Julian Lennon, or Yoko Ono, so it didn’t really gel with the vibe.

Right next to the “Imagine”was this sign.  Hilarious!  What a fabulous idea!  In a city FULL of people who are able to draw people well, this guy clearly stood out.  I think I’d rather have this portrait.

Our destination was to the lake in the middle of the park – the one where the boathouse is and the bridge – next to the Bethesda Fountain.  The lake was packed with rowers – many sitting in the blazing sun shirtless – honestly, they are so NOT sun smart here.

I absolutely love this bridge.

Oops,h ow did that photo get in there?  I was trying to take a photo of the guy playing the saxophone – honestly.

You’re welcome.

We found a lovely spot on the grass under the shade of the tree, cause we are sun smart and sat on our sarongs.

Mine…

ML’s – both purchase in Bali on our 40th birthday holiday.

This was our view.  Watching the people on the boats, by the fountain…

The squirrels….

We’d packed ourselves a little bit of a picnic of apples and carrots, but poor ML took a bit of the apple and it was like I was Sleeping Beauty herself biting into the poisoned bit of fruit.  She was a little bitter – both the apple and ML!

I don’t mind the odd museum exhibition, but it’s not really ML’s thing, but we read through the Time Out mag and found a museum that she might actually get onboard with….. shoes!

I had less luck trying to get her into this one though.  I read it out to her and she said, “We can not adopt a cat while we’re here.”  Honestly – talk about spoilsport!

We saw all sorts passing by….. a bride and groom – I’m guessing the groom is the bloke in the suit.  The bride strode out in front of the pack and he just hung back waiting to be told where to stand for the odd photo.

Then this group walked past.  The tour guide at the front was shouting some kid friendly facts to the group of teens, then one kid yelled out, “Can you swim in that water?” (as if you’d want to!!!) The TG replied, “Sure, if you want to spend the next 3 days in recovery…. but seriously, you can swim in there if you want… it’s a manmade lake people.”

The sun was moving over and we were losing our shade, so we moved around to the other side of to get a different view.

Where we spotted the same couple having an intimate dance to the saxophonist with their photographer getting extreme close up photos.

We tried to take some selfies and this was the result…

ML: “You can see straight down my top!”

SB: “Come on ML, just hold it up.  Lean in!”

What about if we sit up?

It doesn’t take much to make ML laugh…. I’m not quite sure what it was this time… a pulled poser face, a big bosom getting in the way, perhaps something hilarious that I said (this is probably the case)…. anyway, it resulted in the best selfie of them all.

Then we watched as a girl was changing (not in a creepy way – she was dressed) into a ballet outfit and then they her friend took photos as she did some ballet jumps – can you see her behind the tree?  Honestly – it was ALL happening in the park today!

These two rode their bikes in and laid like this for the whole time we were there – a good couple of hours.

It was so peaceful sitting and listening to the easy listening sax music of this chap.

I went and got us a hotdog from the hotdog and pretzel stand…. when in New York!

When I got back there was a man who had sat down quite close to us with his portable radio.  I gave him the stare and he just looked back.  He turned it up louder and I very politely asked him if he perhaps had headphones that he could put on to which he apologised for disrupting us.

He then turned the music off and put on some talkback type of radio which left us with no choice and we started to pack up our things to move elsewhere.  He stopped us and said we didn’t have to move and that he would turn it off.  I said, that’s fine, you can play your radio and he replied, “No, you were here first” which was appreciated. Then he asked if we were listening to the guy playing the sax.  I said that we were and we exchanged opionions about how good the player was.  He apologised again for disturbing our peaceful time and started telling me about all the instruments that his family members play.  He’s got a brother on the trumpet and a cousin on the sax and he plays the Spanish drums…. I’m not quite sure what makes them Spanish and although I wanted to ask, I knew better than to engage in what was going to be a lengthy explanation.  He then laid back on the grass and made a phone call.  We moved on.

This has been a recurring theme in the US – people can’t seem to just walk along the street or sit in a park or go to dinner on a cruise ship without having a portable speaker attached to them somehow blasting out music.  Like this couple below – they were walking hand in hand wearing a music playing device while he sang rap lyrics at her.  Is this romance?

There was another wedding – although it is a Wednesday today, so are people really getting married midweek or have they just dressed up again to take their photos?

There are some beautiful cherry blossoms still in the park – hopefully they’ll last.  I took this photo and then asked ML if she was interested in wearing matching outfits tomorrow…. she said she wasn’t keen.

Last time I was here with Me Jenny (who has been sorely missed on this trip) we listened to a brother and sister busking team who sang acapella.  The acoustics under the alcove are like singing in a cathedral, so we checked it out again…

This time we were treated to an opera singer…

But I’m not that cultured and there’s only so much opera I can listen to, so we moved on quite quickly.  I took a photo and turned around and couldn’t find ML….

Where could she be?

I love walking through the park.  I love the bendy trees.  I love the sun speckling through the branches.  I love New York!

Here’s me loving Central Park!

Central Park gets over 42 million visitors each year.  It wasn’t super crowded today, but there were plenty of people there all making the most of the warmth and the sunshine.  It’s great to see people outside using the city’s facilities.

There are tulips all over the place – it’s obviously the season for them…. when we passed this little patch ML said, “They’re not a patch on Araluen.” (For those not from WA, Araluen is a botanic garden the has lovely flowers – I guess tulips being one of them – https://www.araluenbotanicpark.com.au)  I think it’s perhaps the end of the tulip season?  I wouldn’t know – I have two very brown thumbs!

I was hoping to see some baseball being played in the park, but I think that’s probably more for the weekend, so we’ll have to schedule in a weekend park visit…. there’s so much to do!

If these rickshaws had been closer to the Bethesda Fountain, I might have thought about taking one, but we found them at the entrance to the park….. we only had about 60 metres to go.

Then it was to our new favourite shop in the world – Whole Foods.  It’s a fresh foods supermarket with everything.  I’m still looking for packaging that I recognise, but it is ALL different, so when in New York – we’ve got to try something different.  We purchased a mini quiche each and a salad for our dinner…

Check out the check outs!  There are 3 lots of 3 lines –  you join a coloured line and when your colour in your section lights up on the screen with a checkout number – you go there.  There were 38 checkouts – all with people serving on them….. you wouldn’t see that at Farmer Jacks in Mandurah!  Also – there are no plastic bags here.  Luckily we had our own fold up bags, but we needed one more – so we brown bagged it.

Well done Whole Foods and well done New York.

Tonight was a  bit of a rest evening.  We are both still a bit sore from all the walking we did over the last few days and wanted an early night.  So we donned face masks and ate our salads – we weren’t even hungry for the quiche in the end.  There’s tomorrow night’s dinner organised.

Here’s a visual on our night’s activities – you’re welcome.