Central Park: Mapping Walks from Day 2 in the Park

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Today, as part of this week's focus on Central Park, I will shift my attention northward to The Reservoir and to the larger area between 81st and 96th Streets. I plan to again file posts from the Wifi locations in the park, mostly likely from the Shakespeare Garden, the nearest spot at the south end of the area. The garden is pretty enough. The only drawback I've found in taking a laptop to work in the park is the occasional stream of falling cherry blossoms.

The walk yesterday was ideal - from the garden to the Ramble and then the Loeb Boathouse, a modest stroll of perhaps 1.5 to 2 miles inside the park. In getting to the park, walking to the B or C subways that run up and down the west side of the park, climbing the steps inside subway stations, I'm averaging about 4 miles with these excursions. That's part of the master plan, because I'm trying to fit into a slimmer summer. Riding to the park on the subway, I read all the Weight Watchers ads posted inside the trains, the ones that warn against the unhealthy mind games of diet deprivation. I agree that diets don't work, but in blending work and exercise in Central Park, that is, having my cake and eating it, too, I'm trying to cut down on actual cake.

Woah. Who's WOTBA's flâneuring sister from the dark side we see pictured here? She's The Flâneuse* of Death. Whenever a black-clad member of the sisterhood startles me upon my walk, especially one that interrupts the verdant lightness of morning, I am spooked with foreshadowing gloom. I encountered another one during the first hint of spring. This one here walked in high black heels, bobbing up and down much like a carousel animal, as she placed one foot exactly in front of another. It was fairly early, so I assumed she was coming off a fun night.

*Just to be clear, flâneuse is the feminine form of the French word "flâneur," meaning to stroll. There's a lot of cultural baggage associated with the flâneur tradition, but I'm happy to carry it. For more information, please visit my good friends on the other side of the pond at The Flâneur website.

See related posts of walks in Central Park.