“Central Park New York – to the squirrel’s we talk”. Any parent of young children should instantly recognise the lyrics to this wiggles song about this fantastic park in New York..
Central Park is a massive 843 acres running north-south from 59th to 110th street and between 5th and 8th Avenue and the best way of seeing just how big is to view it from the Empire State Building or Top of the Rock skyscrapers.
Inside the park there an 10km long path called park drive which is perfect for running, roller-blading or for riding a bike, although this becomes quite busy especially on weekends. There is also a large reservoir in the middle of the park named after former US first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Strawberry Fields is an interesting shrine to the late John Lennon who was assassinated outside the nearby Dakota building where widow Yoko Ono still lives. this is one for the Beatle loving parents as the kids wont find this interesting no matter how much you try and explain it to them.
During summer the park is perfect for boating, horse and carriage rides, kayaking and bike riding however the kids will love the carousel. During winter the park has 2 ice skating rinks called Wollman rink and Lasker rink.
The park also contains the central park zoo which the kids wanted to visit to see the penguins of Madagascar and Alex the lion. My kids didn’t really enjoy the zoo and it is also quite small compared to other zoos like Melbourne Zoo.
My kids absolutely loved central park and a highlight was seeing their first squirrel however after 10 minutes walking around you soon realise that they thousands of them in the park.