Central Park's wonders attract international crowd to enjoy its beauty

 

New York's Central Park is a welcoming oasis any time of the year.

A PARK FOR ALL SEASONS AND ALL PEOPLE IN CENTRAL NEW YORK CITY

Corby Skinner, left, with Christene "Cookie" Meyers
and Bruce Keller, on a recent visit to New York. The trip's 
emphasis was theater, with a stroll through Central Park.

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

A VISIT TO New York is not complete without a stroll through Central Park.

It has a magic unrivaled by any park we’ve visited in the world. That’s because it combines so many elements designed for relaxation, pleasure and enjoyment of nature.

After John Lennon was murdered, his widow, Yoko Ono,
began designing "Strawberry Fields." Fans come to
remember, honor his memory and sometimes play a tune.

Bicycles are numerous in the park, driven by visitors,
 food sellers and drivers offering a ride to tourists.

You’ll join bird watchers, chess players, bicyclers, strollers, picnickers, boaters in the summer and ice skaters in the winter. The park is well loved -- frequented by families, singles, couples, groups soaking up the splendors of this unusual and inviting oasis, established in 1853 to meet the recreational needs of a growing city.    

LANDSCAPE architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition for the park with their "Greensward Plan."  By 1859, thousands of New Yorkers ice skated on lakes designed over former swamp land. A few years later in 1876, the park was officially dedicated,  honoring the country’s centennial.

It is popular to have a ride through the park, on one
of the colorful carriages with beautiful horses.

IT IS A stunning park in city center, visited by rock stars, athletes, popes and school groups. It has many places to reflect -- paths, benches, ponds and bike paths. Visitors enjoy horse drawn carriages, places for games, a fine restaurant and spots for meditation including Yoko Ono’s “Strawberry Fields.” The widow of musician John Lennon designed and dedicated it in 1985. It honors Lennon, one of the famous Beatles and an award winning composer, and was dedicated on what would have been his 45th birthday.

Such a park is unusual in any city, but truly so in this bustling city of nearly eight million. 

We love strolling Central Park, for its natural beauty – stunning in any season. The trees, flowers, interesting paths, even a castle, make it unique.  But the people in the park are the stars – an international mix of tourists and locals, all drawn to the beauty of its 840 acres, stretching between 59^th and 110^th Streets and Fifth and Eighth Avenues.

Visitors and "residents" include this squirrel.

 

IT HAS THE distinction of being the first American park to be developed using landscape architecture techniques and is beloved by a worldwide fan club. We overheard conversations in 11 languages on our last visit, when we climbed to the top of Belvedere Castle with our Montana friend, Corby Skinner.

The castle is considered a “folly,” an ornamental building with no real purpose except entertainment and amusement. It personifies the park’s purpose – to entertain and amuse.

 Step into the park in any season and you feel a sense of peace, pride and community.

New York's High Line is another attraction, a clever
resurrection of an abandoned rail area, brought to
new life with plants, a walkway and sculpture.

UP NEXT: While we're in New York, we're featuring its famous High Line, which was created from a derelict railroad line.  It offers a beautiful stroll through landscaped gardens and intriguing sculpture.

Meanwhile, explore, learn and live and catch us for a new look, a newly designed website and an easy to navigate series of topics and photographs. Coming soon.

Australian Museum features engaging displays, artful cultural history

The venerable Australian Museum is centrally located in Sydney, Australia, a treasure trove
of art, nature inspired history, intriguing indigenous people displays and much more.

SPLENDID SCIENCE, CULTURE,  NATURE AWAIT IN THE HEART OF SYDNEY 

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

AN ENRICHING, ENLIGHTENING museum awaits visitors to Sydney.  The place is a gathering spot for tourists and locals. Here, we observe wonders from around the world, explore native culture, visit other countries and travel through the centuries to see what life was like in an Australia of long ago.  It's all right in the heart of this fascinating museum, a show piece in this varied and fast growing city.

Australia's original people are celebrated in
a beautifully curated exhibition on their culture.

THE MUSEUM is known worldwide for its expansive permanent collection and its thorough and imaginative exploration of history and Aboriginal culture.  It has won worldwide acclaim for its Australian fossils and local animal displays. The weekday morning we visited, we were in the company of dozens of awe struck school children, there for both fun and learning.  The museum prides itself on offering educational events for kids.

School groups clustered around the popular dinosaurs exhibition which features ten complete skeletons, including a 228-million-year-old Eoraptor.

Visitors can expect high tech as well as time honored art
and exhibitions.  Here, visitors "traveled" to Machu Pichu.

WE LINGERED over fascinating displays of dangerous Australian animals such as funnel-web spiders and tiger snakes.  We learned that Australia has the world’s most menacing animals, including venomous snakes, deadly spiders, and savage and powerful marine creatures. On the museum's upper ground floor, we also found friendlier creatures including stuffed kangaroos and koalas, and other representative of Australia's unique fauna, including the Tasmanian tiger.

An artful taxidermy space shows visitors some
of Australia's extinct animals, here a grunge.

EXHIBITS WALK the visitor through habitats -- arid deserts, lush rainforests, coastal regions,  cities. 

An impressive exhibition, "Dauma and Garom," was commissioned for the museum by indigenous artists and is on on display in the large permanent Indigenous Australians exhibition space. The six-meter-tall sculptural installation reflects an effort by the Erub people to combat the damage caused by ghost nets. It depicts a touching love story between a crab (Dauma) and a fish (Garom), characters from an important local story and song. Mesmerizing.

The Australian Museum is a wonderland of discovery, with a dazzling
permanent collection, and an overview of the country's vast natural
world. The focal point here is "Aboriginal Art Ghost Net," by a UK artist.
On exhibit are various works celebrating indigenous people who
were the country's first people. The museum has won acclaim for this and
its award winning anthropological exhibition area, all free! 

A SLENDID virtual reality exhibit on Machu Pichu -- gone now -- is typical of the museum's erudite yet user friendly approach to culture.  It is replaced by another imaginative exhibition -- "The Birds of Australia." Like Machu Pichu, it is a unique digital experience, presented on a 3D storytelling cube. Bird lovers know the inspiration --  the work of noted ornithologists and artists John and Elizabeth Gould. Wish we could fly over again to discover Australia's birdlife in this new immersive exhibition.

Amazingly, the museum and its grand permanent collection are free. Fees apply to special exhibitions. Tickets are required for school programs, workshops and talks. Click on: What's On calendar of events.

Click here for more on the museum

New York's beloved Central Park is a treat for locals and
tourists alike.  Colorful carriages await customers, and
a stroll through the park is sure to revive and relax.

UP NEXT: A fresh new look, with no ads and improved user experience is coming to our website. The "redo" introduces a new, cleaner, more contemporary look with a visit to New York. No  tourist should miss a stroll through Central Park, a restful and yet lively oasis in the middle of one of the world's busiest and noisiest cities.  We take readers inside the park to  look at its charms -- its restaurants, lake, gaming area, food carts and beautiful appointments such as John Lennon memorial designed by his widow, Yoko Ono, "Strawberry Fields."  Tavern on the green and a horse drawn hansom cab await. Or grab your bicycle and join us.  We see why the park garners thousands of visitors in a day, and explore it with a local. Remember to explore, learn and live and catch us weekly for a fresh spin on travel, nature, performance and more: