I had a beautiful Memorial Day. It was 84 degrees out, so I decided to go for a walk through Central Park.

I took the subway up to Columbus Circle and entered the park at the southwest corner, and over the next two hours I meandered up the west side of the park: up past the ballfields and the Sheep Meadow, a stop to watch people playing lawn bowling on the Bowling Green, north along the west side of the Lake to watch people boating, past the Marionette Theater and up into the quiet Shakespeare Garden, past the Great Lawn, past the Arthur Ross Pinetum, over a little footbridge and then up along the Reservoir; then, after about 10 minutes of walking clockwise along the Reservoir, I saw a sign saying that you’re supposed to run or walk around it counterclockwise, so I decided to leave the Reservoir and walk along the bridle paths; then I walked past the tennis courts and along the edge of the North Meadow and some basketball courts and more baseball fields before somehow turning south again and winding up at 97th Street and Central Park West.

I had wanted to make my way all the way up to the northern end of the park at 110th Street, but by that point I was sweating and tired and I was ready to go home, so I left the park and hopped onto the subway.

Oh, and there was SO much eye candy in the park today.

Central Park really is a blessing on New York.

Here’s a rough map of my walk (image adapted from here):