How could you visit NYC in June without strolling through Central Park on a Sunday? We couldn't, nor about a million of our best friends.
Below is a shot of Bethesda Terrace with Emma Stebbin's 1868 angelic fountain at the southern edge of the 22-acre lake in the lower third of the park. The Gospel of John has an angel blessing the pool of Bethesda and once the statue was unveiled in 1873, the terrace was renamed from the more prosaic "Water Terrace." Bethesda means "House of Mercy" in Hebrew making Stebbin's 8-foot angel a suitable icon in a Tony Award winning play (called, what else, but Angels in America). If that's not your idea of a religious play, the angel and her fountain open Godspell as well. Stebbin's angel was the first major work of art commissioned of a woman by NYC. By coincidence, her brother was not only head of the NYSE but also head of the park commission. (Choose your relatives wisely.)
By design, Bethesda Terrace is the traditional heart of Central Park and often the scene of modeling and film photo shoots. I didn't have a release signed for Jane, so her agent would not let her pose. So I settled for a bronze angel instead of my bronzed angel.
We see above the lower level of the terrace, reached by the elaborate stairs ornamented (as is much of the rest of the terrace) by Jacob Wrey Mould who, despite his last name, eventually became the chief architect of the NYC parks department. Mould studied Moorish architecture and some of his designs here and elsewhere in the park demonstrate that influence.
The lake, once a swamp, was filled with rowboats renting for $10/hour. If you don't want a row, gondolas are available. Landlubbers can rent bikes for about the same price but they don't work that well on the lake, perhaps more air in the tires would help. Since the park is closed to vehicular traffic except during late night and rush hours, bikes make a lot of sense if you're willing to ride counter-clockwise around the place. Got bucks? for $50/hour, you can ride a horse.
The symmetry of Bethesda Terrace is more apparent from the sky, click here to see.
From what we could see, all 26 of Central Park's softball fields were in use, including this one in the North Meadow with its view of midtown, including the new Hearst tower, third building from the right.
Below is a shot of the 106-acre Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir (I bet she didn't have to pay for naming rights) which is surrounded by a 1.58 mile running track in Central Park. Covering an eighth of Central Park, the billion gallon reservoir is no longer part of the city's water system. Fortunately the ugly chain link fence was replaced in 2003 by a 43000 piece cast-iron Victorian fence closer to the original -- part of the park's 150th birthday gift to itself. Jackie would have liked that as she would frequently jog around the dirt track in her sunglasses. Shortly after her death, the place got her name. (Park officials won't name anything after a living person since they still have time to embarrass us, if not themselves). JFK has told us that presidential embarrassments are the gift that keeps on giving. (Did I tell you that we arrived through JFK airport? In NYC, the water must be cleaner than the air).
For a large scale view, click on the picture (but be warned, it's
nearly 7M in size and dwarfs the lake.) 
Thanks for joining us on our recent NYC visit. We hope to return soon.
If you'd like to see a few pictures from our two 2005 visits, click here.