Day Five ... Exploring the Bronx and Central Park

Today we were both awake way too early, which was super annoying because we could have had a lazier start to our day, but instead we were both ready to go at 5.00 am!

However we headed out just after 8.30 am to the Times Square subway to catch a train to the Bronx with our destination being the Bronx Zoo. We are lovers of zoos that support conservation and education to enhance knowledge to preserve the animals of the world. Bronx had been on our radar when we first started looking at organising this trip.

Our train journey was smooth ... the subways are not flash in terms of looks but the network does just fine. Our journey was for a large part underground but popped up towards the end. We arrived at West Farm/Tremont and Ian grabbed a breakfast Subway to have in the zoo while I popped in to the local supermarket to grab some crackers and an apple for lunch. Then off to the zoo we went.

The zoo was ... interesting … and not a style we are used to any more. There were limited exhibits spread over a very large area so seeing animals involved a lot of walking from one enclosure to another and then scouring the large space to find the animal or, if you were lucky, animals. Seating was a rarity at enclosures so being able to sit and watch was often not possible. Now don’t get me wrong, we did enjoy the zoo, but we also felt they could do a lot better. In saying all of that though we were able to see some animals that we hadn’t seen often or ever like Tapir, Gharial (a type of crocodile), Dholes (a wild dog from Asia) and a Nyala (a type of antelope). Some of the grounds were lovely as well. We had a pleasant wander … we had never planned on covering the entire zoo, rather focussing on the areas that interested us the most.

Leaving the zoo behind we caught a bus to take us back to the station for our next stop. Having got on we then lost confidence that we were on the right bus so we got off … only to discover we were indeed on the right one and then had to wait to catch the next one. Luckily buses are more regular in the Bronx than in Melbourne so it was only about a 15 minute wait. We had three lovely people on our second bus helping us navigate our way to the correct station (one African American, one of Middle Eastern descent and one of East Asian origin) … with them waving us in the right direction even as we got off and the bus departed.

We caught a train back downtown and headed to the Solomon. R. Guggenheim Museum. This was way smaller than we had imagined and due to renovations the spiral ramp was closed. Architecturally it is an interesting building and even with the ramps closed we were able to get to all of the spaces currently open to the public. We wandered through the contemporary art (sorry … I’m a simple girl … I just don’t get it) and then into the Thannhauser Collection which was more my style. There we saw paintings by Monet, Manet, Degas, Picasso, Van Gogh, Cezanne and Matisse as well as some brass sculpture of Degas. I was surprised that such a reputable gallery actually held a very small collection.

We left the Guggenheim and caught a bus that ran along the side of Central Park as we headed to the Central Park Zoo (you can never have enough zoos in your day). Unfortunately we had to abandon the bus as all traffic on 5th Avenue was halted due to a parade for Hispanic Day. This meant hoofing it from 80th St to 65th St … which is no mean feat when a massive parade is going on right beside you and your feet are sore.

We did make it to Central Park Zoo which began as a menagerie and became a zoo in 1934. This tiny little zoo (only 2.6 ha) had a fantastic little collection of some very interesting enclosures. There were penguins (of all shapes and sizes), lemurs, snow leopards, grizzly bears and a fabulous aviary filled with birds from more temperate climates. We had a lovely time wandering the zoo before heading on to our next exciting adventure.

We hopped on a train which dropped us just a block or two from Fancy Apple Bike Tours. Here our guide Luke took us (and our fellow tour group) on a two hour cycle tour of the bottom third of Central Park. Now I have to admit that I was a tad nervous about this after my spectacular fall off a bike on Stewart Island in New Zealand … but one must be brave and so I got back in the saddle and boy was it worth it. Luke was a fabulous guide. We stopped at 5 locations and were given plenty of time to wander, take photos and marvel at this incredible park smack bang in the middle of a massive city. We stopped at … Cherry Hill and the Pond, Strawberry Fields, the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, and the Sheep Meadow. This bike ride was fabulous … made easier for me because Ian kindly upgraded my bike to an E-bike. We got to see so much more of the park than if we had walked it (which would be almost impossible).

And so we were left with one last destination for our day, which was to complete an Ad Lab at the Rockefeller Centre before going up to the observation level to view the city at night (The Top of the Rock). The Ad Lab went fine … taking us to some notable sculptures or mosaics near Rockefeller, however we weren’t able to go up to the observation deck as the next available slot was at 10.50 pm and given we had been awake early and on the go all day we decided to abandon ship. So we headed back to Times Square finding a lovely “Ye Olde” Irish Pub for some dinner. 

I’ve had a shower, I’m finishing the blog, we are listening to the singing, cheering, horn honking and drumming from Times Square below. My blisters grow bigger … but who cares! In the words of a famous philosopher -  “You only die once”.

Todays tally …

Photos - 633

Steps - 22,956

Kms walked - 17.57 km

Ad Labs completed  - 1