Central Park, New York

Central Park is one of the most prominent landmarks of New York City. The picturesque public park, which receives around 35 million visitors a year, is also the setting of countless movies, including Serendipity, The Avengers, Eat Pray Love, and Cloverfield, making it the most filmed location in the world. 

The park has a lot to offer: gardens, skating rinks, baseball fields, a zoo, woody and grassy areas for picnics, and a large artificial lake at the middle, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis Reservoir. Around it are jogging tracks popular to New Yorkers and tourists alike. During my visit in New York I went there to jog around one morning, as my hostel was close by. After jogging you may drop by the Loeb Boathouse, a lakeside restaurant, for breakfast. The Express Cafe in the boathouse opens at 8am. 

Artworks also abound in Central Park. On display are sculptures scattered around the park, including works by Emma Stebins and John Quincy Adams. Most prominent of them all is Cleopatra's Needle, an Egyptian obelisk erected there in the 19th century. The red granite obelisk was originally from Heliopolis, dating back to the 18th Dynasty of Thutmose III, which was around 1450 BC. The obelisk was given as a gift from Egypt, similar to the Temple of Dendur in Met Museum, and has a pair in London. Another obelisk was also erected in Paris around the same time. 

There's also the Belvedere Castle, which used to be a meteorological observatory. This building can also be seen in the film Smurfs; it was used by the vilain Gargamel as his headquarters.

The 843-acre park was opened in 1857, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1962.

How to get there

The park is located uptown, bounded by, Fifth Avenue on the east and Eight Avenue on the west, and 59th St on the south and 110th St on the north.  

From Central Park you can visit other attractions, such as the Museum Mile on Fifth Avenue, where the Metropolitan Museum of Art is located.