Monday, November 30, 2015

Walking history

  Just among the razzle dazzle theater districts, the tranquility of Chelsea and exotic West Village,
the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan and the luxurious uptown sophistication of the upper east and west stretches the beautiful, irreplaceable Central Park. Central Park was always a place i have dreamt of going, simply because i love nature and have never seen a park this big which covers a total of 4 avenues and 51 streets that takes you 2 hours to walk to the middle and back. At least that was the case for me as i stopped by every attraction.



  The amount of times i went to Central Park was massive. With a slow stroll along the roads with soft breeze blowing at your face under just the right amount of warmth of the sun, through the canopy of trees with streaks of sunlight shining through the gaps of the leaves and thousand lovely pink and white cherry blossoms, it always has been a chance for me to renew, to gain energy, a clearer mind and serenity. I don't know what it is but the park is so magical. Whatever hectic events you have in your week or day, you can just go through the buildings and walk straight into this fantasy garden and suddenly all the troubles you had just seem to gone with the wind and you start to appreciate the nature and wonder why everything is so beautiful. With all the greenery, the open space, the ever-changing seas of tulips, crocus and salvia at every corner of the park overlooking the skyline of the upper east and west side, I wouldn't want to be in any other place. I even almost cried one day in happiness when i was walking down the roads along the west side of the park with the song One Day by Lea Michele playing on my ipod, realizing the blue skies ever after and the one day was just now.




 And after many strolls, i decided to go there in my best dress to take some photos. The dress wasn't a casual dress you can throw on to any random occasion but maybe some cocktail parties and performances. It reminds me of fifth avenue and Breakfast of Tiffany because of its black and white pattern and the Tiffany blue belt. What's more perfect to wear in the park.


  Before slipping into my heels and begin the shoot, i walked around in my boots, spending some alone time in the upper west side of the park and wanting to take some photos of the buildings and the bridge. While i was walking past Bethesda fountain into a narrow road leading to the pond which lays the bow bridge, I was looking at some sort of flowers on my right and just so randomly an old man probably in his sixties walking his bike behind me asked if i knew what kind of flowers they were. Oh god, i didn't even know the names so i asked him back if he knew cause that was why he asked me the question right. Anyways, he replied no and thought i knew. I smiled and said i didn't and wished i did. Then the old man began to strike up a conversation with me about what i was doing there. It was nice to stop and i expected to chat with him for like 2-3 minutes, i learnt about he was doing his weekly work-out by biking around the park which sounded absolutely fascinating as having to bike in the park every week is purely a luxury. As i wanted to resume my walk and said goodbye to the old man, he asked if we could walk together as he too was heading towards. Of course i was a little startled by the idea as once an old man casually talked to me and asked me to sit down on one of the benches in the metropolitan museum of art and later asked if i could join him for a drink (well i talked to him at first as i thought he was a staff from the museum asking me if i liked the exhibition or not and guessed i was wrong, of course i walked away very quickly) So, this time, i was honestly a little scared.



   So there we walked towards the pond with the view of the bow bridge, the famous twin towered San Remo and the Dakota building (which John Lennon was shot there) adding grace to the skyline.


   The old man started to talk about these two buildings. It started to get a little interesting as he was literally talking about the architecture history in the 1920s in 1930s. I didn't know much about these two buildings apart from its association with John Lennon and Art deco and apart from they are equally beautiful. He started to explain what Art deco was and how it started and what type of material was used and there although i wasn't really paying full attention, i felt like he was a living history. So after another 3 minutes of history lesson, he kindly parted and resumed his biking workout and me? using the time to take photos of the buildings.




  The idea of wanting to tell me about the history of these two buildings and the style of architecture made me feel thankful afterwards. Well, not at that moment as i was still a little preoccupied with uncertainty of the situation. But now looking back, sitting on my cozy chair, i feel thankful for the walk of history and wished i was paying attention because no matter what information you find in the book or website, it cannot be compared to a real-time walk down the history.


- a family with an old person has a living treasure of gold -

Have you ever found wonders in old people?


Until next time xx