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having just entered the park on a sunny day.

Our final venue was the Children's Zoo and Wildlife Centre, Mid-park at 64th Street and 5th Avenue. Having duly paid our $6 each as adults and just $1 each for the kids as they were under 13 (under 3s free), we entered a wonderfully equipped zoo complete with polar bears, Tamarind monkeys, red pandas and other associated wildlife. Guided tours at 2.30pm complimented opportunities to see the sea lions being fed at 11.30am, 2pm and 4pm whilst the penguins became the centre of attention at 10.30am and 2.30pm. We spent a good few hours here even though it looked like a small zoo from the outside. We chose to eat our lunch at the restaurant with security being tight to get in. The gloomy looking man on the door removed a thin branch from my lad presumably because he thought it could be used as a weapon. The food was pretty average and relatively expensive so a better idea would have been to take a few sandwiches and stuff. Then again we were in New York for Lordy's sake where the dollar is king and sandwiches are bought not made.

Top tips for visiting Central Park:
-Have a plan it's a huge place!
-Take sun lotion on sunny days as you may be there for a few hours
-Take plenty of dollars with you; I didn't see any muggers there and there is plenty to spend your hard-earned on
-Wear comfortable shoes as you may be doing a lot of walking.

We probably spent around 6 hours at Central Park by the time we had spent out at the usual souvenir haunts and sore feet syndrome compelled us to return to our hotel. We had only scratched the rather large surface of a park that thoroughly charms the newcomer and provides a welcome haven from the capitalist drum beating of the city.

Venturing through the park would have uncovered other delights such as Belvedere Castle Discovery Centre(mid-park at 79th Street), Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre(mid-park at 81st Street), North Meadow Recreation Centre(mid-park at 97th Street) and the Charles A Dana Discovery Centre(North East Corner at Harlem Meer). Flanking both sides of the park are a cacophony of museums all demanding visitors to attend them. They include: American Museum of Natural History, Hayden Planetarium (we planned to visit but ran out of time), Frick Collection, Institute of Fine Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Cooper Hewitt Museum, Jewish Museum, International Centre of Photography and the Museum of the City of N.Y. As you can see, you could spend several days in Central Park and still not see everything.

For music lovers, The New York Philharmonic orchestra are regular visitors to Central Park whilst a panoply of lakes and paths provide ample space to joggers and roller-bladers or even those just out to have a picnic or play ball (that's baseball in this part of the world).

Central Park slowed things down for us when they needed to be slowed down and really is an amazing place to visit. We adored the time we spent here and the sunshine added a pleasant angle to enhance a wonderful few hours. I would strongly recommend a trip to the park although with all the attractions and museums, chances are it will feature on any visitor's itinerary in some shape or form anyway. It may even put a break on your spending as you could theoretically spend the day there and never spend a cent(perish the thought!).

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