The benches just in view of Bow Bridge are in a quiet setting in one of the most popular and frequently photographed areas of the park. People come to read and ducks come to eat. If you follow a quiet walk along Wagner Cove and swing around north, you come to Strawberry Fields.
Bethesda Fountain
Here is the center of Central Park. Moving on from Beethoven, you come to a grand staircase and descend (no other word will do) down to the plaza. To the right is the boat house where you can rent a rowboat or a gondola, and there's the Boat House restaurant, too! Straight ahead is the lake (looks more like a river, I know). We're about to enter another lovely area. Wendell and I took this route to cross the park and head for Cleopatra's Needle. A GW Friendslist member sent me an 1893 photo of Bethesda Terrace. Looks just the same. The Conservancy does a wonderful job of restoration.The statue is "Angel of the Waters" by Emma Stebbins.
Boaters
There were plenty of boaters out on this lovely, warm, sunshiny December day. There are benches all along the lakeside, mostly the World's Fair style. Along the Ramble, benches appear by ones or twos along the lake or along the paths.
View from Bow Bridge
"I've seen this a million times in the movies," Wendell said, when we got to Bow Bridge. I'm sorry not to have a picture of Bow Bridge (yet)! But the views are lovely - the west side of New York and a quiet lakeside row of benches where you can sit quietly and feed the ducks, if you like. The benches with this view are like the ones at the plaza, the World's Fair 1939 bench.
Keep walking!
