Ken Munsie: 10. Central Park New York

Central Park cuts a swath slap-bang through the centre of Manhattan.

Not my photo - taken from the official web-site to give you an idea of the Park's position and size ...

It's total area is over 800 acres - made up of - ..." ... 250 acres of lawns, 24,000 trees, 150 acres of lakes and streams and 80 acres of woodlands ..." and " ... 9,000 benches, 26 ball fields and 21 playgrounds ... 55 sculptures & monuments and 36 bridges ..." and " ... receives approximately thirty-five million visitors annually ..." ... quote from official website ...

and always in the background is that wonderful Manhattan skyline

Paths leading off to hidden grottos ...

Belvedere Castle ( Beautiful View ) ... a Victorian Folly !!!

and the view from the Castle ...

In the centre of the park stands The "Cleopatra's Needle" which is one of three ( there also is one in Paris and one in London ).Each obelisk is approximately 68–69 feet tall and weigh about 180 tons. They originally were erected at the Temple of Ra, in Heliopolis, in Ancient Egypt around 1450 B.C. by pharaoh Thutmose III. The 3 obelisks were all moved during the reign of Roman emperor Augustus Caesar when Ancient Egypt was under the control of Rome. They were brought to Alexandria and erected as tribute to Julius Caesar in front of the Caesarium, a temple originally built by Cleopatra VII of Egypt in honour of mark Antony, thus the name "Cleopatra's Needle."

There are two versions of how the Central Park Cleopatra's Needle made its way to Central Park: either it was a gift from the Khedive of Egypt, or it was stolen through the machinations of WH Vanderbilt who paid the tab to have the obelisk shipped to New York and erected. The obelisk arrived in New York in July 1880; it took thirty-two horses hitched in sixteen pairs to pull the obelisk to the park. It was erected in an official ceremony on January 22, 1881.