With its endless trails, hidden nooks, museums and nearby night spots, Central Park is that rare tourist destination that is also a pleasure ground for locals.
Self-study activity:
Watch this New York Times video about Central Park answer the questions about it.
The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students.
1 How big is Central Park?
2 Where in New York is Central Park?
3 What does the Loeb Boathouse owner compare the view overlooking the lake to?
4 What part of the restaurant does the manageress recommend to have lunch at Nougatine?
5 Can you eat at The Salon At Per Se without a reservation?
6 What are the main features of Robert Restaurant, according to the manageress?
7 What themes define New York City, according to the curator of the Museum of the City?
8 What's Central Park a mecca for?
9 What two countries or regions does the manager of the Champagne Bar mention?
10 What can you do at Dizzy's in late-night sessions?
You can check your answers by reading the transcript below.
Central Park is a rare, rare imaginative creation at work. It’s 900 acres (1) of incredible beauty and even as a New Yorker for so long I still haven’t yet scratched the surface of the park.
Central Park is the back yard for all New Yorkers.
It’s such a contrast to New York City and I love that it’s in the centre of the city (2), just such a great complement to the urban jungle that we have.
I love being in Central Park and looking up and feeling like I am so far out of the city and yet I can see the skyscrapers all around me.
I can’t think of a better setting than in New York and being in the boathouse for brunch overlooking the lake. It’s been described as a Monet painting, an idyllic setting (3) and always it’s the calm in the city of New York.
One of my favourite meal period actually is lunch. And Nougatine really caters itself to that, you know, we have a great pre-fixed menu that we offer which allows you to taste the variety of Jean Georges dishes in a really comfortable format and see a lot of guest that come and visit Central Park and come over and have lunch with us, either on the terrace (4) overlooking the park right in here, right in dining room by the windows.
In our salon, which is right off to the main dining room, it’s an area that guests can come in without a reservation (5) and just enjoy a one-plate meal or more through the a-la-carte menu where you don’t have to commit to a full tasting menu.
We feature a highly designed restaurant atop the museum with beautiful wines, sexy cocktails, delicious cuisine and a view (6), a fantastic view looking over Columbus Circle, up Broadway and over Central Park.
The Central Park Zoo is a really unique place. It was something that appeared early in the life of Central Park. The zoo is this green oasis in the middle in the middle of a busy city. You can really lose yourself in the tropics in the tropic building or feel the chill when you’re in the penguin exhibit watching the Antarctic penguins.
This is a city that is constantly growing and changing. Each of the exhibitions explores the themes that we think define the city: money, diversity, density, creativity, and creativity is really what defines New York city (7).
Every time we do come here, there’s always something new for us.
Central Park is a mecca for bird watching (8) because we are on the migratory flyways. There are beautiful birds here in Central Park. You won’t see any these birds even one block away from the park, which is kind of amazing. It’s my way of trying to connect with nature in the middle of the big city. Makes me feel much happier.
There’s two United Nations, one is La Plaza, and one is United Nations on 44 Street. Everybody is here, every all walks of life come here. People come and visit from Kansas, people from Japan (9). It’s just a beautiful place to sit and have a fantastic cocktail. There’s a sense of space, a sense of grandeur, and I think that for me it’s why it just attracts people.
The view is sort of, you know, your quintessential New York Central Park view. You really just ride above the tree level. Our cocktail offering is very focused on fresh ingredients, whatever is in season. We love to use fresh mint, all of our juices are fresh-pressed.
We have a broad range of jazz music that plays here at Dizzy’s, straight ahead jazz, swinging jazz music, modern jazz, there’s big band music, there’s Latin music, there’s music from the Caribbean, and late-night sessions we have we have some dancing (10) too.
When jazz artists perform, the backdrop is Central Park, which is great, their performing of ballad and a tempo song, the view definitely lends to the atmosphere. I mean, it’s an amazing park, I mean it’s arguably the best in the world I would say. I’d say the best in the world but, you know, I’m a New Yorker.
