My Favorite Park

Central Park, Prospect Park, Washington Square Park, Battery Park, Gramercy Park. New York's got some famous parks. Central's good for people watching. Prospect's good for flying a kite (or spotting Jennifer Connelly). Washington Square has some good street performers. But none of these are my favorite park. Empire Fulton Ferry State Park is. I've developed this routine every Sunday for the past four weeks. Every week I grab a chicken salad sandwich and Mountain Dew in DUMBO, walk to this park hoping to find a shaded picnic table, then start reading. Sometimes I'll sit on a bench facing the water. It's difficult though because I'm always spotting something more interesting. One Sunday, I saw what looked like an America's Next Top Model photoshoot. Another Sunday found a school group encouraging anyone to join them in some double dutch jump roping. A skywriting school was seen practicing spelling words in smoky letters across the sky. I guess I like this park because it's small enough that I can see everyone in the park. And it's always just people relaxing by lazily napping on the grass, taking a picture of their kid, or the occasional dance troupe practicing a plie against the railing. Of course, the view of downtown is thrown in your face. The beautifully constructed Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges are there too. Even the passing water traffic of Circle Line tourist boats amuses me. I suppose I like the park because it allows me to be so close to the city, without actually having to be in the craziness of it all.