Day 60- July 12

Sally's Day (Al is still in MN)

Central Park (again) and a movie.

I saw "To Rome with Love," Woody Allen's latest movie.  He had 4 plots in the movie.  It seems with multi-plot movies, the characters or stories overlap so that there is a relationship between the stories - not so here.  The only commonality was that they all occurred in Rome. One story occurred in a single day, another in a  week, and one over a period of about a month.  It seemed that he had 4 short films in his brain, and decided to put them all together.

I thought it was amusing and entertaining enough to spend time in a cool theater on a hot summer afternoon.  Perhaps in his last years he is starting to tour the world- first, Paris; now, Rome. Perhaps next a film set during the Winter Carnival  in St. Paul.  I don't remember a Woody Allen movie set in the winter.

Then on to Central Park.  Today was John Lennon day for me.  First,  stopping to photograph the Dakota (1 West 72nd Street, corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West) - supposedly named the Dakota because at the time it was built it was so far from the main part of the city that it seemed as far away as the Dakota's. 

Then across the street to Strawberry Fields.  After Lennon's death, Yoko Ono donated $1,000,000 to the Park, which was used to restore the area directly across the street from the Dakota. The area was then named Strawberry Fields, and the Imagination mosaic installed in his honor.  I believe he may be the only contemporary writer with this honor in the park.

The Dakota

Imagine mosaic.  Someone had placed a single strawberry in the middle above the word.

Strawberry Fields- which is actually four lawn areas separated by groves of trees.

One of the many horse-drawn carriages which give tours of the park.  The horse is drinking from the fountain.

The boat pond- you can rent a row boat and then spend a hour or two rowing around this algae-covered pond 

Sally