After the MOMA, on we went.. over to 6th Avenue and northbound, past the ballooning crowds of tourists and the sizzling falafel stands on the corners with their clouds of oddly appetizing shawarma smoke, past the old cigar shop where fancily suited men hold court in the street-side windows and stare out at you creepily with cigars in their mouths and newspapers in their hands, past the overworked sign-holders standing in the sun on the side streets, beckoning you to rent a bike for the day (if they rented kids' seats for said bikes I would be all over that), past the white-gloved doormen of 59th Street and the decorated horses and carriages of Central Drive, and on to that great manmade kingdom of kingdoms in the city, Central Park.
Onward we went, through the manicured pathways and wild brush, through the trees heavy with green and the arching footbridges and the brightly colored fauna. A little further in and a little further in, until the wilderness surrounded us on all sides and the city felt far away. Then all was calm.
Deep within Central Park lies another world; a world where the woes and the stress of city life cease to exist, where one can sit alone and remember, or forget, or listen to the music of nature, or listen to silence. You enter the park for a pretty afternoon stroll and you wander along, and one moment you're watching taxis and Clydesdales clamor for road space, and the next, you're away. Far away. You see the building rising above the trees in the distance, but the sounds and smells of the city are nowhere to be found. It is there that lies this other world, the magical respite where one can find peace.
Just as the exhaustion began to creep in to our bones from our lengthy adventures through the museum, the park, and the carousel, we came to this place. We spotted a cool stone island in the grass and made it our own personal bench. Away from the city and the commotion of the everyday, we rested. We ate. We laughed. Lucien nursed while Biet put on a show for passerby's. Stealthily stealing the hat off my head and dancing around with a smirk, she brought many a smile to our faces. Then the wind began to blow as the afternoon sun sank lower, so I zipped up my dress and buckled up the babies, and with hats our heads and dirt on our feet, we made our way home, thinking all the while, what a perfect day.