Playing in the Park(s)

NYC has really great parks. Maybe I've just never appreciated the parks in the other places I've lived, but NYC has really awesome ones. The really great thing is all the fun (and free) activities various organizations put on in the parks. In the last month(ish) I've watched movies at the following parks:

East River State Park: Up

This park is in the Williamsburg Area of Brooklyn, and it has an amazing side view of Manhattan. It was so much fun to see the skyline as the sun was setting, while watching a great movie!

Bryant Park: ET

I didn't stay for this whole movie- we had a decent view of the screen but the sound wasn't great where we were so it was tough to hear anything. I'm sure it would have been more fun if we'd been there early enough to get in the main area, but they show them on Monday nights and it's tough for any of us to get off work early enough to beat the crowds! Good thing there are other movie options around the city :)



I took this as we were walking out of the park- we actually had  better view with no trees in our way.



Central Park: West Side Story & Hook

This weekend is the Central Park Film Festival. They show movies in Central Park for one week of the year, every summer. On Thursday night we saw West Side story- complete with a Q & A before with some of the original cast and free popcorn. Friday night after a stop at the MoMA to check out the architecture exhibit on Le Corbusier (free Friday night admission- woohoo!) I packed myself a picnic and wandered back to the park (I love, love, love my location- most of the great stuff happening in the park is within easy walking distance from me :) where I found a great spot on the hillside to watch Hook.

Q & A with a few Jets and Sharks

In addition to all the outdoor movies, I also went to Shakespeare in the Park. They have a theater in the middle of Central Park where they put on a number of productions. All tickets to the performances are free, but there are only two ways to get them: 1. Stand in line starting early in the morning and hope to get tickets to that nights performance. 2. Enter the virtual lottery each morning in hopes that you'll be selected to get tickets to that nights performance. Since I have to be at work every day, I've been entering the virtual lottery all summer and I finally won! They did a great job- this particular performance was a new version of Shakespeare's Loves Labour Lost, which they had turned into a modern musical. It was very clever and entertaining- and so much fun to be watching a play in Central Park!