Thorntons in New York City

Friday, May 10, 2013

CENTRAL PARK & BALLET

There are a series of walking tours in Central Park. Today we took the one that views the park as art. There are other tours and I'm certain we'll try to take them all.

The weather today is warming up. We're being reminded just how hot NYC can be in the summer.

Upon entering the park we noticed Big Bird and Elmo taking a break.

It is virtually impossible to enter the park and not see someone getting wedding pictures or having the wedding itself.

The central focus of the park is the terrace with the Angel of the Waters at Bethesda. This represents the angel who puts her toe in the waters, stirs the waters, and healing miracles occur.

The name of the pool is said to be derived from the Hebrew language and/or Aramaic language, meaning either house of mercy or house of grace.

John 5

The Healing at the Pool

5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ²Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ⁵One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

⁸Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The landscape architectural styles of the park are picturesque, pastoral, and formal. The following are pictures of the picturesque part. It is also one of the top 10 birding sites in North America. It's on the migratory flyway and it is filled with songbirds right now.