No, there are no tours inside the park, but the Gray Line tour bus as well as the other tour bus operators in New York City, do stop on the edges of the park and let you get off (hop on hop off) and wander all around Central Park to your heart's content.

The Central Park stops include:

Strawberry Fields and the Imagine Memorial - Columbus Circle - Central Park South - The Pond - Wollman Rink - The Central Park Zoo and Children's Zoo - The Frick Collection - Conservatory Water - The Metropolitan Museum of Art - The Great Lawn - The Guggenheim - The Central Park Reservoir - The American Museum of Natural History - The Lake - Smithsonian National Museum of Design / Jewish Museum - Conservatory Garden - The Museum of the City of New York

Permit Requirements: NYC Department of Parks/Recreation issues permits to leagues, teams, and other groups, to reserve specific athletic fields at specific times. The public can obtain athletic field permits for a session on one of the fields by completing and submitting a permit application to the permit office at the Borough Office (16 West 61st Street). Members of the public who wish to join or set up a league should call or stop by the permit office as well. For additional information, call the Permit Office at 212-408-0209, ext. 6.

Here is a photograph of a great tree on the lower east side of New York City's Central Park. It was photographed during the first week in May. You can see its brilliant spring green color as the leaves of the great tree begin to fill out the landscaping on their way to full summer foliage.

Central Park offers a total of 26 ballfields. Where: There are three areas in Central Park offering softball and baseball fields. They are: Great Lawn: eight ballfields, restored in 1997. North Meadow: seven baseball and five softball fields, restored in 2000. Heckscher Ballfields: located at 63rd Street between the west and center drives: six ballfields, restored in 2006. When: Permits for baseball and sofball are issued from mid-April through mid-September.

August 2008 -A big slice of Wedding Cake given to Moyra Smith by the Royal Chef for Princess Diana and Prince Charles will go to auction on August 27 at the Dominic Winter Book Auctions in Glos, United Kingdom. The 27-year-old slice of wedding cake celebrated the ill fated marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. The wedding cake piece is decorated with the couple's Royal Coat of Arms. [If cakes are your thing, review our chapter on the best wedding cakes, best birthday cakes and best wedding cake designer in the USA.]

August 2008 - Sunglasses Ban Begins in USA Bank - New security policies have started in two Mississippi banks. Customers entering the banks are now banned from wearing hats, hoods and sunglasses when entering these banks. This is a policy that has been brewing worldwide over the past few years as more and more banks are robbed by people wearing the targeted combination of both hats and sunglasses. We expect more and more banks to institute the same policies in the months to come. No more cheap sunglasses for them!

August 2008 - The Wizard of Oz opened at London's Royal Festival Hall in late July 2008. The lead DOROTHY will step out in footwear studded with red Swarovski crystals. Both Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers will be all done up in Swarovski Siam crystals and Glinda, the Good Witch of the East, will be adorned in among other colors, "crystal" color Swarovskis. Costumers love the round green Wicked sunglasses we offer for the Emerald City act in the play, Wicked, while other fans of crystal adore our Swarovski Crystal Sunglasses. It's cheaper than hauling off to London!