Picnic Tables in Central Park
The Great Hill is an open hilltop meadow with picnic tables, a three-quarter mile soft surface oval path and green grass under stately American elms. Yes, there are lots of American elms in Central Park.
Olmsted and Vaux designed the Great Hill as a carriage concourse where passengers could enjoy commanding views of the Hudson River and the Palisades. HA! To think that you could see the Hudson River at the time the park was built is amazing. With the passing of time and the growing of trees, the view slowly disappeared. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Great Hill was turned into a recreation area with bocce, tennis and volleyball courts, and horseshoe pits, but by the 1980s, it was an abandoned and dilapidated ruin. The restoration of the landscape in 1993 as a place for community leisure finally gave the Great Hill the contemporary identity it needed. It is a hidden gem in the park. Regular users of the park don't even know it's there.
New Champagne Growers Will Be Named in 2008 - The world's sparkling wine industry is at peace. Grapes grown within the narrowly defined Champagne region of France can only be used to make what can be called, "champagne." For while the grapes grown to create the bubbly champagne are merely common grapes: chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, the French authority that designates the region's farms assigns the cachet of the name "champagne". In order to meet global demands for increased champagne production the Authority will designate farmlands nearby the "official" region with the right to produce grapes for the production of champagne. Let's hope the new farmers all celebrate by wearing our champagne glass sunglasses!
|