A park in the middle of the city

Every city should have one.. There's the famous Central Park in NY, and then there's a little less known, but many times more enjoyable Golden Gate Park in SF hardly 10 minutes from my place by bus.. No, the park has nothing to do with the Golden Gate bridge (or so I think), I'm not sure you can even see the bridge from anywhere here, but it is still nonetheless 1017 acres of wooded area.

The area was originally covered with sand dunes, being near the sea coast, and believed to be not arable or viable for the kind of greenery it enjoys today. It took a civil engineer back in the 1800s to think differently and decide to turn it into a park. (some more history here http://www.sfgov.org/site/visitor_index.asp?id=8089)

The park has within it a conservatory of flowers, a Japanese tea garden, more than one lakes, a small island in the middle of one of the lakes, with artificial waterfalls, a golf course, a Dutch windmill area, and before I forget, lots and lots of life!!

There was a motley bunch of musicians today, all playing different sorts of percussion instruments and enjoying a sizeable number of viewers too (as the video shows). A saxophone artist reveling in the pleasures of playing in solitude but still amidst nature. A bunch of skaters and free-form dancers moving to music blaring from a speaker. Many bikers having a good Sunday ride. Many dogs out for their evening walk. And of course me looking around and taking in the sights :-)

One of the many more reasons I like the city.. There's just so much to do, and very little other than motivation needed to actually go ahead and do it all.. Golden gate park is from now going to be my Saturday/Sunday book reading/biking haunt. :)