Enjoy the commentary of our tour guide:

 Transcript:

The rocks are the only natural thing. And then the trees are planted. About 20 000 trees they planted back in the days. The soil, even, came from New Jersey. When they started, they've drained the water from the swamps. They blasted away the rocks to form the design. And then they brought 500 000 cubic feet of soil from New Jersey and covered the park. That's why this park is unique, because it's been built from scratch. At the moment we've got around 24 000 trees, 36 bridges and arches and 21 playgrounds for kids. There was a question in the TV show 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' - What is 9000 in this park? The right answer is the benches. We've got 9000 benches, if you put them next to each other, it's going to form 7 miles of benches. And they are part of the donation program. You can purchase one. So it's like a dedication? Yes, it costs $7500 for a bench. It's a lifetime donation for Central park. And you can put your name or a memory of yours on the bench. The park collect 65 million dollars per year, that's the budget nowadays. To your left is the Summerstage. This is where we do the summer show 'Good morning America'. In the summer they come and they do those free concerts every Friday morning. Backstreet Boys were here last year and The Chainsmokers. We've got someone famous every year. It's free, yeah, free entrance. But you've got to be here early otherwise you might not get inside. It was very crowded for Justin Bieber and Celena Gomez. Even One Direction have been here. That's the backstage here. You wait here for the autograph. We'll make a stop here. Alright, our turn. You can park here. So we are standing next to Bethesda fountain and terrace. This is the most visited place in Central park. It was designed for the grand opening back in 1873. This is when they officially opened Central park and this is where all the TV shows, the movies are filmed. This is where all the weddings come for pictures and ceremonies and it's next to the Lake. The name of this lake is 'The Lake', that's how they called it. And to the right you see the famous Boathouse restaurant. This restaurant is in the movie 27 dresses, the wedding. And also 'Sex and the City' - Carrie and Mr. Big get drunk and fall in the lake, that was filmed there. You rent those boats from there and go in The Lake or you can hire a gondola. There is a gondolier with you that will sing Italian songs...with Brooklyn accent. Very authentic. Usually the people flip a coin inside and make a wish and then you can see the homeless guys looking for the quarters inside the water. The Angel on top of the fountain is holding a lillie, a symbol of purity, and with the other hand is pointing down, blessing the water in the pool of Bethesda. This Angel, they are talking about him in the Bible, chapter five the Gospel of John. It comes down the sky and blesses thw water in the pools of Bethesda. There is a tunnel underneath, a beutiful tunnel with a nice ceiling. When you walk through the tunnel taka a look up to see the ceiling. Those are all Minton tiles from England. In 1860 they brought 16 000 Minton tiles abnd put them on the ceiling. It's the only place in the world they did that - Minton tiles on the ceiling, they are usually on the floor. They give nice acoustics, there is always someone singing down there or playing musical instruments. And we also standing next to this metal plaque here. This symbolises the center of the island. Not the park, the whole island (Manhattan). That's why they named the park 'Central'. Because we've got the geographical middle of Manhattan. The thing is that this is not the exact one, this is approximate. The real center is somewhere on the other side of The Lake. From here we are about 6 miles from the north, 5-5.5 miles to the south and approximately 1-1.1 miles to the west and 1.1 miles to the east. And on the other side - The Mall shows you exactly the directions. Further down is south, the other way is north. More than two hundered movies are filmed on the Mall - 'When Harry met Sally', 'You've got Mail', 'Maid in Manhattan' Jennifer Lopez, 'Big Daddy' Adam Sandler 'Kramer vs Kramer' Dustin Hoffman - he is training his boy how to ride a bicycle. That ws done here. The movie 'A night in the Museum' - the dinasours chasing the small guys and John Lewis Keanu Reeves - in the second chapter he ran with his dog through The Mall. That was filmed here. Across the street you see this brownish sign. Those are the names og the designers Olmsted & Vaux way. frederick law olmsted and Calvert Vaux. They designed Central park, they designed Morningside Park next and two parks in Brooklyn - Fort Greene Park and Prospect Park were desined by the same designers. Also, Olmsted designed Golden Gate Park, the Niagra Falls park, the Capitol building landscape in Washington DC and even the parks in Canada - Ontario and Montreal.