5. THE CENTRAL PARK ZOO. (Central Park; enter at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue and follow the signs along the pathway into the park; it's just a short walk to the zoo from the 59th Street entrance to the park.). In MISS MATCH, Kitty and her fifth match, Colin Fleetwood, take a leisurely stroll through Central Park and spend a significant amount of time at the zoo. I spent a lot of time here as a little girl, back in the days when they had vendors who sold colorful Chinese painted parasols and the kind of big opaque rubbery balloons filled with sand that go "boom, boom" when you punch them from their elastic hand loop.

The zoo is a lot more animal-friendly than it was when I was growing up, when little or no attempt was made to approximate a creature's natural habitat. Nowadays, the zoo is resplendent from a multi-million dollar facelift, but I have to confess I do miss the brown bears, and I can't recall if they have any more big cats. And if there are no golden-rumped tamarins, don't blame me. But enjoy the cavorting polar bears and the seals, who perform for their supper (lunch, I guess). Goggle at the reptiles and giggle at the penguins.