chris is right, there's no good, efficient way to get to the different parts of fairmount park (not even driving. that's hardly "efficient" from places like center city). I still voted for it since I live here, but central park's accessibility is way better.

Anyone seen forrest park in st louis? I've only ever been to the zoo (I think that's in the park), which was quite nice.

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I used Fairmount all of the time when I lived in OC and CC! Don't forget that it's huge and includes the portion near the Art Museum. I used to walk up during school and study by the river...

I can't say I'm not hurt - but, since I wasn't alive in 1968, I can't compete -

regardless - I vote for Fairmont Park - it's been a wonderful place to relax, explore, study, people watch, get lost after dark with lawmummy...

Even that portion isn't very convenient for me from where I currently live. Unless I drive, which detracts from my overall enjoyment of the outing. Besides, it blows my mind that I should be required to have a car to get to a city park (walking would take me about an hour and I would have to go through some sketchy neighborhoods).

I could go into a rant about the Girard Ave trolley, but that's another discussion. I wish I could get to Pennypack on the el.

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bg: I'm amazed that you mention surfing in the English Garden. Are you thinking of that strange place where the river emerges from under the road and plunges down a kind of embankment, creating a wave that people actually surf? When I was there I came to think of it as the "permanent wave," since it's always there (more so when it's rained a lot and the river is running high. That's a strange and very interesting feature...almost as strange (and much more pleasant) than all the naked middle-aged German businessmen in the park, lolling on the grass, riding bikes (yuck)...

Anyway, I actually like the fact that Fairmount Pk. is not right in town, but lament along with Dave the fact that it's hard to access without transit. Dammit, we should have all kinds of special transit lines connecting to all the various attractions in the park! Trolleys to Memorial Hall, buses to Belmont Plateau, trains to the Wissahickon...I know, some of that exists already (you can take the 38 from Market St. to Belmont Plateau, for example), but only accidentally and none of these have been conceived as ways to get people specifically to the park. They just happen to go near/through it.

Rock Creek is a great park as well but it's not so much a people park as it is a hiking, riding, walking place - with the Zoo thrown in.

Fairmount Park and Central Park allow you to do both - you can walk in a big field, look at old structures (the mansions in Fairmount, the Castle and waterworks in Central Park), you can play softball, soccer, frisbee, and you can walk in the woods. Hell, in Central Park you can listen to a little music concert, sail your model boat, row a boat with your significant other, play tennis, etc.

Rock Creek, as nice as it is, just doesn't cut it. It also has the same problem as Fairmount in that you can't easily get to it. It's sort of DC's answer to Wickihisson.

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

Yup

http://www.surfxchange.net/spots/munich.html

Must ... poke ... out ... mind's ... eye ...
:what:
I would disagree. The park is great because it is mixed right in to the city. DC is lousy with great parks ...

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Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian. - Robert Orben

Right, by the Haus der Kunst. That's where I saw it. And you have a picture! Excellent. For those who haven't seen it, the wave the guy's riding is essentially constant - it never goes away. So if you're skilled you can stay on the thing more or less indefinitely. As soon as you fall, somebody else gets a turn. I gather from what that text says that you have to be pretty good to avoid cracking your head on the rock that's right below the surface.

Yes, a portly naked German gentleman riding a bike is not a pleasant experience.

DC does have lots of good parks - we agree. And Rock Creek is one of them . . . it's just not a super citizen friendly mixed use area.

We used to hang at the mall. There were three volleyball courts down by the Lincoln Memorial - we used one for a nice game, one for a serious game and one for a "killer" game. Nearly every weekend, we sent someone of to GW Hospital with fractured wrist, bad shoulder sprain, etc.

Never knew until then that wrestling and volleyball are the two national sports of Iran. Those suckers could spike from the midline - and if you bitched about, they could wrestle you into submission.

And P Street Beach (which I guess is technically part of Rock Creek) was my Central Park. Dogs, frisbees, dope, newspapers, etc. - every Sunday from April to October. Plus, an I almost forgot, Dupont Circle (pre Metro) was where all us freaks hung out. We almost got busted for rolling corn starch next to the fountain.

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

Isn't Rock Creek Park where the murderer-rapists hang out?... oh wait, we've also got one of those ;-)

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Your representatives on Philadelphia's City Council are at odds with our new mayor over whether many reforms he has proposed should become law. Please write to them and tell them what your priorities are.

Indict State Senator Vince Fumo into The Crooked Pol Hall of Fame.