NYC Day 20: In Which I Go Gardening at New York Botanical Garden (sort of)

I was never much of a gardener. Even when I had my own home with what little passed for a suburban garden, I did the bare minimum to maintain what few flowers survived despite my indifference and neglect. Maybe the fact that I used to suffer (and occasionally still do), from severe bouts of hay fever had something to do with it, but now that I seem to have outgrown that annual debilitating reaction to pollens and other allergens, I still spend as little time as possible pottering in gardens.

So it was as much a surprise to me as it might be to those who know me, that today found me in the Bronx visiting the New York Botanical Garden. In four previous visits to New York I had never made it to either the Botanical Garden or to the Bronx Zoo. Today I was tempted to visit the zoo, but remembered that Wednesdays are 'pay-what-you-wish' days at the zoo, and it being Thursday today, I decided to leave that institution for another week.

"The New York Botanical Garden is a botanical garden and National Historic Landmark... The 250-acre (100 ha) site's verdant landscape supports over one million living plants in extensive collections. Each year over one million visitors visit the garden's remarkable diversity of tropical, temperate, and desert flora, as well as programming that ranges from exhibitions in the Haupt Conservatory to festivals on Daffodil Hill." [Source: Wikipedia]

While I freely admit that I was never much of a gardener, that does not mean that a well maintained plot of land does not interest me, and to my surprise I enjoyed my visit far more than I thought I would. It might have had something to do with escaping the mad rush of Manhattan's crowded noise filled streets. You can almost convince yourself that you are out in the country far from Midtown as you amble slowly along well kept paths, past towering sequoia's, and thousands of flowering plants, acres of manicured lawns, and clipped hedgerows.

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Come to think of it, you are far from Midtown, and you are in what little is left of once open countryside. However, the ever present hum of surrounding traffic, and the distant sound of car horns and the sirens of emergency service vehicles provides a constant reminder that the city is just 'out there' waiting to swallow you up when you leave the relative peace and quiet of the gardens.

As noted in the quote from Wikipedia, a regular schedule of exhibitions are programmed throughout the year at the Botanical Garden, and currently the exhibition of note is that of the American glass blowing artist/sculptor, Dale Chihuly. Simply titled, CHIHULY, the exhibition runs now through until October 29, 2017, and presents dozens of stunning creations that defy the imagination. That something as fragile as glass can be colored, heated, bent, twisted, and shaped into the myriad forms that Dale Chihuly manages to achieve, has to be seen to be believed.

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Numerous large sculptural works are placed throughout the grounds of the garden, and are waiting to be discovered as visitors walk around the huge site. Others are on display in the gallery's of the LuEsther T. Merton Library, while still more are placed carefully throughout the massive Enid A. Haupt Conservatory -- a wonderful architectural gem if ever there was one.

By the way, if you find the prospect of walking for hours around the 250-acre site daunting, fear not. The Botanical Garden has very thoughtfully provided people movers (or trams as they are called), that follow a long winding circuit around the grounds with stops at a number of key locations where visitors can alight or rejoin the trams As they circle the site. A pre-recorded audio commentary is played throughout the ride which draws attention to a range of trees and plants, landscape features of interest, and historical information about the gardens and their formation.

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As you would expect, there are daily tours that focus on different areas of interest to visitors, such as the Perennial Garden, Native Plant Garden, Thain Family Forest, a Bird Walk, Notable Trees, the Conservatory, and others. In addition, musical performances are also programmed over the summer months. I left the site just after 6:00pm, but if I had stayed on I could have enjoyed live music from performers that were setting up equipment on a temporary stage. The music was due to begin at 7:00pm and go through until 10:00pm, but after five hours or so on site, I was more than ready to call it a day.

There are two major dining options at the Botanical Garden; the Hudson Garden Grill is the more upmarket of the two, with waiters on staff to administer to your every need. The Pine Tree Cafe located by the main entrance is a far more casual affair, and I suspect a more economical option as well. There are also a number of very casual 'street food' style  dining options available. These are provided by the Burger Truck, and The Cantina, both of which operate from Tuesday to Sunday. Meanwhile the Taco Truck and the Conservatory Plaza Bar are advertised as operating on weekends only. However, I did see the Taco Truck setting up for service this evening near the stage before I left, so you never know. Also according to the weekly What's On sheet, since the last four dining options mentioned above are outdoor venues, they are open "Weather permitting."

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Oh, and most importantly, the restrooms were large, clean and well maintained. And no, I don't have photos of those. You wilI just have to take my word for it.

Finally, if I, an indifferent gardener, could find much to enjoy and appreciate at the New York Botanical Garden, I can only imagine that keen gardeners will feel they have found a little piece of heaven right there in the Bronx -- and who would have ever thought that? If you have the time and the interest, I have no hesitation recommending a visit.

IF YOU GO
2900 Southern Blvd, Bronx.
Open: Tuesday through Sunday
Hours: 10:00am - 6:00pm
Prices: Adult: $23; Senior: $20;
Phone: +1 718-817-8700
Online: www.nybg.org/

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Wednesday, July 6 | Expenses $78.00 ($102.90)

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NYC Day 19: In Which I Wander from one Museum to Another via Central Park

A bucolic Central Park vista (click images to view full size).

My list of things to do today included some free jazz music at the American Folk Art Museum, and more free music at the Rubin Museum of Art (part of their Spiral Music Series). In the end I missed both of them due to a very slow start to my day. Instead I elected to visit the Met Breuer again, but left my arrival so late that I barely got in 45 minutes of quality time at that address.

In fact, all I really got to do with spend some time with the Brazilian artist Lygia Pape, and her exhibition and wonderful Tteias installations as seen below. This work uses metallic thread woven in columns from floor to ceiling or wall to wall. Placed in a darkened room and dramatically lit, Tteia 1, C (as the work in this exhibition is called), is composed of golden thread that appear luminous and ethereal, like beams of sunlight entering a room. The photo does it do this huge installation justice so if you have a chance to see the work for yourselves, I urge you to do so.

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Tteia 1, C

Above: A series of four works called Book of Paths (and numbered 1-4)

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From the Breuer I decided to walk across the lower part of Central Park and slowly make my way towards Columbus Circle where I planned to get something to eat. One of the many things I love about New York City is the way the city has a way of undermining all your favorite perceptions about the city and its people. Personally I think you can blame Hollywood and the major television networks for an endless series of crimes shows that portray the city in a less than favorable light.

My experience however, reveals a city of (mostly) well maintained parks and gardens, some equipped with dog runs and almost all the larger ones equipped with playgrounds and water features for the little ones, or basketball courts for the older teens and young adults. The really large parks may have baseball or softball diamonds, and from what I have observed they are always well patronized and popular.

A walk through neighborhood streets often reveal overflowing flower-filled window boxes and sidewalk flowerbeds, a vibrant street life with food vendors ranging from mobile food vans to the smaller single operator stand selling ice cream, sliced fruits, knick-knacks and  knock-offs of more famous brand name products such as perfumes, sunglasses, handbags, watches and cheap jewelry, among many other items.

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Of course, the other side of this idyll is also plain to see: trash filled rubbish bins spilling their styrofoam containers, plastic cutlery, takeaway coffee containers, and plastic and glass soda bottles (most, if not all of which could be redeemed for the .5c deposit). The ever present wail of emergency service vehicles, the incessant blaring of car, bus, and truck horns, the rumble of the underground subway trains (or the 24-hour overhead roar of trains on the few remaining elevated lines in the outer boroughs, and on and on and on. Oh, and let's not forget the rodents and roaches, and the doggy-doo that one has to keep a constant look out for since many dog owners still refuse to 'Curb Your Dog', as the sidewalk signs urge.

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Above and below: The bedrock of Manhattan is super hard stone called Gneis, or Manhattan Schist. 

These outcroppings in Central Park give you a sense of what really lies beneath the city..  

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Having rambled across Central Park, and then finding myself in the vacinity of Columbus Circle, or more accurately in the vacinity of the Lincoln Center, imagine my surprise when I discovered that I was standing in front of the American Folk Art Museum. The jazz musicians were long gone, and once again I had around 45-minutes to check out the two major exhibitions taking place at the museum, but of course in I went anyway.

The two artists on show are men I have never heard of (a far more common occurrence than not). The Italian artist, Carlo Zinelli (1916-1974), is described by Wikipedia (www.en.wikipedia) as an "outsider artist who suffered from schizophrenia. The other artist on show, also now deceased, is Eugene Gabritschevsky (1893-1979), a Russian biologist by profession, and artist by sentiment. Obviously I did not have enough time to fully examine and appreciate the work of these two artists, but now that I have found my way to the museum, I will definitely return for a more leisurely look and write more then.

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Tuesday 5, July | Expenses $19.00 ($25.00)

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NOTE: My daily expenses do not take into account accommodation, transport, temporary phone account, or museum memberships since I am accounting for these monthly expenses at the end of each week. For the record these four line items add USD$28.45 or AUD$37.42 per day to my daily expenses. Maybe I should just include them in my daily account to avoid confusion. Maybe. I'll see how I feel at the end of this week.

NYC Day 18: In Which I Give Macy's Annual July 4 Fireworks a Miss

A view from the Grand Central Terminal concourse (Click on images to view full sized)

Event of The Day: Macy's July 4th Fireworks (between E 24th and E 42nd streets).
I started the day with the best of intentions. My intention being to check out a few places downtown and then head over to the East River early to get a good viewing spot for the main event of the day: Macy's July 4 Fireworks Spectacular that was due to kick off sometime after 9.30pm. However, after being out and about for a good seven to eight hours, and after alighting from a bus at Fifth Avenue and starting the long walk down 42nd street towards the river, I dropped by the restrooms below Grand Central Terminal for a relief break, and on surfacing once more to street level and seeing the stream of people pouring down the road to the East River, I decided that enough was enough, and caught an M4 bus on Madison Avenue for the return journey to Washington Heights!

Somewhere along the Hudson River Greenway, a graveyard for discarded architectural remnants.

The Fireboat was going off without the need for fireworks of the explosive kind.

I know, I know. You are probably thinking, what is the point of this guy visiting New York City if he doesn't participate in one of the most anticipated events of the year?

The answer, dear reader, or answers, are pretty simple and straightforward, so for what it's worth: I was tired, for one. Secondly, it occurred to me that a sizable portion of the half million people attending the event would be trying to squeeze into every available type of transport for the ride to their homes or hotels, and most of those would be using buses or subways, and the thought of doing this brought to mind sardines packed into hot and sweaty sardine cans. And that's assuming it didn't take an hour or more to find transport that wasn't already packed to the gills (to continue the fish metaphor). No thanks.

The amazing Starrett-LeHigh Building use to dominate the skyline at this point along the river, but it is about to be eclipsed by the massive developments currently underway at the Hudson Yards site.

The butterfly unicorn at the Pier 62 Carousel

I approach my 69th year, I have to say I have seen more than my share of fireworks, including a Macy's July 4th event -- which took place during a change of location experiment on the Hudson River in 2010. Yes, it was spectacular and over the top as these events tend to be, but I figured that apart from the change in location back to the East River, the 2017 event probably wasn't going to differ all that much from the 2010 one.

Still, the day did not go to waste. Illustrating this post are a number of photographs from my peregrinations between 14th street and 42nd street, mostly along the Hudson River bordering the Chelsea neighborhood. They include images of Chelsea Market, the High Line (although I left that much acclaimed piece of architecture after only five minutes due to the heat of the day).

The logo on the door of this stunning piece of modern architecture has just three letters, IAC, which turns out be the home of "...a leading media and Internet company." 

Just a brief glimpse inside Chelsea Market. Apart from the thousands of tourists who flood the place every day, and the New Yorkers who serve them, do any other locals actually visit this complex, I wonder?

Best of all was my meal of the day; a Reuben sandwich with pastrami, and real Australian style hot chips, not those anemic looking fries that most restaurants and fast food chains dish up nowadays. Thanks to the Star On 18 diner on the corner of 10th Avenue and West 18th Street for this surprise treat.

The Reuben sandwich is described online as "...an American hot sandwich composed of corned beef (oops), Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing, grilled between slices of rye bread." Oh well, I was offered pastrami as well as corned beef and an option and chose the pastrami.

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Tuesday 4, July | Expenses $38.00 ($49.85)

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 Any questions? Comments? Thoughts? Go on, you know you want to ask them or share them. Drop me a line via the comments box below or via my Twitter handle @jimlesses I won't bite, I promise.