On our third day here, I grabbed an egg bagel sandwich, tea, and orange juice at an unassuming shop called Zanny’s (friendly service with average food that got the job done) near Frederick Douglass Circle Plaza on the upper west side of Central Park, then walked up Manhattan Avenue to enjoy views of Morningside Park (a considerably smaller park compared to Central, but gorgeously green nonetheless) and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine (the fifth largest Christian church in the world designed in Romanesque and Gothic Revival, its semicircular apse of the eastern wall towering over Morningside).
We managed to coordinate our train schedules so that I boarded the same D train at the 125th Street Station that Natalie, Timmy, and Kim boarded in Brooklyn so that we would arrive together in the Bronx to visit the New York Botanical Garden. This was my first visit to the Bronx, and I really quite enjoyed it. In my post for my first day in town, I hinted that I developed a newfound love of the outter boroughs. And it was this trip to the Bronx that solidified that feeling. The Bronx still has those characteristic New York charms (brick apartment buildings with wrought iron fire escapes, for example), but it’s quieter and slower compared to, say, Manhattan. Indeed, if I were to live anywhere in this city, I might choose the Bronx.
The Botanical Gardens themselves are also quite a marvel, and I highly recommend the somewhat lengthy journey (if you’re staying in Manhattan or Brooklyn) to visit them. We started our visit at the Mertz Library Art Gallery where we enjoyed an exhibit featuring work by Georgia O’Keeffe during her visit to Hawaii in 1939 on a commission from the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (now called Dole) so she could create promotional images. These painting are apparently not very well known, and I’m not sure if it’s because lots of the paintings from this trip aren’t necessarily, er, very good. (Sorry. I hate saying that let alone thinking that, because I’ve long admired O’Keeffe’s work.) But I must say, these paintings just aren’t as good as much of her other work. There’s an unrefined quality about the paintings; they lack that characteristic abstraction of the flower with soft, undefined lines that blend in and out of vibrant colors. Instead, the shapes are blocky, the colors are plain, and the lines are obvious. This may be a symptom of the fact that she was creating promotional images for a large company so she had to dial back the abstraction, but it was still disappointing work nonetheless.
Following the O’Keeffe paintings (there were only a handful of them to view), we continued on through the exhibit in the Mertz Library. There was a short film to watch that detailed O’Keeffe’s work in Hawai while highlighting her letters from her time there, and there was also an expertly prepared exhibit of all the plant life in Hawaii and the dangers of invasive species. I must say, while O’Keeffe’s work might have been disappointing, I still really enjoyed the exhibit, and I do recommend it despite my somewhat lukewarm reception.
Next we walked through more of the grounds. Our loosely-planned route took is through the Rock Garden, the Thain Family Forest, the waterfall on the Bronx River, the Goldman Stone Mill, the Azalea Garden, the Luce Herb Garden, and the Perennial Garden. While it was still stunningly beautiful in its own right, I would love to make a return trip to the gardens in late spring and early summer to see everything in bloom. That said, it was so nice to be here in the off season, since the grounds weren’t busy at all. It was really very nice.
While the grounds may have lacked color in favor of late season foliage of dark greens and occasional pale yellows that signaled the beginning of autumn, the Haupt Conservatory was a real pleasure to enjoy. Indeed, it ended up being the highlight of our visit. The conservatory is the largest Victorian era glasshouse in the United States, and it is named after Enid A. Haupt who was a publisher (she was in charge of Seventeen magazine from 1953-1970) whose generous gifts supported horticulture, the arts, architectural and historical preservation, and cancer research.
A giant 90-foot glass dome greets visitors at the entrance. The whole conservatory is a giant rectangle, so guests can work their way either clockwise or counterclockwise from the domed entrance to view all 11 galleries without having to double back. And what a stunning collection of plants from all over the world! As their website indicates, you can find “majestic palms, prehistoric cycads, endangered orchids, and cactus curiosities.” The flowers are vibrant, exquisite, and fragrant; the cactuses are marvels in living sculptures; and the ferns are such wondrous reminders of a truely successful species spanning eons. This conservatory was just absolutely fantastic! Do visit the New York Botanical Gardens. They were a definite highlight of my entire time here in New York.
Following the gardens and a satisfying lunch at a Caribbean buffet at a Cherry Valley Marketplace, we headed to the Meat Packing District in Manhattan to visit some art galleries, namely two Gagosian galleries (one on 24th and the other on 21st) and the Hollis Gallery on 26th. The Gagosian on 24th was featuring the work of Mary Weatherford in an exhibit called I’ve Seen Gray Whales Go By. This is a brilliant collection of work. The paintings were highly abstract and expressionist, which I just love. There were, I think, six or seven paintings total, and they were all fantastically giant, towering over the quite open space of the gallery. Each painting was a flurry of colors of oversized brush strokes (I think she must use some kind of large sponge) that danced, glided, and darted across the canvas. Each painting also had at least one (sometimes several) neon tubes affixed to the canvas. She lit the tubes in vibrant colors of reds and blues, and they raced in a long line from one corner of the canvas to another, sometimes running off the canvas entirely. These paintings were not only such impressive accomplishments, they were also just remarkably sensational treats for the eyes.
I’m not going to remark much on the Hollis (it was a collection of lots of different people’s works that didn’t really catch my eye), and the other Gagosian featured a work by Urs Fischer called PLAY. It was a slightly amusing installation of colorful office chairs that moved about the space on their own accord. It was fine. It made me smile.
Following the galleries, we made our way to the Staten Island Ferry. We (perhaps naively) thought we could walk to the ferry from the Meat Packing District. Google indicated it was an hour-and-a-half walk, which seemed doable. A strenuous stroll, I suppose, and we weren’t pressed for time. However, after about 45 minutes, we decided to hop on the subway on account of our sore feet. Still, it was nice to catch brief glimpses of the High Line (that elevated, disused railway converted into a park and greenway that I fell in love with the last time I was here) and large sections of perhaps my favorite neighborhood in town, Greenwich Village. (More on Greenwich Village for day 6! Stay tuned!)
I really enjoy the Staten Island Ferry, as it’s an inexpensive (it’s free, in fact) way to catch amazing views of the city, New Jersey, Ellis Island, and the Statue or Liberty. We rode it on a particularly grey, foggy day, but I do rather like grey, foggy days. While much of the city may have been hidden by the fog, it was still a spectacular sight to see, a cloudy haze enveloping the upper stories of the buildings, a ghostly shadow obscuring everything beyond Lower Manhattan.
Staten Island itself is kinda boring. (Sorry.) So we headed straight back to Manhattan to enjoy some of the best Turkish and Mediterranean food I’ve ever had at a restaurant called Aba. And we ate so much! If I’m remembering correctly we started with phyllo scrolls (pan fried, cigar shaped phyllo pastries stuffed with feta and parsley), fried calamari, and lebni (thick yogurt with walnuts, garlic, dill, and herbs). Then for our mains we had doner kebabs (ground lamb and beef cooked on a rotating spit), Turkish meatballs (made with ground lamb and beef and seasoned with Turkish spices), sultan’s delight (chunks of lamb in a tomato sauce over eggplant purée and kasar cheese), and stuffed cabbage leaves (stuffed with rice, ground lamb, onion, tomato, dill). And if that wasn’t enough, we finished the meal by sharing a Turkish custard that had a caramelized base. It was all just so, so good! Some of the most delectable and enticing flavors I’ve ever had! Do go! Make sure to bring in your own bottle (bottles?) of wine, as they don’t have alcohol on the menu.
We were all quite impressed with how we managed to pack all this in on a single day, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! Sadly, at this point, my time with Timmy, Natalie, and Kim was fast coming to a close, as they depart on Tuesday. However, tomorrow I’ll be joined by Amy and Aaron as they fly to NYC from their adventures on Toronto.
Stray Observations:
1. Today I noticed that some of the routes of the NYC Subway were rather poorly designed. I noticed that there isn’t really a good way to go from Queens to Brooklyn via subway, as there aren’t really any north-south routes connecting those two boroughs. Instead, it frequently is necessary to take a train from Queens, head west into Manhattan, then loop back around south and then east to get to Brooklyn.
2. We got to walk on the High Line for only a very little bit on account of a performance taking place when we arrived, necessitating our fast return to the street. Even still, I’m so glad I got to see it once again even for a little bit, as it really is one of my favorite places to visit in New York.