Bronx Zoo and Botanical Gardens

Wednesday was a lovely day- sunny, not too hot (but still pretty hot to be outside all day) and I used it to its full advantage.  I braved the city bus system, and not knowing really how to get there, I somehow ended up at the Bronx Zoo.  In the process, I rode three buses, learned what a transfer is, how to get it and how to use it, and paid in quarters since my metro card ran out.  I just sucked it up and asked for directions at every point, and it worked!  It didn't even take that long to get there.  Wednesday is the free day at the Bronx Zoo, and it opens at 10.  I got there by 10:10, and it wasn't busy at all.  A man told me which things to do in the morning while the animals were active (gorillas) and before the lines get too long (monorail).  I bought the All-Inclusive ticket (entry is free, but special exhibits such as The Congo and the Butterfly Garden require extra tickets) so I could go to whatever I wanted.  Here are a few highlights of the day.

Interspecies interplay.  This gorilla later threw herself flat against the window in response to the heckling children.    It was slightly terrifying.  I heard one boy, about 9 years old, say "That was the best experience of my life!" right after another gorilla threw up on the window.

Flamingos

Sleeping Tiger-only one per mountain

The sea lion doesn't get annoying at all :)

By the afternoon, it was completely hectic at the zoo and you really couldn't get near many of the animals.  I tell you, if you don't like crowds or children, don't go to the zoo on "pay what you want" day!  I loved watching the little kids get excited about the animals (sometimes the wrong one--one little kid on the monorail ride said "Daddy, look at that bird!" over and over when we were passing the elephants.), and if you want to see a New Yorker out of their element, put them around large animals and lots of nature! It was pretty comical to hear such complete naiveté about wildlife!  At one point, one lady said when the tiger was sleeping:  "He's sleeping!!! Give me back my $2!!!")

I really liked the zoo, and it seems largely set up for children, which is wonderful but not as sophisticated as some zoos I've been to.  It is amazing that it is in the middle of the bustling Bronx, though and a priceless resource both for teaching kids to love animals and conserving many that are endangered.

About a .5 mile walk away is the New York Botanical Gardens.  Wednesday is also free day there, so I decided to spend a few hours there to see what I might want to come back to on another day with more time.

 I may have discovered one of the most beautiful places on earth.  The pictures absolutely do not do it justice as the iPhone doesn't zoom in well at all, but you sort of get the idea.

These placards with French impressionist poems on them were scattered throughout the gardens.

One of my favorites: a garden for the senses

By then, the weather had cooled down, the sun was behind clouds, and there was a delicious breeze.  And almost no one in the gardens.  There is a fantastic garden store there, and it was sad and also fortunate that I only had 30 minutes to peruse the books, plants, stationary, prints, etc.  I did buy three books (that I really, really needed! Come on!). This place is splendid, and if today was any indication, not the literal and figurative zoo of the Bronx Zoo (Suri and Katie Holmes were at the zoo two days ago!).  I love it here.

Had to ask a number of people for directions home.  When I finally figured it out after a long walk, it took almost two hours on a local bus to get the 4 miles home.  One of the downsides of living here.

Today, I did laundry at the laundromat, went to the Crossroads Diner, and am now headed in to Lincoln Center for the Noel Coward exhibit and the Juilliard bookstore.  Then I'm meeting Seonaid at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens for a Met recital.  Ciao!
M