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Published: June 11th 2015
After taking the kids to school we met Greg - aka Grant - for coffee and a chat before we all headed up to Central Park. A few photographs later, Greg went to explore the Cooper Hewitt while Kerrii, Kev and I went for a walk around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, a distance of 2.54 kms. A beautiful summer's day, it was just perfect for walking around the perimeter of the lake, passed of course by the many joggers who do the circuit. Eat your heart out James!!
As Grace and Rupert had a half day at school, once they got back we headed off on the subway - "Stand clear of the closing doors please" - to the Bronx. The poorest borough in NYC, the Bronx is the home of the New York Botanical Garden which was founded in 1891 and you may not be surprised to learn that one of the original sponsors was Andrew Carnegie. What a gem that turned out to be. However for any visitor who is planning to visit I'm afraid it's not free; the total for the five of us cost $US72.
First stop was the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden
where the kids planted a small basil plant into a pot which was taken home with us and is now sitting on the window sill breathing in the pollution from the traffic below! We all also managed to pick and eat some of the strawberries growing there and the kids also brought home some lettuce growing in the 'Salad Bowl' which we ate as part of dinner last night. There was also the Global Garden and the Bean Tunnel to explore before we headed off to the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden.
Designed by Beatrix Farrand in 1916 and restored and completed in 1988, there were some gorgeous roses there as you can imagine. The beautiful smell of roses greeted us and Kerrii and I couldn't keep out noses out of them. Once finished with the Rose Garden we caught a tram - which runs through the garden every ten minutes or so - to the Mertz Library and Art Gallery to see the Frida Kahlo Art, Garden, Life Exhibition which was the reason we'd decided to venture to the gardens.in the first place. There were actually only fourteen of Frida's paintings but there was lots of information about Frida
Greg, Kerrii & Kev
On the shores of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir Kahlo and Diego Rivera. We learnt lots about various plants in the Mertz library; what I found particularly fascinating was information about the vanilla plant. I had no idea that it was an orchid which was native to Mexico; you learn something new every day!
We walked from the Mertz to the Haupt Conservatory which was a large area enclosing some interesting plants - including some Australian gum trees, bottlebrush etc - and lots of information much of which focused on the plants of Mexico in line with the Frida connection.
As we'd spent more time than we'd planned at the Botanical Garden, instead of going to Williamsberg with Kerrii to watch some of her band rehearsal as we'd planned, Kev and I took Grace and Rupert home for dinner (which Grace cooked of course with the help of Grandpa) and Kerrii headed off to the rehearsal on her own. Kerrii must have had a great night as she somehow managed to obtain a 'late pass'!
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