Another NYC Sunday

Played hooky from church today and hopped on the train up to NYC and hung out with Columbiagirl and Therapyboy for the day. The nice breeze in the city was a great reprieve from the 100 degree heat and humidity the east coast had been suffering through all week. After meeting me in Penn Station, we walked over to Chelsea and had lunch in this cute restaurant, Wai? Cafe. The food was great - fresh, healthy, and most importantly, cheap. Considering NYC's high prices, cheap would be operative word here.

Columbiagirl and Therapyboy have a membership at The New York Botanical Garden and so after lunch we hopped on a train and headed up to the Bronx which is where the garden is located. Getting there was, shall I say, an adventure? Due to various construction taking place on the MTA this weekend, some of the subway stops were closed and so we ended up taking this round-about way up to the Bronx. What should have been a 40 minute train ride to the garden took about us about an hour and half. I won't even go into all the details, but needless to say, it was really frustrating. Stupid MTA construction! Nonetheless upon our arrival at the garden, I was pleasantly surprised and decided that, despite our frustrating train ride, it was absolutely worth it. The New York Botanical Garden is a museum of exquisite gardens and plants on a 250 acre of land in the Bronx. When I walked through the entrance gates, I was immediately wisked off into a different world. It was surreal, knowing that outside the gates of the garden was the hustle and bustle of NYC's Bronx borough. Dale Chihuly's glass sculptures is this summer's exhibit, where he has various installations of his glass sculptures in the Conservatory and other landscapes. As I walked through the exhibit, I was amazed to see how art and nature developed a fascinating dialogue through exotic forms and brilliant colours. It was breathtaking.


The day flew by so quickly and before I knew it, it was time to head back home. Fortunately this time there wasn't the usual last minute mad dash for the train track when we arrived at Penn Station, since I had about half an hour before the train left. Although Columbiagirl and Therapyboy only live an hour and a half away from me, it's always hard saying goodbye. Especially today. Good friends like them are really hard to come by.

My senses are so aware right now, probably due to a long and somewhat emotional day. I hope I don't have trouble sleeping tonight.