Our Bronx adventures

Watch out for the lions!

Sticking with the subject of my prior post "getting away from the city", here are some pictures of two of our other subway trips ... to the Bronx. Yep, the Bronx, that sounds very scary for us, little Belgians, but rest assured, it is nothing to be scared of, at least not the part of the Bronx we visited... unless you end up in the lion's den.

Last Sunday, we visited the Bronx Zoo - in retrospect, not such a good idea to visit the zoo on a sunny Sunday afternoon as apparently half of New York state had the same plans, but regardless of the crowds, we were impressed by what we saw. Our Antwerp zoo cannot compete with the Bronx Zoo. First of all, the Bronx zoo is huge, it's the largest zoo in the US (365 acres) and even has five entrances. Secondly, the animals' cages (if you can call them that - "habitat" is maybe a better word) are amazingly big, mimicking the animals' real life surroundings. Thirdly, the number of species "on display" (sounds cruel, but that's how it is) is even more amazing. We saw the entire African wildlife in a safari-like monorail tour, monkeys, flamingos, tigers, a family of gorillas, all types of bugs and reptiles, birds, ... A good tip to get away from the city, although you don't always have to leave Manhattan to have the "zoo experience". For example, some exotic and extraordinary species can be spotted at Times Square, especially after dusk, but beware they may become aggressive if fed too much alcohol.



In the beginning of May, I visited the Bronx Zoo's neighbour, the New York Botanical Garden. Not as big as the zoo (merely 250 acres),but as impressive, at least for the gardeners among us, with its 50 gardens and plant collections, including a conservatory with orchids, rain forest, desert and seasonal plants, a rose garden, rock garden, herb garden, a forest, etc. We took a train ride (thank you, America, for always providing motorized transportation no matter where you are) through the gardens, feeling like in a posh English garden. The conservatory offered a spring display with hundreds of daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and the like, "an excellent photo opportunity" quoting the guard.

That's it for our fauna and flora adventures in the Bronx, folks! And while writing this post, I can enjoy the sounds of Manhattan wildlife (traffic, bus stop, fire truck and police sirens, honking, subway trains, ...).