5 Boroughs in 5 Days: Brooklyn

I was so happy to learn that the Brooklyn Botanical Garden is *free* before noon on Fridays.  With my free Fridays dwindling, I set out to beat the rain.  The grounds are gorgeous, lush and teeming with color, texture, activity–and it’s totally possible to see everything in several hours, unlike its larger New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.  Of course this prospect is made even easier by the closings from two major construction projects currently going on in The Garden.  Though there are plenty who come early for the free admission, it is still possible to explore peacefully, meditatively.

The cherry blossoms long gone, the esplanade still offers beautiful canopies of low branches. 

Which buds will be bloomed and open to the sun upon your arrival?  This is what I like about flowers.  The show is always different.  [Insert deconstruction of a flower’s beauty.] [Then insert a though-provoking quote about flowers.] Repeat. Now, bask without further analysis.  Flowers; in their beauty, in their thought-provocation; are so whether you talk about them or not.  So I’m not going to.  

I got up in many a-bee’s business until a honeybee stung me.  It hurt!  But here’s a bumble bee–far more concerned with sweet nectar than me.

Butterflies are total flirts.

Walking into the hibiscus

“You’re a Rose Nymph.”

In the conservatory

I began to stalk the dragon flies.  They are too cool.  No wonder they’re on so many lamps and tramp stamps. 

Brooklyn Botanical & Bee Garden

Bonsai, Daniel Son 

Miscellaneous

And boy, does Brooklyn Botanical Garden have a delicious restaurant with a couple of unmissable vegan options!  Yellow Magnolia Cafe is vegetable-heavy-ish, which makes sense.  I’m not of fan of park and garden eateries that serve nothing but highly unsustainable old food world staples (read: meat).  (Yeah, let’s adore flowers while eating food that is responsible for the clearance of rain forests!) And the vegan options are clearly labeled, which is like a sweet kiss hello.  The chef is Brooklyn-heavy Rob Newton, known for Seersucker, Smith Canteen, Nightingale 9 and Wilma Jean. 

The scrumptious Heirloom Red Dent Corn Polenta Fries are crispy and hearty and served with a really good tomato chutney.

The inside

Perfection: Organic strawberries on top of a luscious macadamia ricotta and dressed watercress with some crostini.  This was divine, each bite. 

Their Canteen location also has some vegan options, including the ubiquitous Impossible Burger.

Also on the cheap-ish, Govinda’s Vegetarian Lunch, in the basement in Downtown Brooklyn’s Hare Krishna Temple.  This place is a longtime staple in the vegetarian scene for many, many years.  And that’s how it tastes, too.  It’s old school veg, no frills.  I regret to have missed the tofu cutlet day… the main entree when I visited was a non-vegan Eggplant Parmigiana. So i had a medley of sides.  Food is nothing spectacular but dining in is a worthy vegetarian ritual.

My plate: rice, beans, and various piles of vegetables.

Continuing on the theme of cheap, I decided to go home via ferry from Red Hook.  You can’t beat the views and the big slam of wind in your face on the upper deck.  I want to travel via water as much as possible, I’ve decided.

Brooklyn is blessed with Manhattan’s face across the water.

Who would sit inside of a ferry on a day like this?  Not me.

After getting off in Bay Ridge, I stopped in at Narrows Botanical Garden along my way home.  A small, peaceful (and free) space, it is a nice retreat.  They also do outdoor movies in the summer!  I love my neighborhood.

Later, tempestuous storm clouds and sunsets are too enticing for me to resist.  When the boring bright, blue sky (just kidding) bows to reveal much, much more, I have to run out with my camera again.  Then I get soaked.

Manhattan basking in the glow on ye ol’ Belt Parkway Promenade.  But this is not your post, borough of Manhattan.  So I credit Brooklyn, for making you look good.