Roses in Brooklyn

I suppose that if I had to be anywhere by myself for a week, New York is a wonderful place to be, especially on a day like this. The perfect weather continues (until tomorrow, probably), so I hopped on a train to Brooklyn and explored the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. On the train was a very nice French girl who asked for directions (and I was able to give them to her!), and in return she let me practice French. One of my favorite things about living here is hearing French spoken as often as I heard Spanish in Texas.

It felt a bit strange exiting the station onto Washington Street in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. There were only a handful of people in sight, and none of them were attempting to hand me a flyer! The tree-lined streets seemed so empty. Quite a nice change. I do love living in Manhattan, but being half a block from Times Square is just a bit too much. Anyway. After marveling at this sight, I wandered into the garden.

If these gardens are striking in the autumn, imagine how beautiful they would be in the spring and summer! If we lived closer it would be well worth the price of membership to be able to go all the time. They have hundreds of varieties of roses, each with their own fragrance, water lily ponds, and a Japanese Hill-and-Pond garden. The Shakespeare Garden contains plants mentioned in his works, but unfortunately I wasn't able to explore much as a powerful, long-ranged sprinkler was set up right in the middle... 

No trip to Brooklyn would be complete without pizza, so I followed my stomach to Gino's before heading home.

Autumn crocus

Varieties of water lilies outside of the conservatory

In the rose garden

The Shakespeare Garden