A Spring Fling in Da Bronx

On Friday, Dave, Marge and I went to see the azaleas at the New York Botanical Garden. It was a cloudy, cool day, but there were lots of people in the park, including several school groups of different ages.  The gardens are spread over 250 acres, so they never feel crowded.  The azaleas are at their peak now, and they bloom in a rainbow of beautiful colors in a part of the Gardens that is gentle hills.  Each part of the garden is a treat for the eyes.  Here are some pictures.

After azalea-gazing, we strolled over to the gardens near the Enid Haupt Conservatory.  These are small, more formal gardens with a wide variety of plants, many familiar to us, and some quite startling, like this unusual plant:  These guys are almost 4 feet high!

 

                                      


I especially enjoyed the irises and tulips, two of my favorite flowers.

                                        

After we left the Gardens, we went to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx which is an old Italian neighborhood of restaurants and food stores.   First, we went to "zero otto nove," where we had a wonderful lunch of calamari with peppers and tomatoes, arugula salad with shaved parmagiano, pasta putanesca, and pasta with ceci.  All delicious!



                                   

 Thus fortified, we shopped: in the market, in the meat store, at the bakery.  Eating before we shopped was a wise decision; otherwise we would have come home with mountains of breads and sausages and olives and biscotti and cheese!

We fortified ourselves for the ride home with cannoli and cappucino at one of the cafes.

 I gilded the lily with a chocolate dipped cannoli.  Bliss!

                                  
I think this retirement thing is working out really well for us!