Cultured 4th of July, part 2

The next day, I went uptown to the Museum of the City of New York to see a few different exhibits. This is the 400th anniversary of the discovery of New York by Henry Hudson, so much celebration is to be had: the fireworks were in the Hudson this year, and the Mannahatta Project was exhibited in the museum. The Mannahatta Project is a project that looks at Manhattan's changing landscape and ecology since its discovery in 1609, but particularly emphasizes the early years. There was a fun little map where one could find a block of Manhattan and overlay what it looked like back then with its modern landscape, and then look at what the indigenous species and peoples were in the area. In addition, there were Muir Webs, which were webs that connected habitats and creatures with their dependents via lines, creating an endless network between all the species of the area.

Also at the museum was an exhibit on Henry Hudson and the early dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, which had over 400 artifacts relating to the age. This was interesting, but Dutch, to me, is utterly bizarre in its construction. A cool part of the exhibit was the exhibit itself; the walls were sculpted to be like the hull of the Half Moon, Henry Hudson's ship. Other highlights include the amateur drawings of a Beaver and Bald Eagle because they were adorable, and also the numerous paintings of Stuyvesant and other famous New Yorkers. Or New Amsterdamers, as it were.

After the museum, we went to the Conservatory Garden, which is a part of Central Park, but a designated (and enclosed) quiet area. It's divided into three parts, with a British garden, French Garden, and Italian garden. The entryway looked like this:



And it led into the Italian Garden, which looked like this:


The fountain end of it was very reminiscent of the gardens at the Villa D'Este in Tivoli, which I visited last year. The grotto effect of the elevated walkway only helped this analogy, as did the single-jet fountain.

This is a very peaceful garden, which makes sense given that it was a designated quiet area. No cell phones, no music, simply quiet and perhaps the buzz of the outside world occasionally. It struck me as a nice, quiet corner where I could sit down on one of its many benches and read a good book, or perhaps start writing one of my own. I really liked the tree-lined long pathways, which were lined with benches and gave a unique dappled light.

After the Italian garden, was the British garden, which was stifled chaos and very British. It had beautiful flowers, and a few birds and insects as well. Its best part, however, was its fountain, which was dedicated to "the children of the city." Part of it was a birdbath, and there were quite a few sparrows frolicking and enjoying themselves. I had a good time watching them.

The last garden there was the French garden, which evoked Versailles and other such large, expansive gardens, with the centerpiece being a fountain of three little nymphs playing in the water. Overall a very beautiful garden, and a very beautiful day.