[Photo Journal] Springtime in NYC! A trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and High Line Park
Spring might be the best season in New York City, but it might also be the shortest. Spring in New York is all about taking advantage of the moment. New Yorkers joke that it lasts about 2 weeks before summer takes over, with the humidity and heat that comes with the harsher season.
But New Yorkers know that this time is precious, so it’s a happy time for all. We get to shed our winter layers, and enjoy some sunshine. Even when the sun isn’t shining, it’s still quite pleasant in the city. I went to see the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens cherry blossoms in bloom. I also ventured a bit along the High Line Park!
Spring at the High Line Park
We live for these times
I love having 4 seasons, but the best in New York are spring and fall. These are when the climate is more forgiving, and you can walk comfortably outdoors in this concrete jungle. New York in spring is about new growth, green, and getting out and stretching your legs.
Although it may not be as bad as at higher latitudes, New Yorkers do often suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Spring is welcomed as more daylight hours grace our city and let us do more. I don’t think the stripping down to tank tops and shorts is quite as quick as it can be in London from my experience, but the sandals and skirts do start gracing the sidewalks in April and May.
I do remember the years when I was younger and we had only about a few weeks in August when we needed air conditioning in our home. Ah, those were the days. In more recent memory, you can’t survive a summer in New York without an air conditioner starting from June, sometimes through until early September. This makes spring and fall all the more precious!
Brooklyn Botanic Gardens in spring
I took the chance to go to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for free on a Tuesday. Unfortunately, it was a rainy Tuesday. I still managed to walk around for nearly 2 hours.
There were tons of families taking a stroll through the gardens. I also stopped for a quick selfie in the pond area that I’ve known and loved since I was a kid. There was even duck there chillin’ like a villain in the middle.
There are a few new areas of the gardens that I hadn’t seen before, so it was fun to explore a bit!
Yes, that’s a froggy raincoat. New Yorkers have style!
Botanic Gardens cherry blossoms are glorious!
If there is an iconic flower for springtime, it is the cherry blossom. It takes over Instagram, and makes people all over the world happy or jealous of those who actually can see them in person in all their gorgeousness. Spring in New York means cherry blossoms too, and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens has the highest density of them of anywhere in the city. As I was told by a friend who works at the gardens, the cherry blossoms were in peak bloom that day! Lucky!
I wasn’t the only person who had this idea. It was quite good people watching if you want to see lots of Asians taking selfies. There was even a couple taking maternity photos amongst the rows of cherry trees!
I know that the ultimate place for cherry blossoms are the ones in Japan, but these ones aren’t half bad!
High Line Park in spring
The High Line Park is one of my favorite places in all of New York City. Although the park is open all year round, if you are in New York during spring you should head over to the Westside! It was lucky that on the day I went last week the weather was nice and it wasn’t super crowded at the High Line. I usually do the walk south from 34th street down to 14th street, but this time I went north.
The High Line park is a park built on old railway tracks that are elevated above street level. That is only half of the coolness that this park is. The other half is the integration of plants and art all along the park that stretches for about 20+ city blocks.
Art installations along the walk are usually change seasonally, and there are also a few large areas where performances may take place.
The area on either side of the park has changed quite a bit in the last few years. New luxury apartment buildings have popped up on either side, especially in the north near the Hudson Yards area. Some of these buildings here didn’t even exist a year or two ago. I used to work in a building just next to the Hudson Yards part of the park.
It kinda stinks that the feel of the neighborhood is changing from kinda endearing junky to super fancy, but that is the general trend in the city in any case.
Some of the completely new buildings beside the park
Goals for this season
My goals for this spring are to get through tryouts without getting too stressed out, and to keep applying for jobs that excite me. It’s only been a few months, and really only about 1.5 months that I’ve really been looking for jobs and applying for them. But in that time, I’ve already felt myself lose confidence and start to lose momentum.
Flatiron building in springtime
Spring is an inspiring time with all of the new growth and the sunshine. I’m going to let that filter into my own life by trying to notice the beauty of the changes around me and to really appreciate that I can live in this time.
A friend in the Ultimate world passed away a few weeks ago, and it’s been a strange thing to think about and talk to other friends about. He was all about living life to the fullest, and making every day the best day possible. I remember partying with him and his friends several years ago, and I’m so grateful that they included me in their lives at that time.
He was a great guy, and I’m glad that he was a part of my life. I hope that I can live my life with a little bit of his essence and greatness.
My main goal for this season is not to get depressed about my PhD, and to continue working towards the life I want post-PhD. I’ve gotten used to living at home, and now it’s about getting myself to keep chugging forwards!
A solitary flower at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Spring in NYC is short, but sweet
In other parts of the city, you can see that just as the trees, bushes and tulips have woken up, people have come out of hibernation too. I’m enjoying the alternating warm and cool weather we’ve had this spring so far. It hasn’t gotten humid yet, and that is something to be thankful for!
My younger sister (right) and I at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Have you been in New York in spring? What’s your favorite season?
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