Sunday, May 04, 2008

Best Two Failed Trips

Past two Saturdays we've headed to Brooklyn intending to go to the Botanical Gardens, but have wound up doing something completely different.

First of all, do you realize how terribly messed up the trains to Brooklyn have been the last couple weekends? Man alive.

Ok.

Last weekend we were going to go to the Botanical Gardens, which are free before noon, but then we were late in our mission so we decided to go to the always-free Greenwood Cemetery.

Walking up to Greenwood Cemetery, I don't know, it kind of feels like you're going to Disneyland. You know, like approaching the entrance? Hmmm. Maybe it's just me.


This entryway is famous for how, many years ago (decades!), a whole bunch of parakeets (or birds like parakeets) escaped from their crates at JFK and moved in to the Greenwood entryway tower. Really.

See, see the nests?


At Greenwood they're involved in a project where they're putting special Civil War-veteran tombstones at the graves of every Civil War veteran (or casualty...do casualties count as veterans? And can I say "war dead" instead of casualty? Is that more dignified?) and this is where they're keeping all the tombstones they've still got to put up. Also, is tombstone kind of an "antiquated" word? Should I have said "gravestone" or "headstone"?


Cemetery explorings.






"Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery"










While wandering the cemetery we were trying to find Jeff and Mattias, who were also supposed to be somewhere inside the cemetery. It's a dang big cemetery, but we found them. And then gave them brownies from Brenda.



You might recognize this headstone from an earlier post.





This is what happens if you insist on desecrating trees!


Then today we were going to go to the Botanical Gardens as part of Jeff's birthday celebration and actually got to them (before noon!) but they were charging admission all day today for some reason. I think the reason had to do with flowers. So we walked over to Grand Army Plaza instead.








Fountain imitationary.


I promise you someday we're going to get to that Garden and it's going to be free and we're going to have an awesome time. Mark my words!

6 comments:

Cindy Bean said...

How expensive are these Botanical Gardens?

I see Chris!

Brigham said...

To tell the truth, I haven't a clue.

I suppose the point is that it can and ought to be free. We like to save our dollars for summer movies and tacos.

Anonymous said...

It's $8/$4 with a student ID, sheesh, it's cheaper than your summer movies.

My apartment is 3 blocks from Greenwood cemetary! I'll have to go see the parrots sometime.

Collin Mapp said...

Pamela,

Firstly, eight dollars equals four tacos at La Casa de los Tacos. Come on. Its economics.

Second, they are not "your" summer movies, they are OUR summer movies. Yours, mine, theirs - OURS. And they can be very beautiful things.

Third, they are Monk Parakeets from South America. The rogues escaped their cages at JFK in 1960. And, yes, you should see them.

Anonymous said...

The ornate cemetary entrance is a lichgate / lychgate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lych_gate)

In more interesting times, folks believed that the dead/undead ("zombies" / "liches" / pick your label) could not pass the gate and wall. Gotta keep those zombies contained in the churchyard.

Collin Mapp said...

Be peaceful.