The NYBG is in the Bronx, open April to October from 10am to 6pm. (718) 817-8700 (www.nybg.org) An all attractions adult ticket is $20.
We got to the NY Botanical Garden by taking the Metro North Railroad, Harlem line heading north to White Plains. A day return ticket is $6. One thing to note, on a Saturday, the train only leaves once an hour. It goes twice an hour during the weekdays. If planning a trip, you might want to take timing into consideration. The trip is just over 20 minutes.
The train is very convenient as it drops you just outside one of the entry gates for the Garden. We went to see the Chihuly exhibit and ordered our tickets on line. We picked the tickets up from the members window which allowed us to skip the longer line of people buying tickets. You can take a tram ride which tours you around with an informative guide, but we went on our own on foot.
The exhibit also included a film about Chihuly at the lecture hall. If you know nothing about Chihuly, the film would be a good introduction. Dale Chihuly is located in the Seattle area and is the best known glass blower in the world. His pieces are on display worldwide and he probably has done more to promote glass as an art medium than any other artist. If you go to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, for example, you will see a chandelier by Chihuly.
The film demonstrates some of Chihuly’s unusual working methods necessary because many of his works are huge. Their large size makes the NYBG and its out of doors location a perfect setting. Chihuly did a similar exhibit in Venice, also out of doors. As we were walking toward the Visitor Center area, the sun, which had been behind clouds all morning, came out to illuminate one of the enormous pieces called the Sun. It was a breathtaking moment when you fully appreciate the luminous qualities of glass, particularly coloured translucent glass. Some of his pieces are in the Children’s Adventure Garden, which looks like a fun area if you have children with you. But my favourite settings were the conservatory and the reflecting pools where the glass pieces were made to look like flora and fauna. The water was a particularly effective setting with the glass reflecting in the water and if you looked carefully, little goldfish were darting about adding their colour to the setting.
We did not focus a lot on NYBG itself but could not help but notice the variety of plant life as we viewed the Chihuly pieces. It is a big piece of land and I imagine it would be easy to spend many hours there. We got our exercise trying to visit the various areas where the Chihuly was displayed and that was less than half the Garden. NYBG also has various gift shops and places to grab a bite.