NEW YORK CITY: BOWERY HOTEL AND BRONX ZOO

July 21, 2021

I hope to take a trip to New York City at least once a year to visit our son who lives there.  There is so much to see, and I love the city vibe. Our time this year, however, was mostly spent in Upstate New York. But more about that later.

We took our usual mode of transportation--a red-eye flight from LAX to JFK, arriving at 6:30 AM. I could definitely relate to the "never sleeps" part of the sign that greeted us as we deplaned.

My watch said I got over three hours of sleep, but some of that "light" sleep time was just "holding-very-still-but-still-awake" time.  I don't think I got more than two hours of sleep.

Luckily we were able to check into our hotel as soon as we got there, which was around 7:30 AM?. We stayed at the Hotel 50 Bowery in Lower Manhattan, just outside Chinatown. The hotel is snuggly nestled between a Chinese restaurant and a neo-Classic HSBC Bank.

We were really pleased with our choice.  It can be hit-and-miss in NYC if you aren't staying in an expensive hotel.  This was a hit! The service was great and our room was large (for NYC), clean, well-appointed, and had a great view of morning yoga on the deck below us. We will stay here again.

Bob was asleep within minutes of our arrival. I don't know how he does that.

We left the hotel an hour or so later to meet up with our son. In between our hotel and his apartment was the Manhattan Bridge, a suspension bridge built between 1901 and 1909 to span the East River and connect Manhattan and Brooklyn. At 6,855 feet long, it is about 1.3 miles long, which is amazing given when it was built. The skyscraper behind it that ruins the view is One Manhattan Square, a residential building.

The Manhattan Bridge reminds me of this famous arch:

Arc de Triomphe, Paris

It was fun to get a tour of our son's new apartment and to meet his pet salamander, which he and his girlfriend hatched from an egg. (Just recently they released it in the same spot where they originally found the egg, hoping it would survive longer than it would in their terrarium.)

We walked from there to a subway station, loving all the unusual sites along the way. Visiting NYC is like visiting a foreign country. "Chinese laundry," for instance, does not refer to the fancy designer shoe brand here.

This was our first destination. (*Spoiler alert: It may be our favorite zoo ever.)

We lived in San Diego for three years, and I always thought the San Diego Zoo was one of the largest and best zoos in the United States. In almost every aspect, however, I think the Bronx Zoo is better.  For one thing, it comprises 256 acres to San Diego Zoo's 100 acres. The San Diego Zoo crams 12,000 animals of 650 different species into that space. The Bronx Zoo has 4,000 animals spread out over a much larger space, meaning that habitats can be much nicer. We didn't feel like they had fewer animals, which makes me wonder what animals San Diego has that the Bronx does not. The Bronx Zoo is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area.

The only freshwater river in New York City, the Bronx River, meanders through the zoo.

The verdant landscaping is one of the things that makes this zoo special.

Our first stop was at the enclosure for the "National Mammal."  Who knew?

American Bison

From there we went to the bird house. The settings are amazing.

I think they designed the back walls to provide good backdrops for photos.

Toucan, South America

Guira Cuckoos (SE Bolivia to Uruguay)

Ocellated Turkey, view 1 (Yucatan, Mexico)

Ocellated Turkey, view 2

The Sulawesi knobbed hornbill of Indonesia (left) and the Victoria crowned pigeon of New Guinea (right), along with the turaco and hornbill, are competing for Best Headdress of the Year.

Great Blue Turaco, Western to Central Asia

Great Hornbill, South Asia

Check out this huge enclosure for Père David's deer, a species discovered by a European in a hunting park near Beijing. He saved them from extinction by sending some back to European zoos, where they were successfully bred in captivity. They have since been reintroduced into China.

Disneyland has its Sleeping Beauty Castle, and the Bronx Zoo has this magnificent Beaux-Arts palace known as the Zoo Center. It has been the heart of the park since 1908.

The dome interior:

At one time the Zoo Center housed the rhino exhibit, and a bronze rhino still stands in front of the building.

Like most zoos, the Bronx Zoo used to group animals taxonomically--a monkey house, a big cat house, a pachyderm house. But now they tend to group them by habitat. The monkey house was a victim of this zoo evolution (no pun intended) in 2012.

The stone carving on the façade is really spectacular. These days I think this building serves as offices.

The big cat building has been repurposed as a Madagascar exhibit.

Ironically, some of the best monkey-like animals were in the Cats/Madagascar building.

Red-ruffed Lemur, found only in Madagascar

Every zoo needs a flamingo pond. This zoo has two with two different species. These are American flamingoes

Scarlet Ibis, South America

I think this is a kookaburra, but what is it doing in the South America section? It must be something else.

The Inca tern lives on the Pacific Coast from Peru to Chile. Both males and females have a dashing mustache.

The birds are in a large enclosure where they can freely fly about. Our son's hand shows how close we could get to them.

 

Majestic Bald Eagle

Some kind of pelicans that look like they have mohawks

We stopped at the snack bar for something to drink and some french fries (which were very good). While we were building up our energy for more zoo-ing, we watched this fun peacock hen and chicks drama unfold.

There is nothing shy about this mama, that's for sure.

Not quite as light on their feet are these two prehistoric tortoises.

Very large and very amazing herons made of wire:

The second flamingo pond. I'm not sure what kind these are.

Is the tree eating the wire fence, or is the wire fence eating the tree?

Another wonderful enclosure for this okapi, the only living relative of a giraffe.

I'd sleep away the day too if I were this ugly.

Red River Hog, West Africa

This one's tail is longer than he is tall.

Wolf's Monkey, Central Africa

We got such a kick out of watching these deer leap around. They looked like they were on a caffeine high.

Have you ever heard of a tree kangaroo? I hadn't. He's very handsome.

Tree Kangaroo, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Northern Australia

Ebony Langurs (which sometimes have reddish-brown fur), Java

The zoo has lots of cool educational displays.

Here again, the exhibit spaces are really spectacular. You can almost believe you are seeing these silvered leaf monkeys in their native habitats in Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo.

This stork has a classic undertaker look like vultures have.

We have seen leopards in the wild in Africa, and they do sit in trees just like this one.

Female Malayan Walking Sticks are bright leaf green like these two ladies. The males are brown like twigs.

These toads secrete a toxic fluid from their eyes. Ewww. 

Asian Black-spined Toads, South and Southeast Asia

These turtles can weigh up to 110 pounds.

Malayan Giant River Turtle

Another large, beautiful enclosure.

The African nyalas aren't bad either. Here are some females . . .

. . . and here is a male. They look quite different, don't they?

A sleepy King of the Beasts.

African lion

One of our favorite enclosures was this one, which has natural rock and plenty of space to roam for . . . 

. . . a few of these grizzly bears:

He looks so cuddly! However, I'm guessing he doesn't like to be petted. A info sign said a grizzly can kill a bison with one swipe of its paw.

Have I mentioned how impressed we were by the enclosures?

White-naped Crane, Eastern Asia (Endangered: 6,500 remain in the wild)

Red Panda, Himalayas and Southwest China

As I said in the beginning, the Bronx Zoo is huge, and by the end of the day, we had put in a lot of miles.

That, added to the heat, humidity, and lack of sleep, led to this:

No worries. He woke up for dinner.