Last May, we had a trip to New York planned to see the Kusama exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden. Of course that was canceled, and it’s the first thing I thought of when we escaped to NYC from Henri in Nantucket.

We stayed at The Lowell Hotel in the heart of Manhattan near Central Park. Loved this location for a change, and our view was a nice welcome after cutting our trip to Nantucket short. It’s a beautiful hotel and we will stay there again.

Saturday morning we walked through Central Park and enjoyed the morning outside.

We purchased our tickets to Kusama for Saturday as soon as we arrived in NYC. Even though there were rumblings about Henri coming to New York, we figured we would plan for rain and take our umbrellas.

It was hot and humid and cloudy, but we thoroughly enjoyed it and were thrilled to have made that happen.

I took hundreds of photos! I Want to Fly to the Universe greets at the entrance.

We have been Yayoi Kusama fans for a while, our obsession heightened while visiting Paris years ago and seeing the Louis Vuitton display. We have followed the contemporary Japanese artist closely ever since. She is fascinating and her immersive installations draw millions of her fans.

There are indoor and outdoor installations throughout the garden. Just after the entrance, there was a line with someone handing out stickers. We filed into Flower Obsession, the first ever obliteration greenhouse, and were instructed to place our sticker wherever we were inspired to do so. “Please do not keep the sticker” they said.

The conservatory was incredible with Kusama’s multifaceted art transforming the space.

The lush greenery was fabulous and so fun to photograph!

I especially loved the leaves that look hand painted from this collection of photos.

Scroll through - you’ll see which ones I mean.

Other worldly lily pads…

Dancing Pumpkin (2020)

More Cosmic Nature from the Conservatory

Separate tickets were sold out for the immersive installation, Infinity Mirrored Room, so we just enjoyed walking around the beautiful NYBG landscape.

A wonderful visit and perfect timing. The rain began almost as we stepped into the cab to return to the hotel. Turns out Henri was now predicted to bring lots of rain to New York!

All the restaurants we went to were within a couple blocks of the hotel including Majorelle, the hotel restaurant, which we adored. So many of the restaurants have sidewalk set-ups for outdoor dining. This was our table the first night we arrived. PS They absolutely checked our vaccination cards almost everywhere we went, including our hotel.

And do you recognize those glasses? The Perle glasses I have sold in my shop for years! I recently downsized my shop offerings, but if you are interested in the glasses, I can still order them for you! (Email me)

Nello is a favorite restaurant and is around the corner from The Lowell on Madison. We ate there a couple times this trip!

We had the restaurant to ourselves on Sunday for a rainy day leisurely lunch.

We also ate at Jo Jo a Jean-George restaurant. Delicious!

We delayed our our flights out of New York for fear of being stuck at the airport, enjoyed an unexpected extra day of shopping and restaurants on Sunday, and flew out safely on Monday morning.

Happy to be home, however we are headed to Florida for Labor Day weekend!