Untermyer Park & Gardens trip

 Earlier this week, my brother took me on an adventure to a place I had no clue existed, the Untermyer Park & Gardens in Yonkers, NY.

These are the outside walls of the Walled Garden, which is based on the written description of the Garden of Eden based on the Bible and Quran.

When you open the doors to enter the garden you are in this shaded area under a canopy of trees, it's really nice.

A history plaque about the man who created this.

There are Koi fish in the water

Here's a photo of the trees that make up the canopy

This is the "Temple of the Air"

The Sphinxes are Persian style

When you are walking around in the Walled Garden it feels like you took a step back in time, it feels like you are in the ancient world. 

Love the Mosaics! 

looking up at the Sphinxes

The original entrance, now blocked off. When Mr. Untermyer lived here his estate included what is now the hospital and part of his flower gardens are now parking lot.

We were surprised when a cat showed up! 

The ruins of the Persian bath (pool)

Although not specifically called out, I suspect that this is an allusion to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Untermyer was a world traveler and incorporated aspects of things he liked, so while most of the garden has a Roman/Greek theme, there is also influence from Persia and these lions, which are Chinese style.

This is the "Overlook", where you can see the Hudson River and two genuine Ancient Roman columns- supposedly the tallest in this Hemisphere.

Yes, I did it! 

About halfway down, there is a bench in what used to be the rose garden, and we sat there going both directions. It was very peaceful and nice. Below is the remains of one of 6 color gardens, the only one that survives.

The Palisades

Looking up at the Roman columns. I am so mad at myself, I didn't get a good photo of the two of them together. 

Looking back up the mountain I came down, and had to climb back up. Let me tell you, for me that is a MAJOR accomplishment. For healthy, able people it's no big deal...but for me it is one of the most difficult things I've done in my entire life. Was it worth it? Yes, unquestionably. Could I do it again? I don't know. 

I had to take a Roman column selfie.

The ruins of the Gatehouse

Not great but at least I got it.

The only barge and tug we saw that day.

I was too exhausted after climbing the mountain to see the entire park, so my brother went and explored the rest while I sat on the bench under the canopy

Looking straight up from the bench

The juxtaposition of this sign made me laugh. I didn't get to see the Temple of Love, that will be next time. 

There will be a next time, I really enjoyed this place...but I'm not sure I could do the mountain again. We did this trip Wednesday, and I'm writing this Saturday night, and I'm nowhere near recovered from it yet...even though we did do another trip the very next day. (Post written and scheduled for 4 PM Tuesday, by the way) Of course the trip was made even harder because I was having pretty bad toe pain at the time. A few days before I had set my vice on the floor, rationalizing that if I left it on my table and it fell off, it would probably break my foot if it landed on it. Naturally, I forgot it was there and slammed my foot into it the very next time I stood up. I did that last Sunday and it's still hurting a week later...

You can see all the photos I took here: Untermyer Park & Gardens

As a bonus, I added 7 new places I had never been to before for my Places I've Been project. I'm now at 295 places documented in the state of NY.