My girlfriend lives in the Bronx and the question we asked ourselves this morning is where can we go to see yesterday’s snowfall shown off to best advantage. Of course after an hour of shoveling, I wasn’t sure how beautiful snow would look anywhere.

Then she remembered that when she was a child, her parents would take her and her two brothers to the New York Botanical Garden on Southern Boulevard, across the street from Fordham University. While it may seem counterintuitive to go in February to a place famous for it’s flowers, we decided it was preferable to dodging Sanitation Department plows and skidding motorists.

We got there around noon and were one of three cars in the small lot they’d cleared for the day. We practically had the place to ourselves and with so little foot traffic, the snow that blanketed the grounds was pristine. And no matter how trite this sounds, it was truly a winter wonderland.

While their beauty may be different from season to season, certain places like the Botanical Gardens, and like the beach where I live, are simply gorgeous 365 days a year.