On yet another gray, damp winter day, who isn’t ready for spring?
But as much as we long for blue skies and sandals-and-shorts weather, Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog tells us that’s not going to happen for a while.
In the meantime, here are some tropical haunts that are sure to chase away the chill.
RAINBOWS IN FLIGHT
You’ll be peeling off your hat and gloves faster than you can say Jack Frost at the American Museum of Natural History’s Butterfly Conservatory.
Here, where the temperature’s set at 80 degrees and the humidity at 85 percent, you’ll find more than 200 species from Africa, North and South America, Australia and Asia flourishing in a tropical paradise of orchids and bromeliads. You’ll think been transported to the rainforest as you make friends with this colorful bunch.
You might even see a few moths. How can you tell the difference? Moths rest with their wings open. Butterflies rest with them closed.
Butterfly wings are delicate, made up of millions of tiny scales, which give them their beautiful color but make them fragile as glass. So look, but don’t touch – even if they hitch a ride on your head and shoulders.
EDEN UNDER GLASS
Think you know what the Garden of Eden looks like? Come to the New York Botanical Garden’s glass-enclosed Enid Haupt Conservatory and see how your imagination measures up.
If you think you’ve seen palm trees in Florida or Beverly Hills, think again. The entrance rotunda has more species of palms than you ever thought existed. Step inside the tropical exhibit and smell a thousand different smells – roses, oranges, lavender and orchids, all mixed together. One recent visitor, who hails from Senegal in West Africa, said it reminded him of home.
Not only are these plants and flowers beautiful to look at and lovely to smell, they also have the power to heal. The fruit of the tamarind tree is useful in soothing an upset stomach while the bark is good for treating a sore throat. No free samples, but see if you can find one – the tamarind is just 4 feet tall, with leaves that look like green feathers.
If you love chocolate, you’ll probably want to check out “A World of Chocolate” in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden. Though March 30, you can enjoy a free cup of it here in the enclosed garden, while you learn how chocolate is made and how it was used by ancient people like the Mayans.
WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN
Want a little peace and quiet, along with some warmth? The Metropolitan Museum of Art has just the thing. From the moment you walk into the atrium housing the Temple of Dendur, in the Met’s Sackler Wing, you’ll feel instantly at peace.
Built in 15 B.C., the temple’s original home was Egypt, one of the warmest places on earth. But a dam built in 1900 plunged the temple into a watery grave, and for a while it was submerged in the Nile.
After the stones were hauled up, Egypt gave it to the U.S., and it stands, in its reconstructed glory, in this big atrium at the Met.
Walk respectfully past the stone guards and think warm thoughts as you admire your reflection in the water, which represents the Nile.
A wall of glass lets in the sun, giving the original feeling of warmth that the temple created on the banks of the Nile so many years ago.
JUNGLE FEVER
What says spring better than baby animals?
The Bronx Zoo is getting an early jump on spring, welcoming two new baby giraffes and one silver lemur monkey in its Jungle World. The lemur babies are easy to spot since they are born with an orange coat that later changes to silver.
At the World of Reptiles exhibit you’ll find frogs of every color – blue, yellow and red.
Elsewhere you’ll find yourself in a mangrove swamp and a scrub forest, where you’ll see a 750-pound Malayan tapir, which looks like a cross between a pig and a rhino. Add to that some mist, waterfalls and streams and you’ll swear you’re far from winter.
If this doesn’t warm you up, throw on another sweater.
Hed: Follow that warmth
The American Museum of Natural History, 79th Street and Central Park West. Admission to the Butterfly Conservatory (and museum) is $17 adults, $10 for kids. (212) 769-5200.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue. Suggested admission: $12 adults, $7 kids. (212) 535-7710.
The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx River Parkway and Fordham Road. The Enid Haupt Conservatory is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., admission $5 adults, $3 kids. (718) 817-8700. For info on the Everett’s Children’s Adventure Garden call (718) 817-8181.
The Bronx Zoo, Exit 6 off the Bronx River Parkway. $8 adults, $5 kids, free admission Wednesdays. (718) 367-1010. For express bus info ($3, MetroCards accepted), call (718) 652-8400.