Princess on the Road

After some jet lag recovery on Tuesday, I decided to brave the city streets and hit the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum.

 

I decided to walk since getting there is half the fun.  I figured I would do the Met first because I wanted to spend more time there and wasn’t overly excited about the Guggenheim.  I had to walk about 18 blocks south of the hostel, then 3 blocks east to Central Park and then across the park.  In my excitement to get there, I forgot to check what time the Met opened.  After my little morning walk, I get to the Met and it doesn’t open until 9.30.  I’m there at 8.15.  Great.  So I decide to sit on the front steps and eat my breakfast.

 

Arriving so early actually turned out to be a bit of a blessing as by 9.30 the line for the front door went all the way down the steps (there is quite a few) to the street.  I pushed my way to the front and so was one of the first to get my ticket.  After tickets I find the floor plan, get gadget and earphones for the audio tour and hit the first floor.  There was a lot to see and I’m glad I went early – you can really spend a full day there.  My favourite exhibits were:

• Greek and Roman Art
• European Sculpture
• Egyptian Art
• Medieval Art
• Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas

I took more time in these exhibits and then just strolled through the rest.  Unfortunately, flash photography isn’t allowed and in some exhibits photography is not allowed full stop, so I didn’t get to take many photos.  I also forgot to take a picture of the outside, which I will do when I go for another stroll down Fifth Avenue.

 

 

 

 

 

After the Met, I headed up to the Guggenheim.  I realised that I made the right decision in keeping most of the day for the Met, because although the outside is pretty impressive, the inside of the Guggenheim is quite dull, which I thought was a bit ironic since the philosophy of architect Frank Lloyd Wright is “from within outward”.  There was actually a special exhibit of Wright’s work throughout the gallery, which was somewhat interesting but a little excessive as it featured throughout the entire 6 levels of the gallery.  There were also a few modern art pieces, some of Picaso’s work such as Girl with the Yellow Hair.  No photography at all is allowed except on the first floor, which is where you buy tickets, gift shop, coat check etc so only a couple of photos. 

 

Once I had trudged the 6 levels of the Guggenheim, I walked back to the hostel.  18 blocks north, across Central Park and then 3 blocks east.  In total, walking to the museums and then back to the hostel was about 7km, plus all the walking around the museums.  So yes, my legs were very weary that evening.

 

Peace out.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 10:57 pm and is filed under USA Trip '09. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.