Phoenix Swords on Broadway

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OK, we were on Broadway for about 15 seconds as we drove across it to get
to the Met. But, we were there! That’s what matters, right?
Driving in wasn’t an issue, but we saw the signs of impending doom as we
drove over. Some of the roads were already closed and the police barriers
were waiting to be put up over other roads.
Driving in at 9 on Sunday morning was a good thing. If we had waited, we’d
have never made it. They closed down all the roads around Central Park.
When we finally came out of the Met about 1, they made me drive down 5th
avenue the wrong way to get to a cross road out. (Granted, only for ½
block. But, I’ve never driven down 5th the wrong way before for any
distance…)

I had been a bit worried about parking at the museum. I know the guards
check all the cars as they drive in. I was driving in with a car full of
swords, bec de corbins, dragon costumes, puppets, and all sorts of bags and
suitcases. I know they’re worried about bombs and all, but I was afraid
they’d at least make me move stuff around to check.
The guard looked at me. He looked at the back of the car.
“Go ahead in,” he said.
“Sorry it’s a mess,” I said.
“You’re blocking traffic,” he said.

I parked in the spot I always park in when there. It’s tradition.

I was happy to bring folks to the museum. I’ve been to a lot of museums
and the Met is one of my favorite. Bringing my friends there was a treat
for me as I like to share that sort of stuff with my friends.
So, we got there just before it opened.


Most folks went right over to the Egyptian exhibit. Since my wife and I
had been there less than a month before, we went off and looked at some of
the stuff we didn’t see last time.
We did stop and see her favorite statue on the way.


In the Napoleonic section we saw a vase she wants for the living rooms.


The picture shows her trying to figure out how to get it into the car with
all the props from the show the day before.

We also got to see some of the paintings we didn’t before.


My wife was very excited to see this one in person. I’ve seen pictures of
it before myself, but don’t remember seeing it in person before either.

We went through the superhero exhibit as well. We both liked seeing the
actual costumes used in the movies and shows. But, the fashions “inspired”
by them didn’t do much for me. There was one my wife really liked, but I
don’t see much of a connection between it and the super people. Sadly, we
weren’t allowed to take any photos in there. And, the guards were stopping
everyone who tried.

After a couple of hours, we met up at the temple in the Egyptian wing.


We tried to get a group shot of everyone in front of the temple. We
recruited a kid who was there and asked him to take one. The practice one
I helped him with was good:


But, the one of all of us was a bit blurry.


We went over to the arms and armor section as a group. Some of the swords
on display are very close to the ones we use in our shows. Although the
Higgins museum near us has more stuff, the ones at the Met are closer to
what we perform with and it is a very nice collection.

Most of the armor there is for people much smaller than me. But, there is
one suit that is close to my size. I’m not sure if I’d fit in it or not,
but I agree it is the only one were there is even a chance of it. The
picture doesn’t look it as I’m a bit in front of it, but it does look
pretty close in person.


We then hit the gift store. (It’s required, don’t blame me.) I got my
wife a present that she seems to like. Hopefully she really does. It was
on sale in a clearance section, so I’m glad I got it. She tried to get me
to wait for Christmas, but I was afraid it wouldn’t be there if it was
already on clearance. So, she tried to get me to wait until then to give
it to her. But, she agreed that if I hid it now, I might not find it again
to give it to her for Christmas. So, she got it then.

After that, we went to eat in the cafeteria there. I had tried to get
there last time and ended up at the snooty café. This time we got to the
place that was much less snooty, but also not badly priced for the food.


Once we ate, we set of for the Cloisters.
It was “Spring in Central Park” day or something like that, and the whole
area was shut down. We managed to get over to Madison Ave and head north.
We finally were able to get back onto the Henry Hudson Parkway after making
only 1 loop around some kind of march along the river.

We got to the Cloisters and found parking. We followed a path I thought
brought us up to the museum, but it only ended up going to the top of a
rock with a nice view of the river.


We spent about an hour and a half at the Cloisters.




That is a pretty fast viewing of it. But, it had started to rain and the
gardens weren’t as much fun in the rain. And, we were getting a bit
museumed out.

Folks did still seem to like looking at the artifacts there.


I did go out into the gardens to see the “magic plants”. It’s the only
museum I know of that has any.


We hit the gift shop here as well. (Required, remember?) I bought some
books. (I know, you’re shocked about that.)

You could tell folks were ready to go home when my wife, who thinks the
Cloisters is one of the best places on Earth, was waiting by the door for
us to go.


So, we set off home in the rain.
The two cars went home two different ways. The parkway I was on didn’t
come out just where I expected, so I didn’t go home just as I expected.
But, we got there. Outside of Hartford we did run across an accident
blocking 2 of the 3 lanes of traffic.


But, we can’t have a Phoenix trip through Connecticut without some sort of
traffic problem. So, it worked out. The other car didn’t hit it so beat
us by a few minutes. But, we got there in time to transfer stuff before
they headed out to their own homes.

We dropped everyone off and got home by about 6:30. My wife and I had
dinner by ourselves and went to bed about 9. No problems sleeping last
night.

It was a fun trip. I’m glad we went. Everyone seemed to like it.
Hopefully they did.