Museums of NYC

[fbhjr]

We decided to head over to the main Metropolitan Museum of Art for lunch. (http://www.metmuseum.org/visit )
It’s about 6 miles/10 km as the seagull flies, but in NYC there are a lot of traffic lights over that distance.
And, you see all sorts of strange things in NYC…


So, we went over to the highway that runs down the west side of Manhattan even though it was technically not the shortest way.


The river looked pretty choppy in the storm.


We went straight to the museum cafeteria as it was already 2 in the afternoon and we were all hungry.


It is the least expensive place to eat at the museum, and a burger, fries, soda and cupcake are still $20.


Our first stop was the temple.


There was quite a line to see the inside of it, even if there isn’t that much to see in there.


Plenty of folks agreed with me and didn’t get in line.


I still stood in line and visited with perrin_o_ravnos and his friend as they waited.


One of the things I like most about this temple is the graffiti that has been put on it by other people for centuries.


It is a cool place.


Although there isn’t much to see inside, they seemed to enjoy it.


I stopped by to see one of my favorite things.

It is an ancient Egyptian scroll of magic spells on how to cheat your way into heaven if you don’t measure up when you die.
I’ve got a copy at home. But, it is nice to see the original.

We also went to see one of the special exhibits of a 20th century mural.



We used the new American wing as your base of operations.


We were surprised that the rain stopped and the weather got good. We didn’t like that as if we had know it would do that we would have done the museum with the gardens after the weather got good. But, hindsight…


I visited the swords. I do that.


I liked this one that the blade had been lightened with holes all the way through.

But, I guess most people pay attention to the hilt…


The middle one is very close to what we use for our Thursday night sword study group.


I also visited the only armor I’d have a chance of fitting inside.


For some reasons they blocked off some entranceways.


Sometimes they put paintings over them.

Not sure what’s up with that. You can still get to both sides, you just have to walk around. So, strange.

Back to the America’s wing that was fairly crowded.


My wife was looking at glass things while I looked at swords. She really likes glass.


Look! A bench at an art museum!

(I had trouble finding an empty one…)

We went through the European Art wing as Perrin is a big fan of the Dutch masters.


We all liked this one a lot.


I liked this one too.


We also looked at the Vermeer’s as we had seen the movie "Tim’s Vermeer".


We found it interesting that they had this glass in the museum and it showed up in some paintings as well.




This one made me think Saint Francis is saying "Whatever" to that angel.


This one was interesting because they removed the second coat of paint over the painting to show what it really looked like.



We saw some of the modern stuff too.


The van Gogh paintings always make me think of Doctor Who after that episode with him in it.


This to me says "The baby has been turned into a cyberman!"

And him saying "How could this have happened?"


And this one:


Clearly a weeping angel behind that tree.


This one, I just liked.


Then, off to the gift shop.


My wife waited by the big statue while the rest of us shopped.

It was crowded out there.


We found this car in the parking lot. It’s not mine. Just the same make, model and color.


It was a great day when we left. Sad as we would have loved to see the gardens in the nice weather.


But, as we headed back the Cloisters was only open another 20 minutes and we agreed it wasn’t worth it.


When we dropped perrin_o_ravnos off we visited some old friends:


As we drove home through Worcester we saw a lot of news vans and such by the hospital.
Turns out someone who had Ebola and probably doesn’t any more is there.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20141005/NEWS/310059842/1116

A good day, but we were tired when we got home.

Comments

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Was the $20 anywhere near worth it? The fries do look good, though the burger looks a little questionable.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

It was an OK burger. I've had worse.
The choice was eating at a food truck in the rain. And, none of us wanted to sit on the museum steps in the rain for lunch...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

While I'd love to try a food truck (though I hear they're very expensive, at least around here), I can't blame you at all for not wanting to sit in the rain to eat.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

They are much less than inside the museum. I'm not saying cheap, but less than the museum.
That's where we eat when it is less damp outside.

[merilune.livejournal.com]

I really like the suits of armour, I would love to have one in my house!

[endlessblush.livejournal.com]

That Surat painting was in Ferris Buellers Day off but that was set in Chicago - but the painting is actually in NYC?! I love that painting. That museum is on my must see list when (if) I get to NYC. Really enjoyed your photos.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh, good to know! One day I will get back to NYC and be able to use that knowledge.

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Wonderful pictures!!

[meathiel]

Looks like a really great museum ...

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

The final painting is in Chicago. The one I took the photo of is one of the final test ones before the full one. So, it's a bit smaller than the full one, but looks a whole lot like it.

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

Does the rapier blade having holes in it affect use of the rapier, do you know?

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

It would make it lighter, which would make it faster.
And, faster is almost always better in a sword fight.

It make the blade a bit weaker if you were cutting with it. But, this type of sword was used with a style that was dedicated to thrusting with the tip, not cutting with the edge.
So, it shouldn't have made it weaker for the type of sword fight it was designed to be used in.