New York November 2012 - Museums
After a week in Atlanta, J and I flew to New York on Friday night. We booked at the Crowne Plaza in Times Square on 39th St., which is within walking distance from the popular attractions, or at least the subway station on 42nd.
Let me start with an airport shuttle snafu first. We arrived close to 11PM at La Guardia airport and Supershuttle, which we pre-booked to take us to Manhattan, had system issues and they cannot confirm if we had a booking. We might have to wait 45 minutes and even then, they're not sure if the system would be back up. Good thing there was an info booth at the airport and the attendants helped us book shared ride with Airlink instead.
With the multiple pickup, waiting and drop-off, it was around 1AM when we checked in at the hotel. First hurdle done! We planned the itinerary for later that day and got some well-needed shuteye.
We already decided to get Citypass tickets so it was only a matter of deciding the order for two days. On the agenda for Saturday were the museums - The Museum of Natural History, The Metropolitan Museum (The Met) and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and Central Park, Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Center's Top of the Rock, then Times Square to close the day.
We had breakfast at McDonald's first, then took the subway to kickoff our NY sightseeing weekend.
Our first destination was the The Museum of Natural History. It is right at the subway exit on 81st St. We waited a few minutes outside until they open at 10AM.
Truth be told, I really did not expect much from this museum. I was looking forward more to The Met and MoMA because of the artworks. But I was surprised and amazed. I love the space show ("Journey to the Stars"), the mammals exhibits and the dinosaurs.=) There was A LOT to see in this museum, as with the next two, but we had to skip many of them because of time constraints.
Next stop, The Metropolitan Museum. It's a massive structure with lots of people hanging out on the steps. We caught an impromptu musical performance outside. Random street entertainment is one thing I really like about NY
Again, we just picked and chose the exhibits we wanted to check out. One featured exhibit at The Met was on Andy Warhol. I have ideas about Andy Warhol (pop artist, Marilyn Monroe colored portraits, Campbell's soup) but realized he was a much deeper and rebellious artist based on the other works I saw. Many years after his death, his works and life continue to yield their influence.
I know I've said this before but I get really "artstruck" at museums. I used to be really interested in Humanities (read art books for leisure) and have seen many of these artworks on print but it's an amazing feeling seeing them in real life. I was surprised at the scale of many of them. A day at the museums definitely gave me a renewed appreciation for the arts and artists.
After The Met, we walked to the Museum of Modern Art.
I was looking forward to seeing "The Starry Night" by Van Gogh and "The Scream" by Edvard Munch. As did most people because the two paintings were always surrounded by people.
I definitely had art overload on this day. I would have liked to spend more time at the museums but there's more of NY to see.
Let me start with an airport shuttle snafu first. We arrived close to 11PM at La Guardia airport and Supershuttle, which we pre-booked to take us to Manhattan, had system issues and they cannot confirm if we had a booking. We might have to wait 45 minutes and even then, they're not sure if the system would be back up. Good thing there was an info booth at the airport and the attendants helped us book shared ride with Airlink instead.
With the multiple pickup, waiting and drop-off, it was around 1AM when we checked in at the hotel. First hurdle done! We planned the itinerary for later that day and got some well-needed shuteye.
We already decided to get Citypass tickets so it was only a matter of deciding the order for two days. On the agenda for Saturday were the museums - The Museum of Natural History, The Metropolitan Museum (The Met) and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and Central Park, Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Center's Top of the Rock, then Times Square to close the day.
We had breakfast at McDonald's first, then took the subway to kickoff our NY sightseeing weekend.
Our first destination was the The Museum of Natural History. It is right at the subway exit on 81st St. We waited a few minutes outside until they open at 10AM.
Truth be told, I really did not expect much from this museum. I was looking forward more to The Met and MoMA because of the artworks. But I was surprised and amazed. I love the space show ("Journey to the Stars"), the mammals exhibits and the dinosaurs.=) There was A LOT to see in this museum, as with the next two, but we had to skip many of them because of time constraints.
Next stop, The Metropolitan Museum. It's a massive structure with lots of people hanging out on the steps. We caught an impromptu musical performance outside. Random street entertainment is one thing I really like about NY
Again, we just picked and chose the exhibits we wanted to check out. One featured exhibit at The Met was on Andy Warhol. I have ideas about Andy Warhol (pop artist, Marilyn Monroe colored portraits, Campbell's soup) but realized he was a much deeper and rebellious artist based on the other works I saw. Many years after his death, his works and life continue to yield their influence.
I know I've said this before but I get really "artstruck" at museums. I used to be really interested in Humanities (read art books for leisure) and have seen many of these artworks on print but it's an amazing feeling seeing them in real life. I was surprised at the scale of many of them. A day at the museums definitely gave me a renewed appreciation for the arts and artists.
After The Met, we walked to the Museum of Modern Art.
I was looking forward to seeing "The Starry Night" by Van Gogh and "The Scream" by Edvard Munch. As did most people because the two paintings were always surrounded by people.
I definitely had art overload on this day. I would have liked to spend more time at the museums but there's more of NY to see.
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