Saturday, June 22, 2013

A little trip continued ~ Metropolitan Museum of Art

 These few posts about our trip are probably boring as sitting in a corner to all but me!  So feel free to breeze past!  ;)

Still on day one.... after meeting up with Jesse in mid-town, we had some good Thai (Thai @ Lex) from one of the gazillion hole in the wall joints to be found in NYC we headed to The Met.  I really cannot do justice in describing the MASSIVE nature of the Metropolitan Museum... you could easily go here every day for a few days in a row and not see everything... you could perhaps, walk through every exhibit in a few days.  It's truly jaw dropping in it's scope as well as in the incredibly intimate proximity you can have with masterpieces of art, architecture, statuary, artifacts and much much much more.  To stand next to ancient masterpiece from the Bronze Age (2000 bc), and not even have any type of partition between oneself and the artifact is hard to believe.  There are many pieces behind Plexiglas cases (most of which are accessible from all sides) but so many things are simply standing in a large space where one can walk right up to to it to examine and admire. I hope my pictures will convey a teensy sampling of what you can find at The Met.  We spent several hours and walked and walked and walked... and read and read and read, and were A M A Z E D over and over.

Greek Pottery, 7th Century BC

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Look Ma.. no barricade, guess it's not too valuable at thousands of years old!  

Bronze helmet and nik naks, didn't get date, but they were BC
Roman torso, marble 1st Century AD

See what I mean, don't bump things! 


Greek 4th Century BC

Haunting statue remains....  (Greek 4th Century BC)


This Bronze 'The Boxer' is a special exhibit, not permanent.  Fascinating info; http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/the-boxer
Pardon the immodest angle, didn't notice at the time... really!!

If you didn't click on the link, please do...it's really interesting.  This bronze was saved from destruction from the barbarian invasion by burying it... wasn't rediscovered till the 1800s... http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/the-boxer

I loved this girl with deer.  :) 

Look... oak leaves and acorns, a lasting design element!  

Guess why he is looking up?  Because it's Emperor Constantine I, looking to the Savior (we hope the conversion was sincere) , marble head, 320 ad

OMG the artwork!  American painter, Edward Hooper 1930s

Georgia O Keefe!  (more paintings coming up!)

Large marble table with intricate, beautiful details....curled hair, cloth, floral wreath... 

Front of the same marble table, beautiful proportion, hands, feet, spilled bowl and notice the zodiac symbols around the table's edge.  Imagine the talent and time involved in carving and polishing this.

Beautiful expression... 

Ron walking around an old greek god...  ;)


Okay, you just have to get over the blatant displays of nakedness in these statues. They are true to the greek myths from which the subject matter comes. Still this statue of  Perseus with the head of Medusa is a magnificent piece of art!  1804 by Antonio Canova


Sit down and have a chat with Pharoah, he dressed more modestly.  ;)

The Egyptian collections at The Met are breathtaking.  

Exit?  No way. 

Many intricate small nik naks were buried with royalty in their tombs.  

Painted mud-plaster ceiling fragment from the palace of Amenhotep III, 18th Dynasty, 1300's BC. 

Original reward/wanted poster from Lincoln's assassination.



Finally... Christ the Redeemer.  Italian marble 1600s.  (most Christendom antiquities are housed at The Cloisters, another part of the Met, on the other end of Manhattan.  Photos from that trip are coming in their own post.)

I'm about HALFWAY through my Met shots, and have omitted dozens (really!).  More coming later.  ;)    





















Monday, June 17, 2013

Changes and a short trip to Manhattan.

Recently life has been full of (even more) Changes...
Re-entry to the workforce for me (after 30ish years)!  This has been interesting, hard, but good.  It is still a situation in flux.  But a huge change for me, which has taken away much of my 'free time' and thus, my blog has lain dormant.

A totally quiet and empty 'nest' as our hound has recently joined the departed.  Petey grew suddenly old and ill in April and we needed to usher him into doggie after-life, whatever that may be. My hope is he is awaiting us in heavenly mansions.... unlikely, but one hopes.  ;)   (Good thing I'm working, or that would have been harder than it was, and it was plenty grievous!)

And a short Trip!

Our youngest son is remaining in his 'College Town' for summer to work and continue course work, so we made a plan to go and visit him so it wouldn't be a full year till we see him again. We flew across the country to Newark NJ and then took the train across to the 'big apple', little island of Manhattan.  We had only been there briefly, when we checked out the University.  So we gave ourselves a whopping 5 days this time.  Ha ha!

The train from NJ deposited us right at the World Trade Center, next to, and in the shadow of the new, gleaming, still under construction Freedom Tower (one of 4 buildings that are being built to replace the terrorist attacked Twin Towers.  I love that chutzpah... you take down 2, we'll put up 4! Another interesting fact is that the Freedom tower is exactly 1776 feet high.  Cool, huh?) Our son, Jess's financial district apartment is a just short walk from the tip of Manhattan and the 9-11 memorial.  It was early evening, but we are so far north that it doesn't get dark until well after 8 pm... some scattered clouds signal coming rain storms.  It was a dramatic entry into this historic and significant slice of land!  We dropped our bags at the apartment and set off on foot to find a local restaurant...  It began to rain and we wound up at a wharf, and mostly closed establishments... eventually we found a sea-food place, above which is a shopping center and upon going up there we found a lively Cuban Nouveau restaurant that turned out to be simply fabulous.  Amazing food!  Well worth the hunt. http://www.cabanarestaurant.com/  (Cabana seaport location) On a sunny day/night there would be incredible views... for us it was raining.  ;)

The next day was our first official full day in New York City and Jess had a morning class to catch, so we followed behind at a slight delay, took the subway to Penn Station in mid-town where we'd later meet him.  We wound up having breakfast at a nice little cafeteria called 'The Stage Door', across the street was Madison Square Garden/Penn Station and on the other side of the street the HUGE James Farley Post Office, a greek revival structure built in 1912.  It was pouring rain.  Here are a few pictures from our first morning...


From our little table inside 'The Stage Door' the subway stairs, and
across the street Madison Square Garden, and the bldg. on right, the
huge main Post office for Manhattan (more on this below, & clicking on pictures enlarges them)

This huge structure has a fascinating history, and will soon become Moynihan Station, and no longer be a post office.  :(  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Farley_Post_Office

Madison Square Garden

Inside the huge lobby of the Post office

There is a rotunda at each end of the post office lobby with museum and historic artifacts.

Looking from the rotunda into the Lobby.  You can get a sense of the high ceiling and architectural details.
Next up an afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum.