A Walk Down The Museum Mile

Yesterday we got out of work early, so I got to go put my stuff in the apartment I am staying at. I didn't realize until Thursday night that I didn't really have any bags to pack my things in since I came with suitcases. So, I had to carry three tote bags full of stuff on the bus, train, and subway in the morning. The apartment is more than 30 blocks away from work, so luckily there was a subway close by that I caught to get me to the Upper East Side. After I had settled in, I went shopping for the evening. Then before I went home, I decided that since I was already pretty far east on the island that it would be nice to see the water, so I just kept walking until I got to the end of the island and saw the East River. There are some nice paths for walkers along the river, and the view was gorgeous.
Today I decided to make use of the fact that I am staying so close to some of the biggest museums. So I went to the Guggenheim Museum first- it's only a couple of block away. I spent about 3 hours there because I wanted to see everything. I think it's about 8 stories high, but that's hard to say because it is circular and the pathway is one winding hallway with galleries and exhibits off to the side. It had maybe 2 or 3 art galleries, but the rest was all about Frank Lloyd Wright. He designed some amazing buildings. He was so ahead of his time and some of his buildings looked futuristic. One of the country clubs he designed looked like something the Jetsons would live in. Here's the Guggenheim from 5th Ave.
When I was finished there, I walked to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is also on Fifth Avenue, only seven more blocks away. It is so big, it wouldn't be possible for someone to see it all in one day. I started out in the Egyptian gallery- I couldn't help myself. But I didn't stay in there for long. In fact, I was practically running through it. I think the fact that I have actually been to Egypt affected my visit. I think it would have been a lot more exciting for me if I hadn't been actually been to Egypt before, but because I know how cool it is to see it all in Egypt, it didn't have the same interest for me. Seeing the hieroglyphs in that museum instead of in a temple in Egypt didn't feel right to me. Plus, it was aggravating to me that they had everything protected or behind glass. In Egypt they never stopped us from going in anywhere or touching anything, but here everything was behind glass or roped off.

So I left that pretty quickly and walked into the Medieval and Byzantine Empire rooms. After that I went into the Greek and Roman rooms. There was one room that had all kinds of knights suits and there was one room off to the side where they exhibit Samurai outfits. It was AMAZING! There was also an ancient Etruscan chariot on display. The last thing I did was go into the Model As Muse exhibit, which was the whole reason I went to the Met anyway. It is a special exhibit they have for the summer that is sponsored by designer Marc Jacobs and Conde Nast, the publishing company of Vogue. The exhibit highlighted the careers of famous models and their impact on fashion world. The exhibits were really creative, and they had old issues from the 1950s and 1960s of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar to show the fashion spreads and models' photography, which was so cool to me because I LOVE magazines, and am so immersed in fashion right now.That was all I could fit into the day before getting exhausted from being on my feet for so long, so I went home after the Met. On the walk home, I was walking down 5th Ave, right next to Central Park, so I decided to stroll in really quickly. I happened to go in right where the big lake in the park is. It was so peaceful, and I love the view it gave- the contrast of the peaceful, green park with all the skyscrapers in the background. I could even see my work building in the distance!
Tomorrow will be a mixture of sight-seeing and shopping, I think. But I know that I will be spending most of it downtown, so I'm glad I just filled my MetroCard so I don't have to walk. I love how much public transportation this city has. It sure does make things easier!