Monday, April 14, 2008

The Metropolitan Museum

- I have to have a post on the Met. Since I was traveling with Gloria, my best friend and retired art teacher, the Met was a non-negotiable!!! Gloria has been teaching from the Met for years!! If it were up to her, we would have stayed the entire day. This day was the day for Gloria and Suzanne (Chinatown was my day:). Here's how I had the day planned. We would be at the Met by opening time (9:30). We had reservations for lunch at Tavern on the Green at 1:00. My plan was to walk through the park to the Tavern. Afterwards we would have a carriage ride through Central Park, then walk back to the Edison via 5th and Madison Ave - the 'big' shops (this part was for Suzanne who is not so much a bargain shopper!)

Well, this is how it happened. We got a late start. After a late breakfast, we were at the Met (via subway) by 10:30. We went through the Egyptian exhibit and had to leave for the lunch date. When we left the Tavern, there was a carriage right outside!!! We took his ride, then caught a taxi back to the Met (it was about 40 degrees!!) We stayed at the Met for another 2-3 hours, seeing the costume exhibit and the masters art. We then caught a taxi back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and Legally Blonde. Needless to say, contrary to what I had been informed by a friend who has an apartment in NYC, the Met is NOT walking distance to the Edison!


Here are some of the highlights (my opinion):



Here we are just after our ride!






This is "the Nail Man"




Van Gogh - my favorite! I just love his colors! It was so incredible

to be able to see the brush strokes!!!



Can't leave out Monet! - breathtaking!!



Seurat
"Seurat's Grande Jatte is one of those rare works of art that stand alone; its transcendence is instinctively recognized by everyone. What makes this transcendence so mysterious is that the theme of the work is not some profound emotion or momentous event, but the most banal of workaday scenes: Parisians enjoying an afternoon in a local park. Yet we never seem to fathom its elusive power. Stranger still, when he painted it, Seurat was a mere 25 (with only seven more years to live), a young man with a scientific theory to prove; this is hardly the recipe for success. His theory was optical: the conviction that painting in dots, known as pointillism or divisionism, would produce a brighter color than painting in strokes.
"Seurat spent two years painting this picture, concentrating painstakingly on the landscape of the park before focusing on the people; always their shapes, never their personalities. Individuals did not interest him, only their formal elegance. There is no untidiness in Seurat; all is beautifully balanced. The park was quite a noisy place: a man blows his bugle, children run around, there are dogs. Yet the impression we receive is of silence, of control, of nothing disordered. I think it is this that makes La Grande Jatte so moving to us who live in such a disordered world: Seurat's control. There is an intellectual clarity here that sets him free to paint this small park with an astonishing poetry. Even if the people in the park are pairs or groups, they still seem alone in their concision of form - alone but not lonely. No figure encroaches on another's space: all coexist in peace.
"This is a world both real and unreal - a sacred world. We are often harried by life's pressures and its speed, and many of us think at times: Stop the world, I want to get off! In this painting, Seurat has "stopped the world," and it reveals itself as beautiful, sunlit, and silent - it is Seurat's world, from which we would never want to get off."


This is a close up of the pointillism!

To broaden my horizons, I have to put this one in. I was very impressed with this painting by Karl-Heinrich Lehmann 1814-1882. I was not familiar with him but I couldn't pass this one! It looked so much like a photograph!


Sunday, April 13, 2008

Purses!!




One of the purse stalls . . .




Of course, after shopping, just turn the corner and have a bite in Little Italy!!! YUM!!!






Just look over Glo's shoulder across the street! Little Italy is so picturesque! I am watching the Godfather right now! It was filmed there!

Chinatown




I have to say that I enjoyed Chinatown as much or more than anything else in NYC. It is very exciting to me and combines a number of elements: shopping, travel, intrigue, shopping, bargains, culture, danger, shopping . . . need I say more.




Now that I'm 'experienced' (three trips under my belt), I think I can give a few tips to NYC purse shoppers.






  • you don't have to buy the first purse you see - there will always be more!


  • don't be afraid to 'follow' the whisperers - just stay in a group


  • listen to the whispers - gucci - prada - coach . . .


  • the guys with the pictures are the ones with the real counterfeit products - bigger names and prices


  • don't think the 'whisperers' are the only ones with the 'hidden' stores - many of the stores have hidden backdoors


  • if you want Tiffany jewelry - ask for it. They'll get it. Last year, they took me to the back of the store where they brought out trays from behind curtains. This year, when I said I wanted earrings, the man whistled and a girl appeared who began to pull zip-loc bags of earrings out of her bra! Just ask and you'll receive.


  • we found a little 'mall' that wandered in an L-shape that had many booths and very good products and prices. I got a Dooney and Bourke giraffe bag - very nice - for $21 - I know it's fake but a very good one!


  • There is more to Chinatown than just Canal street - keep walking!


  • If it's rainy - they will bargain with you much more to keep business going.


Saturday, April 12, 2008

Check out my Slide Show!

Hello!



I am creating a new blog. I already have one called Ray's Ramblings which is basically for the parents of my kindergarten students at school. This one will just be for me.



I will probably ramble on in this blog as well but I want to be able to ramble about more personal topics.



This particular entry is to share my recent trip to NYC over Spring Break! I went with my sister-in-law, Suzanne and my best friend, Gloria. I planned the trip. I really did my homework on this one. Last year, the three of us went on a bus trip with a school group from Mercer County. It was a whirlwind trip over four days. We saw the highlights, statue of liberty, empire state building, ground zero, Chinatown, Times Square and bus tours of the city. Most of the sights we saw were from the bus window. It was just enough to drive us crazy!






Empire State Bld. '07








Hanging around with the Osbornes




We had to go back. Thus, this trip came about. I researched and came up with a fantastic trip.


First of all, we flew this time Monday morning- nonstop LEX to LGA. We were on the streets by 9:30 am! Our return was at 9:15pm on Thursday so we had four full days in the Big Apple!!! I booked the trip through nyctrip.com because after pricing everything individually, it was cheaper to go through them and book everything we wanted to do. We stayed at the Edison Hotel which was on 47th, right off Broadway.







This is the marquee for the Edison. Busy, busy, busy.




I'll be posting more on the trip later.