NYC - Day 2 - Art and Culture

Today, I got my first taste of the subway system which we took to get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The museum was incredible and much too big for one trip. It would take several trips on different occasions to fully explore. Spend an afternoon looking at two or three areas because any more will lead to museum fatigue.

A docent gave us an hour long tour of the museum by picking out items from different areas and providing commentary on them. This was an excellent overview of their vast collections and gave you a taste of what the museum offered. Some of the items included an intricate gold crown from the Oceania collection, frescoes from villas north of Pompeii, a sculpture by Man Ray called "Obstruction" that resembled a chandelier built out of hangers, and several paintings by the masters.

This is "Autumn Landscape" by Tiffany Studios.

After the tour we had two hours of free time. For me, this meant an hour for art, 15 minutes for lunch, and 45 minutes of shopping in their wonderful gift shop.

I wandered around the Impressionist rooms and then made my way downstairs to the "Manus x Machina" exhibit. This was an incredible collection of over 170 haute couture and ready-to-wear outfits. The premise was a comparison of hand-made (manus) vs. machine-made (machina) designs. The centerpiece was a stunning wedding dress by Karl Lagerfeld that had a 20-foot train with painted and embroidered details.

When our time was up, we all met in the lobby for our next adventure...Central Park!

It started to sprinkle so I had a chance to model my new artsy-fartsy umbrella from The Met.

I found the park to be just as I had always imagined. It was a beautiful refuge from the city with lots of people enjoying the day.

Walking up 5th Avenue, we saw all the iconic stores. Time didn't allow for it, but I would have liked to poke my head in at Tiffany's just for fun.

Tonight, we had an Italian dinner at Azalea Restaurant. It was crowded and the tables were tight but the food was great and my tiramisu was delicious.

After dinner, we walked to the Ambassador Theater to see "Chicago."

Unfortunately, I was really underwhelmed by both the theater and the production. I thought "seeing a play on Broadway" would be an extraordinary experience. But as a regular theater-goer here in Memphis, I found the Ambassador to be run down and cramped and the actors gave a lackluster performance. I now have a whole new appreciation for the theater scene here at home.

Whew! What a day! After getting back to the hotel, I had no problem falling asleep.