New York City- The MoMA, NYC Library, Parks and More!

I was very eager to get into the city the next day, so we got up early to take the bus into NYC!  (Here’s a tip for the ticket machine… Either use exact change paying cash or use a credit card.  I used a 20 dollar bill and got 9 one-dollar coins back!

We got into the city at the Port Authority across from the New York Times and it really hit me at that moment that I was in New York City.  We walked to Time’s Square, and it was exactly like I pictured it- unfortunately I don’t have very many pictures from my first two days in New York City because Zach’s camera got stolen, but that’s a story for another post.

After Times Square we made our way to Midtown.  We walked past The Rockefeller Center, down 5th Avenue and then to our first real stop: The MoMA!  The Museum of Modern Art has a huge collection of some of the world’s most famous works of art, and other lesser-known but just as beautiful and interesting works of art.

**Something I highly recommend if it’s your first time in NYC is the City Pass- there are some cities that it isn’t a great deal, but it is a great deal in NYC**

Starry Night is and has been one of my all-time favorite paintings.  It’s one of those works of art that take your breath away, and almost bring you to tears.  This was one of two highlights of my MoMA visit.  I had to go back and look at it a second time before we left.  AMAZING! I’ve had a love for Andy Warhol since I was about 16.  I loved the concept behind his work and it was such a privilege to see this iconic collection of Campbell’s Soup Cans.

Zach and I sat in the Monet room for a while really taking in this incredible and impressive three-paneled Water Lilies painting!

(R.S.V.P. I by Senga Nangud) This was a really interesting work of Feminist Art that Zach had told me about when we first started dating.  Zach had taken a completely different meaning from it than the artist’s intention of showing the elasticity of the human body saying, “From tender, tight beginnings to sagging. . . . The body can only stand so much push and pull until it gives way, never to resume its original shape.” **Quote from the MoMA website.

After a few hours in the MoMA Zach and I headed to The American Museum of Natural History Museum (which I sadly have no pictures from our visit here).  I found this to definitely be a more family-oriented museum than any of the others that we visited.  The animal exhibits, though beautifully crafted, weren’t quite what I was expecting.  It was essentially a series of giant toy animals that they placed in habitats, I think I was just expecting something different.  I also had a really big issue with something…  I was especially excited about seeing a real Moai from Easter Island.  I made it up to the Margaret Meade room to see it, and they have replaced the real Moai with the fake, plastic one from the movie Night at the Museum.  I was really upset about that!  I think it’s a bit ridiculous that they have this beautiful sculpture that they brought from Easter Island that many people will only get to see in a museum, and they replaced it with the “Dumb Dumb” statue from the movie.  Ugh.  I highly doubt that’s what Margaret Meade had in mind for representing the Oceanic peoples.  (Sorry for the rant.)  When you purchase a City Pass the film from the Hayden Planetarium is included.

We hopped on the Subway after the history museum and went to the New York Public Library, which is a beautiful building, and the third largest library in the world!  It was also featured in Ghostbusters (just for a fun fact)!  Zach and I spent some time in there reading and writing.  It was a really relaxing stop that allowed us to hide out from the rain.

After the library we walked around the city.  We walked through Bryant Park, stopped in at Grand Central Station and found our way back to Times Square after the sun set.  It was a really great first day in NYC!

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