As usual I am delaying blogging so much that I am writing about last year (2013 January) only now. In a way it is good that I am able to relive those lovely experience I have had. (Good excuse for plain laziness?)
We are with Anu in NJ and decide to go and explore NY city. Vinu insists that we do not stay at home when Anu is away ( to work in the hospital) and asks us to come with him to NY. He is in the process of shifting houses and hence is commuting from Anu's place to his work in Manhattan every day. I was quite apprehensive as this is Winter but felt that I should venture out.
Empire State Building as seen from the streets while walking.
The Library Building . How I wish I had time to just go and sit there whole day.
The Chrysler Building.
It is 30th January Wednesday 2013 and we both start early with Vinu and go to the local station in his rental car and take the train to NY Penn Station. We take another train to reach a station near Time Square (near Vinu's office). We have our Break Fast in McDonald's.
Vinu gives us proper direction and we start walking to The Met. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) It is the biggest art Museum in USA .
Manhattan New York is one of the best places to walk. I should say it is The Best place to walk. The whole city is designed as grids with Avenues and Streets crisscrossing each other at right angles. So it is very easy to find your way without having to ask any body. Some of the Streets and Avenues are named like the Famous, Park Avenue, but are mostly numbered. This is where I found the real right of way for pedestrians who can walk on the broad platforms and the people who drive have to be very wary of road crossing pedestrians.
One more thing I noticed while I was in the car is that the traffic lights are so well synchronized that if one signal turns green , with precision the next one will turn green when you reach there. The roads are sraight and visible, that you can watch this magic while you sit in the car.
Central Park is behind me. The Trees are without leaves. I should visit this park in Summer. I have seen it but never walked inside in leisure in summer.
The broad side walks or the platforms as we call it in India.
We walk around the Central Park and it is quite cold. We are covered with good winter clothing.
Met is a beautiful Museum and we pay and buy tickets (it is your choice you can pay as you wish) and go around the Museum. We have juice in the Cafe inside the Museum which is quite nice. We have time only till noon, as we have another program for the afternoon. Vinu has bought us tickets for the Broadway show 'The Phantom of the Opera'.
After just seeing some paintings we go by taxi to Time Square to meet up with Vinu. We have decided to come here again tomorrow to really see the Met. Vinu takes us to Turkish place for lunch and we have good vegetarian lunch. Falafel is what we have, which is quite tasty.
The Phantom of the Opera Show is very nice, the stage settings, the changes are excellent and it is over by 4.30 p.m.
We walk back to Time Square and the weather is quite good with warm clothing it is pleasant to walk around the places and wait for Vinu to come after work.
Next day we are ready much early and now I am confident to be on our own. We decide to part ways with Vinu from Penn station itself. We go to another McDonald's and have our BF and coffee and we decide to walk to the Met even though it is much farther than yesterday from this location.
Even though it is chilly, we enjoy the walk and again go around the Central Park taking lots of pictures. It is very windy and the wind is trying to push me and I enjoy being pushed.
One of the Paintings in the Museum.
This Painting is the favourite of anu and vinu.
We enter the Met pay the entrance fee (our choice) and join a group tour with a guide. This is free service and you can join groups and guide will elaborate on certain artefacts. We leave the group and are now on our own , the museum is so vast that we walk around and feel that we are lost.
There are so many things on the exhibits like Terracotta figures, Marble statues, Biscuit porcelain statues and some State Rooms, Paintings and what not.
There is whole lot of things from Egypt and all that was got from Egypt when Aswan Dam was built. The whole area which was to be submerged was bought by US and kept in wonderful condition as it was in Egypt.
The visit was worth it and we are mesmerized.
A mughal painting. There was quite a few artefacts from India which is kept and maintained very well.
This we saw in the Indian section and look at the beautiful plait ornament.
Around lunch time we try to find our friendly Cafe which we visited yesterday but stumbled on a Cafeteria instead.
I am vary as usual to go into something new but hubby dear insists and we find lots of things to have for our lunch like ordinary cakes, fruits chips etc. For vegetarians like me it is a problem where ever I go, but this time though the food is little costly , was really good.
Certain things like Staterooms and Sculptures are not as good as we saw in Victoria Albert Museum in London or Versailles Palaces and Louvre Museum in Paris, but still this museum is really great. The way they have maintained it excellent.
Funny looking African Art in wood.
The rebuilt structure from Aswan dam area.
Before we realize it is 5.30 p.m and closing time and we come out. Today we decide that we will walk back instead of taking the taxi. It is quite chilly but it was really nice walking back to the crowded familiar Time Square and wait for sonny dear to come and take us back home to NJ.
Time Square with lights
In the morning before going to the Met, we saw this Apple Store. Earlier Vinu had shown us this shop during Christmas time. I have been fascinated with the glass steps about which Steve Jobs talks in his biography so much. When I actually saw this I just fell in love with the stores and the steps. I did go down the steps and took a pictures also. Did not buy the Ipad as at that time it was cheaper here in KL.
We decide to check out the Natural History Museum the next day. Given a chance I would visit this Met in New York City again and again.
Vinu gives us proper direction and we start walking to The Met. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) It is the biggest art Museum in USA .
Manhattan New York is one of the best places to walk. I should say it is The Best place to walk. The whole city is designed as grids with Avenues and Streets crisscrossing each other at right angles. So it is very easy to find your way without having to ask any body. Some of the Streets and Avenues are named like the Famous, Park Avenue, but are mostly numbered. This is where I found the real right of way for pedestrians who can walk on the broad platforms and the people who drive have to be very wary of road crossing pedestrians.
One more thing I noticed while I was in the car is that the traffic lights are so well synchronized that if one signal turns green , with precision the next one will turn green when you reach there. The roads are sraight and visible, that you can watch this magic while you sit in the car.
Central Park is behind me. The Trees are without leaves. I should visit this park in Summer. I have seen it but never walked inside in leisure in summer.
The broad side walks or the platforms as we call it in India.
We walk around the Central Park and it is quite cold. We are covered with good winter clothing.
Met is a beautiful Museum and we pay and buy tickets (it is your choice you can pay as you wish) and go around the Museum. We have juice in the Cafe inside the Museum which is quite nice. We have time only till noon, as we have another program for the afternoon. Vinu has bought us tickets for the Broadway show 'The Phantom of the Opera'.
After just seeing some paintings we go by taxi to Time Square to meet up with Vinu. We have decided to come here again tomorrow to really see the Met. Vinu takes us to Turkish place for lunch and we have good vegetarian lunch. Falafel is what we have, which is quite tasty.
The Phantom of the Opera Show is very nice, the stage settings, the changes are excellent and it is over by 4.30 p.m.
We walk back to Time Square and the weather is quite good with warm clothing it is pleasant to walk around the places and wait for Vinu to come after work.
Next day we are ready much early and now I am confident to be on our own. We decide to part ways with Vinu from Penn station itself. We go to another McDonald's and have our BF and coffee and we decide to walk to the Met even though it is much farther than yesterday from this location.
Even though it is chilly, we enjoy the walk and again go around the Central Park taking lots of pictures. It is very windy and the wind is trying to push me and I enjoy being pushed.
One of the Paintings in the Museum.
This Painting is the favourite of anu and vinu.
We enter the Met pay the entrance fee (our choice) and join a group tour with a guide. This is free service and you can join groups and guide will elaborate on certain artefacts. We leave the group and are now on our own , the museum is so vast that we walk around and feel that we are lost.
There are so many things on the exhibits like Terracotta figures, Marble statues, Biscuit porcelain statues and some State Rooms, Paintings and what not.
There is whole lot of things from Egypt and all that was got from Egypt when Aswan Dam was built. The whole area which was to be submerged was bought by US and kept in wonderful condition as it was in Egypt.
The visit was worth it and we are mesmerized.
Around lunch time we try to find our friendly Cafe which we visited yesterday but stumbled on a Cafeteria instead.
I am vary as usual to go into something new but hubby dear insists and we find lots of things to have for our lunch like ordinary cakes, fruits chips etc. For vegetarians like me it is a problem where ever I go, but this time though the food is little costly , was really good.
The thali and the necklace were so good I could not resist taking a picture in front of them.
Certain things like Staterooms and Sculptures are not as good as we saw in Victoria Albert Museum in London or Versailles Palaces and Louvre Museum in Paris, but still this museum is really great. The way they have maintained it excellent.
I think this one is made of what is called biscuit porcelain but I am not sure. I remember seeing sculptures made by biscuit porcelain have this light brown shade.
Made of Porcelain .
A sculpture in Marble. The clothing is in marble but figure I am not that sure.
The State Room not that good as we saw in Paris and London
Funny looking African Art in wood.
A necklace from the ancient times from Egypt
Before we realize it is 5.30 p.m and closing time and we come out. Today we decide that we will walk back instead of taking the taxi. It is quite chilly but it was really nice walking back to the crowded familiar Time Square and wait for sonny dear to come and take us back home to NJ.
We both in front of a lit steps in the Time Sqare.
There is a big screen on top of the red steps. The pictures of the people who stand on the steps are taken by a camera and is reflected on the big screen. It is very popular with people and off and on advertisements come on the screen and when we see ourselves it is big thrill. Hubby took my picture when I was trying to look at the screen.
We decide to check out the Natural History Museum the next day. Given a chance I would visit this Met in New York City again and again.
