Now where was I?
Let me just refill my Vodka and see where I was up to ok?
So I was heading in to Manhattan on Wednesday right? to MoMA. Well, I really stumbled on to some of my favourite artists and paintings there, Van Gogh's Starry Night is probably my all time favourite work and there is was, right in front of me, AND I got to photograph it. OK, I did the self portrait in front of it too... I did also take a short walk through Central Park just the very southern end. And I still managed to get turned around and come out of an unexpected entrance many blocks further up than planned. But Central Park is just stunning. A tour on a tuk-tuk would have taken an hour and cost me $60, maybe next time ;)
But back to MoMa, I got to see some fabulous Dali, Picasso, some of my favourite Mattisse's, some Magritte, Duchamp, Klimt (Jaz I saw your hanging as the original!), Lichtenstien, Warhol, Yves Klein, and plenty more artists that I discovered and am likely to now research some more.
I didn't really have that much time to spend in Manhattan because I had my Apple appointment in Staten Island, and you all would have read about my evening in "Dear Gareth". But I have to mention how lovely the view of Manhattan by night was from my window, just beautiful.
Thursday morning I had a much needed sleep in. Occasionally on this trip I forget what I'm here for, ME! So I slept in, had a nice breakfast and left my luggage with the hotel while I went out to explore some more.
I came across Union Square. They were having a Marionette show and general event for kids so I stuck around and had a good look at their program. Union Square has market stalls everyday and a Farmers Market 3 times a week. Sydney and Australia really should think about doing this kind of thing, New Yorkers can get fresh local produce straight from the distributors on a nearly daily basis with all the markets spread across the city!
I saw the most fabulous t-shirt I wanted to buy Miss Kim but they only had the display shirt left and wouldn't sell it too me. They were going to print more and should have them available over the weekend. I went back a couple of times and never saw the stall again :( Good thing I didn't give them my money in the hopes a shirt would appear.
Finally I went and caught up with Ag who had got home from Florida at 1am, goodness knows how she worked through the day. She took me and another friend out to dinner at a Korean BBQ which was spectacular. I seem to have drunk way too much though and was rather giddy when I got home (and up the 3 flights of stairs with my luggage we had collected from my hotel on the way home).
Friday I went to the Guggenheim. Spectacular building! I wasn't overly excited about the exhibition, it was the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibition, he's the architect who created the Guggenheim and many other buildings. It was good but not mind blowing. I did get to see some of the regular collection in one of the wings and again, saw more of my favourite artists.
Friday night was a fabulous night out at Duane Park Cafe in Tribeca where after 11pm a live band and burlesque show take the stage. The fabulous Amber Ray performed, I saw her perform at the Burlesque Ball in Sydney earlier this year. I have more to write about her performance but that is for another entry.
Saturday saw me and Ag stuck in traffic on the way to Long Island to attend Ag's friend's surprise 40th birthday celebrations. We decided she was '20 again' instead of 40. We hurried back to Brooklyn so I could attend another burlesque performance in a very special location. I will write more on that later as there has been a bit of controversy about is afterwards.
Sunday saw me hit the Met with a vengence! OK the Metropolitan Museum of Art is Huge. I had a game plan. I wanted to go to the Cloisters and then to the Met because the same ticket gets you in to both. But I slept in :(
In the end I decided to only to the Met because it would be exhausting enough as it is. The Cloisters will have to wait until next time. I did all of the medieval artworks inthe met and saw some fabulous stuff I'd not seen before. I also went to the 19th & 20th Century European wing and saw yet more of my favourites. I also went to the Pen and Parchment exhibition which was a lot of illuminated manuscripts, way cool! I think I went to some other stuff but it's now escaped me... let me look at pictures too see if I can figure out what else I saw. I love that you can take photos in art galleries here! Actually I'm not sure I've downloaded them.
Oh and Sunday night a friend form Sydney was in New York so he and his mate came over for pizza and we watched Working Girl which Ag and I had decided we needed to see because of the whole Staten Island Ferry thing. It was quite good, I enjoyed it!
Monday I got up and did one last whirlwind explore around Manhattan and made it to the Flat Iron district to photograph 'that' building which was cool. Then I had to get a coach from Manhattan to Washington DC which all went well and easily.
So that was New York in a whirlwind. Certainly not long enough, certainly didn't do everything I wanted to. I did go shopping somewhere in there, probably Thursday. I bought same handbags and shoes and bits and pieces.
I might take a quick break and try to do a Washington DC post which will ring us up to date. But I'm in LAX now and I feel I should go Duty Free Shopping...
So I was heading in to Manhattan on Wednesday right? to MoMA. Well, I really stumbled on to some of my favourite artists and paintings there, Van Gogh's Starry Night is probably my all time favourite work and there is was, right in front of me, AND I got to photograph it. OK, I did the self portrait in front of it too... I did also take a short walk through Central Park just the very southern end. And I still managed to get turned around and come out of an unexpected entrance many blocks further up than planned. But Central Park is just stunning. A tour on a tuk-tuk would have taken an hour and cost me $60, maybe next time ;)
But back to MoMa, I got to see some fabulous Dali, Picasso, some of my favourite Mattisse's, some Magritte, Duchamp, Klimt (Jaz I saw your hanging as the original!), Lichtenstien, Warhol, Yves Klein, and plenty more artists that I discovered and am likely to now research some more.
I didn't really have that much time to spend in Manhattan because I had my Apple appointment in Staten Island, and you all would have read about my evening in "Dear Gareth". But I have to mention how lovely the view of Manhattan by night was from my window, just beautiful.
Thursday morning I had a much needed sleep in. Occasionally on this trip I forget what I'm here for, ME! So I slept in, had a nice breakfast and left my luggage with the hotel while I went out to explore some more.
I came across Union Square. They were having a Marionette show and general event for kids so I stuck around and had a good look at their program. Union Square has market stalls everyday and a Farmers Market 3 times a week. Sydney and Australia really should think about doing this kind of thing, New Yorkers can get fresh local produce straight from the distributors on a nearly daily basis with all the markets spread across the city!
I saw the most fabulous t-shirt I wanted to buy Miss Kim but they only had the display shirt left and wouldn't sell it too me. They were going to print more and should have them available over the weekend. I went back a couple of times and never saw the stall again :( Good thing I didn't give them my money in the hopes a shirt would appear.
Finally I went and caught up with Ag who had got home from Florida at 1am, goodness knows how she worked through the day. She took me and another friend out to dinner at a Korean BBQ which was spectacular. I seem to have drunk way too much though and was rather giddy when I got home (and up the 3 flights of stairs with my luggage we had collected from my hotel on the way home).
Friday I went to the Guggenheim. Spectacular building! I wasn't overly excited about the exhibition, it was the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibition, he's the architect who created the Guggenheim and many other buildings. It was good but not mind blowing. I did get to see some of the regular collection in one of the wings and again, saw more of my favourite artists.
Friday night was a fabulous night out at Duane Park Cafe in Tribeca where after 11pm a live band and burlesque show take the stage. The fabulous Amber Ray performed, I saw her perform at the Burlesque Ball in Sydney earlier this year. I have more to write about her performance but that is for another entry.
Saturday saw me and Ag stuck in traffic on the way to Long Island to attend Ag's friend's surprise 40th birthday celebrations. We decided she was '20 again' instead of 40. We hurried back to Brooklyn so I could attend another burlesque performance in a very special location. I will write more on that later as there has been a bit of controversy about is afterwards.
Sunday saw me hit the Met with a vengence! OK the Metropolitan Museum of Art is Huge. I had a game plan. I wanted to go to the Cloisters and then to the Met because the same ticket gets you in to both. But I slept in :(
In the end I decided to only to the Met because it would be exhausting enough as it is. The Cloisters will have to wait until next time. I did all of the medieval artworks inthe met and saw some fabulous stuff I'd not seen before. I also went to the 19th & 20th Century European wing and saw yet more of my favourites. I also went to the Pen and Parchment exhibition which was a lot of illuminated manuscripts, way cool! I think I went to some other stuff but it's now escaped me... let me look at pictures too see if I can figure out what else I saw. I love that you can take photos in art galleries here! Actually I'm not sure I've downloaded them.
Oh and Sunday night a friend form Sydney was in New York so he and his mate came over for pizza and we watched Working Girl which Ag and I had decided we needed to see because of the whole Staten Island Ferry thing. It was quite good, I enjoyed it!
Monday I got up and did one last whirlwind explore around Manhattan and made it to the Flat Iron district to photograph 'that' building which was cool. Then I had to get a coach from Manhattan to Washington DC which all went well and easily.
So that was New York in a whirlwind. Certainly not long enough, certainly didn't do everything I wanted to. I did go shopping somewhere in there, probably Thursday. I bought same handbags and shoes and bits and pieces.
I might take a quick break and try to do a Washington DC post which will ring us up to date. But I'm in LAX now and I feel I should go Duty Free Shopping...