So I went to New York ...

As I mentioned in a couple different posts, I went to New York City in mid May. I would also like to go back now, but that’s a different story.

Every day was pretty jammed with activities, learning experiences and exploration. The last day of our whirlwind trip was up for grabs … so naturally we jammed it with as many activities as possible. I had a few museums I needed to go to before the trip was up, and took advantage of the day. The plan was set: Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.

Here’s tidbit to you all: This is an exhausting plan. It’s incredible, fascinating, wonderful and exciting. But absolutely overwhelming. If I had more time, I would have loved to stretch these visits out longer.

Another note: These trips don’t have to break the bank. We were fortunate to learn from a cab driver the night before that the Met and History museums are tax-funded and the admission price is actually suggested. Score. If you’ve got the money, please spend it. These places take a lot to run. But if you’re a broke student like me, take advantage of this amazing opportunity and just leave what you can.

So … here are some my highlights from the museums. They are very biased to my interests. To see somebody else's pictures of this trip, check out Isaac Viel's Flickr album.

American Museum of Natural History: Overall this place is incredible. Seeing the Dinosaur exhibit was a dream come true! I've always been a big dino nerd. However, there were quite a few exhibits were sadly neglected. For so many people on staff, I was surprised to see a lot of dusty artifacts in badly lit display cases. Nonetheless, fun place to check out. Ignoring some of the outdated anthropological sets. ; )

Most beautiful beast ever.

These are average sized children. Holy cow!!

Passing through central park on the way to the Met.

The Met: Love. This is pretty much all I can say. Go. Spend days soaking it up.



























Left: It's a Moche vessel!! These things are so incredible. Did you know it's modeled after a real person? That's right, it's a portrait!

Below: Silver ... not sure from where.





















Ugolino and his sons. 1865 by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
































I'm in a gothic sculpture class right now so this is relevant to me! It's a column statue of a king from Abbey church of St. Denis.

Caravaggio. It's even more beautiful in person.

MoMA: This was last on my list of places to go for my first NYC trip. I don't really consider myself a modern fan, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But my mind was blown. The product design exhibit especially was so incredibly cool. I loved seeing the crazy inventions artists developed and wanted to have them all sitting on my kitchen counter.















Van Gogh and Picasso. Just chillin'.