Day 3:
The drive took a lot longer than expected. Google Maps tells me the drive from Columbia (MD) to New York City is 3 hours 55 minutes. Lies. It took 6 hours 30 minutes to get to our hotel in Fishkill (Google Maps: 5 hours 20 minutes). So we were a little peeved about that. Ben's phone overheated, and the GPS on mine refused to locate us. We finally got in around 2pm, checked in with Ben's folks and started to relax. Ben and I thought that maybe we could pop in to NYC and see some of the sights before Tuesday, but when we found out the train cost over 25 bucks a pop, we rejected that idea. Instead, we went to Cold Springs, NY, with the folks, and had a lovely dinner by the tracks, then wandered the quaint little town. We stopped by the Hudson for a while. I always forget how large major rivers are. The wind was great, and some parachuters were drifting about in the distance.Back at the hotel, we learned that Plan A to spend the rest of the night (go see a movie) was not happening, since the theatre didn't have any shows after 7. 7!!! So, we came up with Plan B: Go to Walmart, buy alcohol, and come up with a drinking game: Drinking with Archer. This game has two levels. Level one: Drink when someone in the show takes a drink. Level two: Drink when Archer lies. We had a lot of fun. It's really amazing how much he lies!
Day 4:
Although we missed the 9:25 train (by a hair!), we caught the 10:08 train. I was a little dehydrated and sleepy, which made me a cranky person at the start of the day, but it wore off as time went on. My phone was dead and I was afraid my camera didn't have much juice in it, but it had just the right amount to last the day. It was on the train that I started to have random thoughts that I jotted down in my notebook. Like, what does it mean to be "American"? As I'm looking at the commuters on the train, seeing the same habits and attire as small-town Virginia (for the most part), I'm wondering what it is that defines us. I'll be able to think about this more once I've been in England, I'm sure. What is it that makes us like each other?We arrived at Grand Central Station and I started taking pictures like a crazy lady. We met up with Bevin, Ben's stepdad's daughter, who was at the moment sans children. From there, we wandered to the New York Public Library where I saw an exhibit on Mary Shelley. I went mostly because I wanted to tell my friend MJ about it, since she's a fan. They had drafts from her work on Frankenstein, with words crossed out and such. I thought it was great... I love to see a writer's work in progress.
From the library and the lions, we went via the subway (which is really easy to navigate) to Union Square to meet up with Bevin's husband and kids. After a delicious lunch, Ben and I parted from the gang and beelined for the Met. I was glad to find, when I arrived, that the Met had a "recommended", not required, entrance fee, so I paid about half what they were asking.
The Met was awesome, of course. Ben and I pretty much only stuck around the armor court and Medieval art. They had Henry VIII's field armor, which blew my mind, and got me thinking about how museums connect us to the past. In the past few years, I've stopped getting as excited about how old something is and getting excited about who or what meaning the particular object has. In the case of Henry's armor, I loved how seeing it made it automatically a shared experience between me and a dead English king. He saw this armor, must have had an opinion about it... did he think it was funny because they had to make it big enough to accommodate his girth? What did he think of the artistry? Whatever the case, he saw that armor, had a response, just as I saw that armor and had a response. It connect us to the past, in a very awesome way. He probably would have been confused why we put everything behind glass, however. In an early modern museum, you were expected to experience objects through all of your senses, even taste.
Another thought I had was just on the pure amount of time spent on pieces of art. Manufacturing has ruined us. We need people to value the work again, not just the object. It seems like a great tragedy. People of the past created such wonders, and these days, who will pay for someone to do the same? I also love the attention to stories, how characters are always depicted in motion in medieval art. Their story is a part of who they are and may even be said to define them. Again, this is not something we see in modern art anymore. Where are the stories of the past? Are we only interested in our own self-expression? The work of one man, an Ovid, inspired generations on generations of poets and artists. Where is room for a modern Ovid now? Can one man's work find that level of respect?
After the museum (my mind now turned to ecstatic goo), we went down Madison Ave to window shop, on our way to the Empire State Building. That's over 50 blocks. We had a grand time of it, too. We stopped for little meals here and there... one chocolate bite cost $2.50, but it was totally worth it. Butter cream and dark chocolate dusted with cocoa butter. Om nom. I certainly burned it off walking! We had our main course at Pax, a fast food joint that allows you to create your own pasta dish. We need one in Staunton!
The Empire State Building was both overpriced and worth it. I loved the view, and it's the only way I would see all of NY in one day. By the time we got there, dark had fallen, and the city was lit up like a Christmas tree. I stuck my head out of the grid/fence to look at the ground... teehee. I love heights. Ben was not as enthusiastic about the height but I think he still enjoyed it.
Our ride home on the train was full of drunk Yankees fans, and from their shouts and cheering, I'm guessing the Yankees won the game. It was fairly entertaining to watch them. The train ride was over an hour, and we were exhausted by the time we got home at 11:30. I passed out immediately/
No comments:
Post a Comment