Worth Your Attention: Autumn in New York- continued

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

We're ashamed to say that it took us our fifth trip to NYC to get inside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was as overwhelming and amazing as we thought it would be.

Here is a detail of the top of their building facing Fifth Avenue:

We don't know about you but, for us, sometimes we walk through various museums and view what is there knowing that it is perhaps very old and/or people with way more knowledge of such things has deemed it important so we try to appreciate it but it maybe isn't something that strikes us or hits our particular interests. However, for us anyway, there are moments when you come upon a piece that really resonates with you and you don't even have to read about its history or the artist to be moved by it. We appreciated the exhibits that we looked at first but when we ambled from the small room we were in into the expansive and bright American Wing Courtyard, we were overcome. In truth, Mrs. WYA! started to get a little teary. The space is so big and there are exquisite sculptures, a Louis H. Sullivan staircase, pieces by Tiffany, and a facade of the Branch Bank of the United States that was once on Wall Street. The great thing about art is that it is so subjective and different pieces will affect everyone differently but this was our favorite room at the Met. It turns out that we're lucky that we didn't come here until this visit because this area was renovated and just opened this spring.

This is detail from the top of a Vanderbilt fireplace so enormous that you can barely fathom a home big enough to hold it.

We also liked the Parisian rooms. These are the furnishings of a room from the Hotel de Crillon in Paris:

In the "well done curator" department, another breathtaking moment was when, from several rooms away, we could see Perseus with the Head of Medusa illuminated through the doorways.

Detail from Ugolino and His Sons:

Our only disappointment at the Met was that the entire Japanese art area was closed. We were especially surprised because a special exhibit of Japanese Mandalas in it runs through 11/29/09 so we certainly thought that we'd be able to see it. There also appeared to be some amazing Buddha statues in there and we were looking forward to seeing the Japanese Buddha altar that was pictured in our Museum Plan. When we asked an employee she said that the area was closed due to manpower. We're not sure if it was because it was Columbus Day or if they are just generally having employment issues. We were able to take this picture from the hallway:

Subway Tiles

We're sure that, if we lived here, riding the subways would just become routine and a grind but, as visitors, we love it. On one of our rides, we were talking about how nice it would be (and how much quicker) to take the subway from our house to the west side for dim sum. We also really like the tiles, some more ornate than others, that display the subway stops.

Scenes

What we love about Manhattan is that the whole island is like a living museum. On the way to the subway station you can just pass by a building that Abraham Lincoln spoke at in 1860 (Cooper Union, pictured below).

We had to snap a pic of a newsstand because, with everyone on the subway carrying their various electronics, we have to wonder how much longer they can exist. Personally, we still prefer to get the paper version of The New York Post.

Another reason to love Greenwich Village, they really get into Halloween here. We liked this window display.

Ah, to be wealthy and live in the Village.

We had the uber-rare ride in an empty subway car since we caught it on its first trip after being cleaned (which was nice not only for picture posing and breathing room but also because the Duane Reade ad in the subway car reminded us that the poles have about a "gazillion" germs on them).

City dogs are so sophisticated.

We love the old-timey signage:

The Empire State Building looked a little Christmas-y one night:

The gorgeous top of Grand Central Station:

Mrs. WYA! loves the Chrysler Building and really wanted to channel Margaret Bourke-White and climb out on one of the gargoyles for a photo but Mr. WYA! and laws meant she had to be happy with street shots.