Saturday…in the Park…I know it’s not the 4th of July…
Central Park, that is. Once again, don’t bother going to New York if you aren’t going to visit Central Park. It is an oasis on the middle of all the busyness of the city, and is just fabulous. People are walking, biking, having picnics, reading, walking dogs, kissing, eating ice cream, grabbing a hot dog. It is busy and beautiful and just feels like the epitome of life, happening right now. In the Strawberry Fields section is the Imagine mosaic, which attracted quite a crowd. And…such a deal!…..right there in Strawberry Fields, a man will do a bad portrait of you for only 10 bucks! We would have bought one, but we don’t have a house to hang it in.
Then, on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also in Central Park. We knew we didn’t have it in us to spend an entire day there, as usually we take a day off when we have been doing sightseeing for many days in a row just to rest up. And this trip, we haven’t taken a break. So we headed for the Impressionists and the Dutch Masters, two of our favorites. The Monet painting of the bridge over the water lilies at Giverny below is very special to us. We went there on our honeymoon and walked over that bridge. BUT….we were laughing so hard, as at the end of the bridge, hanging over the post, was a life preserver in case anyone fell in the pond. The kicker? The water was 3 inches deep, at most. You could only drown in it if you were the size of a fly. Mike bought a tile inset of that painting to install in his bathroom shower, as we liked it so much. And after that photo is a painting by Renoir. Before you read the painting info below it, look at the painting….a mom and her daughters, right? Nope. Sitting next to mom is her SON, and sitting on top of the dog is her daughter. Most interesting, how times change.
The next photos are from the exhibition Heavenly Bodies, fashion inspired by the Catholic imagination. The exhibit is at the Cloisters, as we wrote the other day, and also at the Met. Both locations had lots of people talking about the dresses and taking photos. They are all really over the top, and are more costumes than anything. They would only be worn to an awards show, if at all. Can you imagine a mom wearing any of them to their child’s wedding? Laughable for a mom, but right at home for Cher.
The last photo made us shake our heads and laugh about the world we live in. You can park your car UP TO 30 minutes for $19.43???? And a surcharge is added to THAT if you are parking a van or an SUV? Wow, Manhattan! Really? What a good reason to take public transportation rather than drive. When we stayed in Manhattan 2 years ago, we drove in, and we paid $80/night just for parking. This time, we parked outside the City for $8/night and rode the bus in!
