The day I tried to understand modern art September 15, 2007

Today is Saturday and all the museums open later than on week days… a good excuse to wake up a little later (7.45 instead of 7.00). I realize that I’m leaving on Monday morning and my stay in NY is almost over. I’ve seen all the major places and museums here, except 2: the Van Cortlandt House (in the Bronx) and the Museum of Modern Art.

I really started the day at 10.30 and to the subway to the North, and stopped at the Van Cortland park to visit the Van Cortland House, a Georgian-style mansion, symbol of NY’s colonial past. Even if I knew that NY was one of the first settlments in America, I didn’t imagine I would see such an old house kept intact, with all its furniture and everyday life objects. It was one of my favourite visits since I arrived in NY.

The second and last museum of the day (because museums open later AND close earlier on the week ends) was the MOMA (Museum Of Modern Art). I won’t say it was my favourite visit in NY, because I don’t understand anything in modern art. I tried but well, that’s not my thing. It sometimes made me think that they did some colour testing to choose the right one to paint the walls of the museum. For the records, we’ll only say that I went there and saw some artwork by Picasso, Kandinsky, Cézanne, Matisse and many others.
I came, I saw, I went away.

One my way back to the subway, I crossed the Avenue of the Americas and at first I thought the San Gennaro feast had invaded the street, but it was something else, with more international food (with some crepes, a taste of Paris).
I was so tired I went back to the hotel early and collapsed on my bed.
Tomorrow will be my last day here and it’s supposed to be a sunny day. I hope I’ll be able to go to Staten Island.
Good night or whatever.

http://www.vancortlandthouse.org/
http://moma.org/

The day I relaxed September 14, 2007

Here we are… another day is over. The weather was grey all day long, but I took the boat anyway for a 3 hours cruise around Manhattan. Despite the colour of the sky (wich wasn’t good at all to take pictures), I had a really GREAT time. I was sitting, with some fresh air, and all I had to do was to look at all the beautiful buildings and bridges. It’s so good to visit a town and relax at the same time. It was a fun trip because I recognized a lot of places I’ve been at: The Empire State building (yeah, I know, that’s not new, you can see it from anywhere in NY), the Chrystler building, Battery Park (where the boat to the Statue of Liberty leaves), The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the tiny building of the police museum, South Street sea port (Fulton market), Brooklyn bridge, the UN and many other places.
Once out of the boat, I took the bus to Columbus circle, on 59th street. Of course, I took some pictures, then, tadaaaaa… I had a walk in Central Park. That’s incredible it took me 5 days to do it. I’ve walked on Central Park West several times but I never entered the park itself before today. It’s all green there, with places to sit down and squirels to look at, some people are playing american football or baseball. I’d LOVE to have such a quiet place in Montpellier (well, it’s almost the size of the whole town, but that would be great anyway).
Inside Central Park, there’s a zoo. I did visit it. It’s not really big but it’s a cool place to relax. There were 3 amazing frogs living in the water and looking like small trees. I’ve never seen anything like this before (no picture of them, sorry… it was too dark).
I carried on to the Guggenheim museum and had a bad surprise: not only they are fixing the ouside of the building, but only 3 half floors were open (and one whole floor was diplaying paintings I didn’t like at all). I was happy to see some paintings by Kandinsky, but I would have loved to see more.
Let’s be positive: it didn’t take a long time to visit the museum and this allowed me to go to again to Chinatown and Little Italy (I didn’t take pictures because they wouldn’t have come out well because of the weather, sorry again). As for once my day hasn’t been exhausting enough, I have decided to take the bus on the avenue of the Americas, wich made me visit Soho (South of Houston) and Noho (North of Houston) at the same time (I was walking on Houston Street, the limit between the 2 boroughs, hahahaha!!).
I went out of the bus on the 59th again and from there, my hotel was only 3-stations away.
End of the story for today.