New York, New York

Chapter I:  Plane ride of the Anxious Mind

March 31, 2011: I woke up at 5am to catch a non-stop flight to the Big Apple. That's right. NYC - for the first time ever. I was a little frazzled in the packing stages (long story). I was just settling in on the plane, and it was pushing back, when I sat upright in my seat (I was doing my usual travel slouch which probably isn't goof for me but is comfy in the moment) with my heart hammering: I forgot my Very Important medication. This was not the sort of thing that I could just get by without during my trip. I had to have it or I would be pretty much dysfunctional for the entirety of my vacation and subsequent work meetings. My mind immediately started calculating ways that I could get my hands on some meds as soon as I touched down. But I didn't have a smartphone, so I wasn't sure I would have internet access to even find a pharmacy, etc.

My originally Anxious I level rose to Anxious III in the time it took to skip a heartbeat.

Then, about five minutes later, I realized that it was the end of the month and that I had not paid rent. Furthermore, I would not be able to pay rent until I returned, at which point it would be late. Not good. So bump that Anxious rating ti IV. (Anxious VII = emergency room inducing panic attack, just so you're aware of the scale. Yes, I Anxious Up easily.)

Thankfully, at the time I had a boyfriend who earned Boyfriend of the Year award by helping me out of my situation. Long, involved story, but the short side is that my landlady was an angel, and so was he, and I got my rent paid online in time via exception and my meds from him via overnight mail.

Chapter 2: Central Park

I got a map from the very nice concierge who spent about 20 minutes talking to me about things. I wish I'd given him a bigger tip in retrospect, but maybe I'll go back soon and rectify the situation. Anyway, he gave me a map of Central Park and showed me the best places to go. As you can see it was early April so the park was very drab and actually kind of ugly looking, but this part of the park was not: an Obelisk, originally from Egypt. 

I wandered around Central Park talking on the phone to my friend, C, who'd had a really hard day. I was so intent on our conversation that I missed that darkness was creeping up on me. It was cold to begin with but as the sunlight faded, the rain started. I began to walk faster. I accidentally walked across the park instead of to the bottom of the park. Have you ever been to Central Park? It's huge. I walked what felt miles and miles. I thought I knew where I was and then all the sudden I rounded a curve and the map didn't match, I got frustrated. A pack of joggers cut in front of me. I felt a little conspicuous, out in the dark, looking at a map. The rain started coming down. It literally felt like small needles stinging me. Over and over and over, poking me relentlessly. My hands started to freeze. I finally made it out of the park, but at the wrong corner, and had to walk back across the park again.

When I got back to my hotel room, I think the shower I took to get warm ranked amongst the Top 5 Showers Ever. (I was that cold.)

Chapter 3: The Met: The Seventh Wonder Of My World
 
April 1, 2011: It's no joke, I finally made it to the Met. I woke up and after retrieving my medicine (thank you, FedEx, nice concierge, and Ridj) I went the twenty blocks to the Met. I was in utter happiness because I got to see Cows. (In a separate blog post I will write about how all landscapes are better with cows in them.) This is, perhaps, the best cow picture in the land.

I also saw some beautiful carriages, courtesy of Monet, and this painting, which is almost exactly like its sister, which hangs in the Getty in LA.

There were so many things to see. I covered my favorite sections of the museum - the Dutch painting, American painting of the 19th Century, and Impressionist galleries - and that's about all I could muster strength for in the ten hours I was at the museum. There were many things I did see including the awesome life-size Egyptian Temple of Dendur (but honestly when I saw it, it was much more impressive, due to the fact that it was dark outside, and it was lit by torchlight)  and the Oxbow, which I do not have pictures of here. Ah, but Thomas Cole is one of my favorite artists ever!

There were also a great many other paintings that I loved, loved, loved. And some that I was planning on seeing, but couldn't, because they were either not on display (because they have too many paintings in their "regular collection" to keep them out all at, once), which was a great disappointment, as I really wanted to see The Wave and the Mihrab, but alas, it was not to be, as the Islamic Art collection was under construction.

Here I am with  the Lamassu, which I absolutely had to see because it was the first thing I ever learned about in Art History from Chris Hall. (Love that class. Love that teacher. Best. Ever. Life-changing.) If you clicked on the link you can see more detail of the carvings on the wall. The raven-headed dudes were actually quite imposing, considering they were life-size.

So, something that I do as soon as I walk in the museum is buy the book. Yes, the one that costs like $30 and you wonder why would I ever want to buy that? It's an art journal. My handwriting always gets cramped and messy in these...and sometimes my notes make me laugh a lot when I go back.

For example, about this picture, I wrote:

"Light on curve of tree is more subtle-trees on right not as pronounced. Poor horsey tail!"

Other favorites:

• Wide River Landscape, by Koninck.  The sails are actually much more realistic looking in real life, and the light contrast is amazing. 
• I fell in love with Hobbema on that day. Seriously. Anything by him, go see it!!
• Same with Van Ruisdael. I drew little hearts around his name and underlined it, just like I was a girl writing about her crush in a note to her friend in middle school.  The only thing that would make this painting better is...you guessed it... a cow!
• There's always something to be said for artists who incorporate myths in their work. Here's the Isle of the Dead. The light, in real life, is warm and mellow, but the dark of the trees and water is almost sinister. (Who knew blobs of paint could be sinister without even thinking if they had lead in them or not?)
•  Besides cows, I like action shots of horses.
• And no museum trip would be complete without some Turner and some Constable. About the Turner, I wrote: More contrast in the colors of the couds than shown. Shadow of gondola is exactly a mirror. Detail on building isn't perfect - but it doesn't need to be. Flags colorful but indistinct - would have thought they would have more detail. Looks like for windows, he got a thin line of paint of black paint and just let it drip." And about the Constable, I penned, "Constable and his cows!!! Gent and his lady out for a walk - he has a cane and is pointing out something to her. Water dripping from the central cow's mouth is clear, but the trees are fuzzy."
• This one totally took me by surprise. It was just there, in the main gallery, about eight feet by ten feet. I stood in front of it with goosebumps for awhile before I tore myself away. I wrote, "The Saints (the weird bodies in the back left 1/3 of the painting) aren't even noticeable in the painting. She looks so earnest, pensive...actively thinking, as if she is aching to do something. Her feet are bare - she clearly has more pressing things on her mind than clothes." It amazes me that even after eight hours of museum-ry that my brain still defaults to bad puns. 

I could write on and on, pages, and pages, and pages...the more I looked through my journal the more it made me want to immediately book a ticket to New York and bask in the awesomeness that is the Met. I even put several markers in for stuff I didn't see that if I had known was there, I would have definitely made time to see it...time is limited, I know, but...I guess this way it gives me even more reason to go back. :) LOVE you, Met. Love you.

My legs hurt so bad when I got home I took another shower that was on the Top 5. I didn't care though...I loved every minute, even eating the overpriced lunch in the cafeteria, even the hurrying home in the dark because I was too cheap to take a cab. I don't even remember eating dinner. I think I ordered in Chinese. PS, props to Park Lane hotel for being totally awesome and having a Real Person Sized tub. 

But...as far as the "highlight" package, the Met loses to a small museum, really a collection, really a house...three hours of bliss was mine on April 2, 2011. But I'll write about that in the next post. Now I really need to go to bed...wow. Time flies when you're having art fun.