Museum Hopper

i went to the lower east side tenament museum today. i have not been to the museum in about 2 years and figured it would be time to pay it another visit. this "museum" is just composed of guided tours through a restored tenement on a variety of topics. i did not book a tour in advance, so i attended the tour titled the moores: an irish family in america since the timing worked out the best for this tour. this was the smallest tour i have been on; there was only one other family of four who happened to be from ireland. our guide was fantastic and very chatty. each tour is supposed to be 1 hour although our guide happily talked for about 1 1/2 hours. i think the moores lived in the building the earliest of any of the tours that i have attended. they moved into the building around 1868. most of the other ones are around the end of the nineteenth century. this tour focused on the health, building and sanitation issues regarding this time period. it discussed som...

i visited the american museum of natural history recently with my boyfriend. he had never been and i figured this have material that would interest him. as usual, i do not like that this museum charged quite a bit extra for all the special exhibits. i also wish they would put a little more effort towards some sound proofing. it is great that this museum is geared towards children, but they obviously make a lot of noise. the halls in this museum just seem to echo with the sound. we ended up wandering around the rose center for earth and space for quite about half the time. the big bang demonstration was broken while we were there. he really enjoyed walking through the moments in time and seeing how the universe has changed and expanded. we also saw the dinosaurs. it still bothers me that this exhibit does not start where the majority of people think it would start. i still have not figured out how to go up the stairs to start the exhibit where you are supposed to. every...

i went to the new york transit museum today after the insistance of my friend, matt. it was definitely worth the trip! i headed there on an overcast, hot, humid day. the museum is in a "retired" subway station, so probably not the best place to head when it is hot and humid. most of it is not air conditioned. it was pretty neat. i made it just in time for the tour. the tour took us through how the first subways were built, the history of paying subway fares, how they actually collect all the money out of the subway cars and buses, and then we got to walk and sit in old subway cars. the tour was definitely nice since the guide was informed and interesting, but there seemed to be plenty of signage and documentation around the museum that you could do it on your own. the museum flowed very nicely. when you enter, it is all about subway construction. you could explode your own set of dynamite, see the tools and many pictures of the construction. it was really int...

i went to governor's island for the 2nd time last weekend for a bike ride. it was a beautiful day although slightly on the humid side! i brought my bike and headed down to the free governor's island ferry (near the staten island ferry). the ferry left on time. it's a quick 8 minute ride over to the island. we disembarked and i was off! the bike ride was very nice. the path around the island was smooth and wide. the island has some spectacular views. it is the closest land mass to the statue of liberty. it also has fantastic views of lower manhattan and jersey city. on the ride, you pass by a pretty cool picnic area complete with picnic tables and hammocks! the island does not have any water fountains, which was disappointing to me. either bring your own water or you can buy bottled on the island. times visited: 2 time on the island: 1 hour overall: B

i went to the guggenheim museum by myself today. the museum is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary. as part of the celebration, they have a large exhibit about frank lloyd wright . the exhibit is titled: frank lloyd wright: from within outward . as everyone is aware, the guggenheim building in new york city was designed by frank lloyd wright in 1959-1960. the building was completed 6 months after he passed away. the building is fantastic. it has finally finished the refurbishment of the museum (late last year, i believe). when walking by now, you can view the actual museum, as opposed to scaffolding. it was pretty interesting to view 64 of his projects in a museum he designed. this was the very first major exhibit about frank lloyd wright i have ever attended. as usual with exhibits at the guggenheim it started at the bottom and worked up to the top of the museum. they had everything from sketches to models and pictures of the projects that were built. i had nev...

so, i went to the bronx zoo yesterday for volunteering. i was basically chaperoning young adults. i was accompanied then throughout my trip by 2 other coworkers (that i had just met) and 3 siblings aged about 8-14. we had our ticket and food paid for. work bought us the jumbo pass with all the add-ons. we arrived right as it was opening and headed straight to the gorillas. i still cannot believe you have to pay extra to see a permanent exhibit at the zoo. one complaint about this zoo: i feel like you have to do a lot of extra walking to get where you want to go. also, the map is difficult to follow. i cannot believe that i am admitting that. i usually don't have issues with maps, but this one kept giving us problems. a surprise hit: the bug carousel! we went for a ride on it right before leaving. it was a nice way to get a little break before walking the last bit to the bus. we were at the zoo until 3, so a fairly full day. the 6 (and then 7 of us in the afternoo...

i visited the metropolitan museum of art this weekend to look at the new special exhibit, the model as muse: embodying fashion . it was pretty fantastic. i went to the exhibit since i read about it in this new york times' review . the exhibit is in the space that the turner exhibit was in about 8 months ago. the exhibit was laid out in a chronological order. it started with the 1950s and ended with the present/future of modeling. this layout made sense given that the exhibit walks the viewer through the evolution of the female figure. the exhibit was an interesting mix of commentary, magazine covers, photos, couture and video. as i walked through the exhibit, the commentary was excellent at bringing cohesion to which models' lifestyles influences what fashions and styles. it also drew lines between the ideal feminine silhouette and the models influences that ideal. the exhibit was quite crowded, but seemed to handle the crowd well. i could still see and read eve...