Today was a fun filled day. but let’s actually start with
yesterday. bruce and i took a cab from our work and went to the
airport where we met up with our families who had just flown in from
salt lake. we then took another cab (actually a big old van) from
the airport to our hotel room in New Jersey. By then it was
getting late so we just grabbed some sandwiches from the hotel
restaurant and went to bed.
Now
it’s today. After some breakfast (also from the hotel restaurant)
we headed out on our adventure to the big apple. We went to the
nearest train station (which is only a two minute drive from the hotel
- courtesy of the hotel van). After about 30 minutes of fighting
with the stupid train ticket machine we had finally secured ourselves
some tickets. However, the tickets are only good for New Jersey,
and the only thing we’re using New Jersey for is to head into New
York. Off we go – down into the bowels of the stinky
subway. It was great. Raining, wet people everywhere; musty
air; lots of graffiti! The kids were agog. We boarded the
subway and headed into town.
Once we get there, we have to get
tickets for the New York subway system. We figure that it doesn’t
matte that we’re spending most of our time underground today since it’s
pouring rain outside. Not the most fun to walk in. Bruce
and I head off for another 30 minute fight with the ticket machine to
secure some tickets to get around town. What a pain!
Lesson: Carry a credit card that hasn’t been maxed out (long story -
had to do with work’s credit card not working at the hotel and bruce
having to use his card to cover the cost, leaving a huge hold on his
card , and not enough to pay for the tickets … and then it turns out
the machine won’t take cash bills that require more than $6 in change
(we wanted to buy a $7 ticket and only had $20 bills … so we had to
argue with the teller guy for 15 minutes to get some change). I
love New York so far 
We finally get on the subway and take
several cars going all over the place. I try to follow the map
but it’s sort of a blur … I’ll just follow Bruce and hope we don’t
get separated! After three or four train switches we arrive at
this train station downtown somewhere next to this amazing Catholic
church (I think it’s the one that gets smashed in the Ghost Busters
movie by the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man). Very impressive stained
glass windows. We got some pictures of the outside, but Luann
didn’t feel right about taking any inside.
After
a few blocks walk in the rain we arrive at the “Met”; i.e. the New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s huge … and it’s right next to
a hot dog stand! Yes … I’ve been wanting to try a New York
stand hot dog for some time now. But it’s too early for lunch, so
i figure we’ll get one on the way out. Inside we get in and see
the sights. To really do this thing justice you’ve got to spend a
week inside. But we only had 5 or 6 hours, and we made the most
of it.
First off we headed to the Greek sculptures and art.
Plenty of severed heads and limbless bodies. The kids had fun
pointing out all the naked statues. There were also some
impressive pieces of ancient armor (talk about uncomfortable!).
We
then did a brief stop in the South American / African section.
There were a number of cool masks and headdresses, spears, and even a
few stone carvings. The most impressive thing was a version of
the bible that was completely pictorial. It was huge and thick
and looked very old. No pictures; sorry.
Next stop was the
medieval section. This area was my personal favorite. There
were huge tapestries that were probably taller and longer than my
house. There were intricate decorations and clocks and boxes. 
. There were stained glass windows. 
.
And my personal favorite: a gated entryway that was just absolutely
amazing. The only picture I have is horribly blurry, but it gives
you a sense of the scale of this thing. It’s massive. I
must have gone back to look at it a half dozen times. 
.
Time for food. No hot dogs. We settled for the cafeteria (which was exorbitantly priced, I might add…).
We
went over to the Modern Art section this time. Luann was in
heaven. We saw paintings and sculptures by a few little known
artists such as Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Rodin,
Jackson Pollock, Reniour, and others. This was Luann’s favorite
part of the day. I guess painting isn’t my thing.
Finally
we went to the Egyptian section and saw all sorts of cool Egyptian
stuff. By this time everyone was pretty tired so it was slightly
less enjoyable than it could have been and we rushed through it. 
On
the way out it was pouring rain. We headed to the subway, took
several trains to get home, and here we are. Ouch – my legs are
gonna be sore tomorrow. I hear that the rain should abate.
If it does, I think we’ll hit central park and perhaps Times
Square. Oh … as for the hotdogs … the stands were closed by
the time we got outside :’(… Maybe tomorrow.
