Day three of my ventures was to the East Side of Manhattan. I was so excited to finally make it to the big city and be able to finally start to get to know my way around. Putting a slight damper on these plans was Mother Nature trying to play a nice joke on us. Me, trying to be prepared, dressed as best I could for the weather, brought an umbrella and even extra pants and socks if necessary! I was ready for bad weather, and boy did we get it! After getting out of the hot oven, also known as a subway, we were graced with pouring rain and after my sprint to the MET not only was I out of breath, my shoes, socks, and pants were soaked and I had mud on my shirt. Perfect start to this lovely day… but I guess that’s why it’s a New York “Experience” class, you experience it however you can.
Once inside the Met, before I saw even one piece of artwork, I was amazed by the amount of people that were there, out of their own free will in this rain. This made me realize that this must be an incredible place to have so many people make it out despite the weather. My next amazement was the sheer size of this place. 1.5 million square feet (BG, 326), the Met holds collections from every country, and all showcase so many different kinds of artifacts. Anywhere from paintings, to sculptures, to jewelry, pottery, and tombs, even buildings such as the pyramids from Egypt. One area that I was interested in investigating was the Roman and Greek exhibits.
Being Italian I always feel as though I should have more of a connection to something with Roman heritage so I found my way using the map Mike provided for us to find where the Roman and Greek exhibit began. There were many interesting pieces of art, statues, and jewelry. I found one piece to be absolutely beautiful, the matching gold armbands. Looking much like something people would wear today as costume jewelry; these bands are actually made out of pure gold and have male and female tritons, holding a figure of Eros (BG, 332). I didn’t know until reading about the armbands what was actually on them, I just remember how beautiful they seemed to flow with their mermaid looking fins, wrapping around the arm of whoever were to wear them. They were from 200B.C. (BG, 332),and from the looks of them they could be sold in any high end jewelry store as if they were brand new because they were in amazing condition.
This wrapping type of jewelry must’ve been popular because there was another similar type of jewelry from 300-250 B.C., from the Greek Ptolemaic, of a snake that would wrap around the wrist, also made out of solid gold. To me these are sometimes more impressive then the larger statues because of the delicacy of the items and how they were kept in such amazing condition even after all these years. After leaving the MET, we were all starving, and a change of itinerary was in order due to the rain still in effect. Instead of relaxing in Central Park (which I would’ve loved to do, and was very sad the weather ruined our plans) we went to Grand Central Station, which was also a new experience for me. Grand Central Station was started by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1869 (BG, 228). He had to do a lot of prep work before being able to start this endeavor. He bought out the Hudson River railroad in 1864 along with New York Central Railroad. Next he made a rail-link so that people could travel from the Hudson to the East Side. His plan was to make a common ground for people from all over to be able to centrally meet. He then purchased land from 42nd to 48th between Lexington to Madison to finally put his plan together and make the Grand Central Depot.
While in Grand Central Station we were all able to get lunch from whatever ethnic background we preferred. I always go straight for what I know best…pizza. The food was delicious but the seating was hard to come by. Sending people in all directions to find a table took a good 15 minutes but was definitely necessary. After eating, I HAD to save a little room for a Magnolia’s cupcake. I’ve always heard so much about this bakery and I was more than thrilled when I saw it in Grand Central. I was so excited I didn’t even get to take a picture of it before I had icing all over my face and fingers.
Next we went to the New York Public Library. I have never seen a library so huge and beautiful. The two huge statues of lions flanking the outside stand for Patience and Fortitude meant to give the people hope throughout the Great Depression (BG, 208). The Main Reading room was huge, having long wooden tables on either side of the main walkway. There are 75 miles of shelving in this library. I couldn’t imagine this being my local library where I would go to study for school and do my assignments. I think I would be way too distracted by the amount of people in and out and the size of the room itself. The ceilings were one of my favorite parts of the building. They were so detailed and had gorgeous paintings. 
Last we traveled up 5th avenue to see the numerous up-scale stores, ones that I’ll never be able to step foot in, and we ended at FAO Schwarz Toys. I’ve always heard of FAO Schwarz but never knew where it was. Once finally making it to our last stop on this day that seemed to last forever, I all of a sudden got a sudden rush of adrenaline. I got so excited with every toy that I saw! The huge stuffed animals and the amazing Disney costumes, for dress up or even Halloween coming up soon. The Barbie section was amazing! I had more Barbie’s then I could count when I was little and seeing the collectors Barbies, along with the special edition Foosball Table that instead of little soccer players, there were soccer playing Barbies! There were only 10 made in the world and it cost a whopping 25,000 dollars! My favorite toy though was the quintessential FAO Schwarz toy, the Big piano, well known from the movie Big starring Tom Hanks. I actually got to play on it, though I sadly never took piano and couldn’t play anything of interest.
Overall this day was exhausting, but still fun. As I said experiencing New York is truly experiencing it however you can. Rain, mud, and sweat are all part of what makes these trips throughout the city exciting and worth remembering. Can’t wait to see what’s in store next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment