Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
The bright lights of the city, panoramic views and a little culture….
Today began with billboards and lots of them. Yep, we hit Times Square. With its yellow taxis, bright lights and crowds it's the quintessential New York. You see it on telly, you see it in the movies, but you don't realise how big it is till you're standing on the corner and the billboard behind you towers several stories above you.
Other than wandering around and staring at the glitz on show, there's not much to do in Times Square, except maybe shop. We decided to head to the M&Ms store. It was mayhem, but also lots of fun. They had all sorts of gimmicky M&Ms gear - clothes, dispensers, drink bottles, poker sets, mugs, glasses. They also have M&Ms in pretty much any colour you want (only available in NY). I have a slight addiction to M&Ms so it was really difficult to walk through the store and not buy any of the pretty colours and get my name stamped on them. Yep, you can do that too!
Leaving the M&Ms store purchaseless, we headed to the Rockerfeller Centre. The Rockerfeller Centre was built in the 1930s during the years of the depression. It was the first development to incorporate retail, entertainment and office space, often referred to as a 'city within a city'. Most of the structures are in the art deco style; lots of geometric shapes and straight lines, which I quite like. Our first stop was the skating rink and Christmas tree, mainstays at the Rockerfeller Centre since the 1930s when construction workers set up the first small Christmas tree. The rink was crowded, but very pretty with all the Christmas decorations and skaters whirling by. After a few photos we went to the Top of the Rock Observation deck.
The Top of the rock has been pleasing New Yorkers and tourists alike since the 1930s. Though it was cold, we were just as pleased as all the crowds that have come before us. At 70 stories above street level, the observation deck gives you great views of the city, including the Empire State Building, central park, the Hudson River and a very distant Statue of Liberty. We spent our time ducking in and out of the closed in areas and onto the balconies. We're still suffering in the cold of New York after the warmth of Mexico!
If you're going to New York, its worth considering the Top of the Rock instead of the Empire State building observation deck, as its cheaper, and when you're at the top you can see the Empire State - a New York icon.
Next stop was the Museum of Modern Art or MOMA. Modern art always puts Tim in a bad mood, so I'm not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to take him. He doesn't object to art itself, but in his opinion, if he could do it, then its not art! Abstract art drives him nuts. Paintings of just one colour or coloured squares send him into a fury. I say that the artist has achieved their objective; a challenge that this is art! It tends to send him into further fury!
So we spent an interesting afternoon wandering through the museum, looking at Picasso's, Van Gogh's and Braque's (OK by Tim) and Pollock's, Reinhardt's and Rothko's (not so OK by Tim). We saw a Van Gogh that we'd previously viewed in Amsterdam when it was on loan to the Van Gogh Museum. It was from the Starry Night series and one of my favourites. We also saw Meret Oppenheim's 'Breakfast in Fur', a teacup, saucer and spoon covered in fur. I studied this work back in high school so it was pretty cool to see it up close. We also liked the helicopter suspended in one of the galleries and the huge animal skeleton casting interesting shadows on the floor.
The museum has been recently refurbished, with more space for works and for people veiwing them. The building has interesting nooks and crannies, huge galleries and intimate spaces. Its worth a look, even if its likely to make you mad!
The day ended with a walk through the night-time streets of New York. It was very pretty with all the Christmas lights, the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings lit up, skaters on the rink in Bryant Park and New Yorkers out and about. it's a busy city, no matter the time of day.
- comments