NY Historical Society + My First Snow

Friday night was another wild night in the city — this time I went to the New York Historical Society. Like the Met the Friday before, I went by myself, and I decided to go because it was "pay-as-you-wish" from 6-8pm. I don't mind paying something, especially to support causes I appreciate, but I'm on a pretty tight budget so I'm always down for a discount. I paid $5 (the regular student price is $10) and I think it was definitely worth that. I had never been before, but I would recommend it if you're a super nerd like me. I think I was actually the youngest person there by at least 60 years, but that happens to me a lot.

They currently have a WWII exhibit that was pretty neat, but my favorite was the NY Landmarks photo series. I love learning about New York history and architecture, and I even added a few places to my "to-see" list that I hadn't known about, like Riverside Church and the Manhattan Bridge arch and colonnade.

The other highlight of the Society was a small, somewhat hidden hallway (I felt like I shouldn't be walking down it, but it's definitely part of the exhibitions) with about a dozen paintings of New York scenes from various artists/time periods. I loved all of them, but I snapped photos of my favorites.

The Historical Society is small, and took about an hour to go through — I wouldn't expect to spend much more time there, and I probably won't go back unless there's a new exhibit that strikes my fancy.

I had initially planned to walk there, because unlike the Met, the Society is pretty much in my neighborhood — Central Park West at 77th street — but when I walked out of the apartment I was surprised to find that it was snowing. It wasn't exactly snow-globe-quality, big, fluffy flakes, so much as tiny, stinging, get-in-your-eyeballs snow, so I took the subway to the 81st street stop. By the time I got out of the train, the city was beginning to get covered and I walked into Central Park for a few minutes like a giddy little kid.

I love snow, and this was my very first New York City snowfall. It was still snowing when I was done at the Historical Society, so I took the train to Washington Square Park and walked around a bit. The snow managed to make the city look more magical than usual, even at night.

Unfortunately most of it melted or was shoveled away by morning, but I'm hoping it snows again while I'm here and preferably during the day so I can venture further into the park —this has been my desktop wallpaper for months and I would love to see it this way in real life.

Oh, and I know you're probably sick of hearing me talk about it, but I'm still absolutely loving my hat — it makes all the difference in the world, and it's making winter not only bearable but actually totally fun.

Thank you, hat. You've changed my life.