The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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I'd been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art once before, but I decided to go again last Friday by myself. I'm working from the apartment while I'm here in the city, and apart from an hour at lunch I hadn't been out much. I don't want to become that girl who dies in her apartment and is discovered weeks later by the smell of her rotting corpse, and somehow a trip to the Met was my way of not being that.

The museum is open late (until 9pm) on Friday nights and I'm not much of a bar person (or a social person, for that matteR) so it was a perfect evening for me. I'm living on the Upper West Side and there isn't a great way* to get over to the museum (on the East Side), so I decided to walk. Of course whenever I decide that something looks "close" on the map and will be a "nice walk" I turn out to be comically mistaken, but extra exercise is never a bad thing right? It was pretty much freezing but the walk wasn't that bad — I did, however take the subway waaaay out of my way just to not have to walk back.

The lobby was crowded when I got there but when I got farther into the galleries, I often had them to myself. The Met can be a tad overwhelming, and I only had a few hours, so I focused on the things I really wanted to see. I started with the Egyptian art which I have always loved. I think it's the designer in me that appreciates the graphic nature of the hieroglyphics and any culture that appreciated, and even revered, cats is tops in my book. Their collection of artifacts is incredibly impressive — they even have an entire, recreated temple.

The Temple of Dendur was just as amazing the second time, although at night you miss out on the wonderful views of Central Park from the Sackler Wing.

I spent the rest of my time with the (in my opinion) greats — Van Gogh, Pissarro, Picasso, Dali, to name a few. They have some of my favorite Van Goghs (Wheat Field with Cypresses, Oleanders, Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat) but my new favorite is Shoes, which I had never seen before.

I've always loved Pissarro's The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning and it's a never-ending thrill in my life to be able to see my favorite pieces of art in person. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that I'm standing in front of a canvas that was painted by Van Gogh a little more than a hundred years before.

It's also amazing that I can see these things anytime I want. The Met is actually great, in that (unlike MOMA) it has a suggested donation admission policy, which means that I could pay a nickel if I wanted to. I actually paid the full student price of $12 this time because it's totally worth it to me, and they have a way of making you feel reallllllly cheap if you don't, but next time I'll probably do something more like $5.

I'm sure I'll be back at least a few more times — have you ever been? What should I make sure to check out next time I'm there?

*I'm sure there's an easy way, like taking a bus, but I'm stubborn and thought walking totally made the most sense. I was probably wrong.