The MOMA, MET and Guggenheim

I love art galleries, those who know me know I dabble a bit myself and that I really enjoy looking at art - seeing great works from famous artists and not so famous.  So I dragged my family to all the museums and art galleries I could while in New York to instil that in them - becoming little 'culture vultures'.  Just to make it more interesting I always got the 'kids audio tour' to guide us through the swaths of art -  short, to the point and usually entertaining snippets on the works you are looking at.

I've always wanted to go to the Guggenheim - a Modernist icon by Frank Lloyd Wright constructed in the 1950's which also houses up a winding corkscrew gallery great art (we were there for Picasso's black and white collection).  The setting for many a movie where villains have fallen to their deaths from the winding ramp.

Another great The Museum of Modern Art  (MoMA)  was founded in 1929 by three ladies (Bliss, Sullivan and Rockefeller) who wanted to show modern art from Europe and rotate it - they were called 'the daring ladies' because the concept was so outrageous and the art so different it is now one of the most important modern art museums in the world.

And the expansive and all encompassing Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met)  houses artifacts from around the world and from every epoch it seems.  The benefactors must have had to pillage a lot to gain the wondrous collection housed in the many halls of the museum for all to enjoy here.  You could send a number of days just soaking it in. 

The kids did great - Hollander particularly, Oren often said 'I thought you said we were having a quiet day' so we had to use bribes of souvenirs along the way to keep him going.  Funny now though what little facts and memories pop up in conversation from the tired little travellers - its a great teacher!

Oren lost his front tooth outside the Guggenheim!

The iconic Guggenheim.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art houses so many amazing treasures from around the world.

Egypt's gift to America after the construction of the Aswan dam - here have my ancient temple!

Hollander posing as Diana by Saint-Gaudin.

The hall of Armor

On the steps of The Met.

Hanging with the bears in Central Park next to The Met.

The fantastic MoMA housing a lot of the greats.

Vincent Van Gogh 

Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe

Monet's Water Lillies

The tranquil sculpture garden at the MoMA.

Littly Italy is shrinking!

We wanted to see 'Little Italy' but found that it was mostly China town and lots of tourist trinket shops. Still we were touted into a lovely Italian eatery for a nice lunch and vino!

Mulberry St in 'Little Italy'

Enjoying the pizza!

Sweets for my Sweet!

The architectural Icons

I love architecture, nothing like a good building from any period to inspire me and New York has so many great buildings imbedded in my psyche from watching old movies.

New York Public Library

The Rose Main Reading Room

The original Whinnie-the-Pooh stuffed animals given to Christopher Robin by his father
AA Milne in 1921 housed in the Childrens Centre at the library.

Grand Central Terminal 1913 a Beaux Arts building with vaulted ceilings  painted with
a mural of the constellations. 

The Art Deco Chrysler building with its silver gargoyles and crown. 

The Chrysler

Flatiron Building 1902 by Daniel Burnham has a unique triangular footprint.

Washington Square Arch in Greenwich Village originally designed to celebrate
 the centennial of George Washington's inauguration in 1889.

The Guggenheim Museum

Radio City at the Rockefeller

Dumb Dumbs Night at the Museum!

Spent a day at the famous museum founded in 1869 which was a short walk from our apartment and opposite Central Park.  You could spend a week here and not see everything so we didn't do it justice just whizzing through the extensive exhibits.  Loved the intricate dioramas that showed human and animal life in realistic settings. The Dinosaur Hall was fantastic housing a huge collection of fossils, the Meteorite and Mineral Halls also appealed to my kids all those rocks, gems and gargantuan rocks from outer space!

The American Museum of Natural History.

The museum's dioramas are amazing!

Miniature Tikal - Guatemala
 - mummy went there and climbed the real temple when I was 25yrs old.

Huge meteorite - solid iron

This tree was 1400 years old

The Ocean Life Hall 

Here's Dumb Dumb - made famous by the  movie 'Night at the Museum'.

The very grand entrance to the museum.

Meet me at the Empire!

The Empire is an example of classic Art Deco architecture completed in 1931 it was the worlds tallest building for 40 years at 103 stories with a 62m tower on top which was designed to dock giant airships (this only happened once).  The building has been made famous in a number of movies King Kong in 1933 and my favourite Cary Grant An Affair to Remember in 1957. 

We went up to the 86th floor observatory deck  on a very cold day which was great because the usual throng of tourists weren't there (the attendants warned us that it would be 5 degrees colder up there because of the wind that day).  However we walked straight through the extensive roped corrals (which we were told in summer can take a few hours to pass through) to the lifts. 

The lobby

The Empire minus King Kong from the Hudson

Love the Chrysler and its glowing crown at night.

Trying to keep warm.

Looking towards Liberty Island in the distance.

The Flat Iron building