MOMA, Amer. Museum of Natural History, Guggenheim

Saturday I took the Metro North train at 8:32am and arrived at Grand Central about 10:15am. The first art musuem on my list to see was the MOMA-Museum of Modern Art, which opens at 10:30am. Made good time and arrived there shortly after they opened. I made my way through the museum at a relatively steady pace because i had a lot to see the rest of the day. Some of the pieces that I was really impressed with was a Jim Hodges piece with colored pencils, a Jim Lambie wall piece that had black tape and eyes, a Tom Friedman wall piece, Jasper Johns Map (painting of the United States), a Joseph Cornell box, and a Frank Gehry cardboard chair piece. Very crowded on a Saturday morning, which was typical. I had lunch at the Pizza Villagio, good place with low prices, enjoyed it a lot. I then walked to Central Park and headed to Central Park West to go see the American Museum of Natural History. The park was filled with people tanning in the sun, playing frisbee, jogging, riding bicycles, and enjoying the perfect weather. Also, there were a lot of carriage horse rides. The Natural History Museum was voted the #1 attraction in NYC by Zagat Survey U.S. Family Travel Guide. This was one of the largest museums I have ever seen. Two big dinosaur skeletons are in the entrace on the inside of the musuem. I had to wait in line awhile because so many people were there. The museum has four floors, and I think a person could spend an entire day on just one floor. They had everything you can imagine there. I finally decided I had seen enough, because my legs were starting to get tired. My plan was to visit the Met. for the third museum. I walked by it and saw how huge this one was also. I knew I needed to do it when I was fresh so instead I chose the Guggenheim Museum, which was smaller. The walk in the museum was a neat experience as the grand ramp curves from the ground to the dome. Frank Lloyd Wright's drawings were incredible designs along with the detail of some miniature models of structures. I'm glad it worked to do this one b/c they closed in the evening at 8:00pm. After this museum my legs were dead tired. I should of taken the subway, but I enjoyed walking by Central Park. I think it was about 40 streets one way to walk. I think I walked at least 10 miles total on Sat. I took the train back that evening and arrived in New Haven about 9:50pm. It was an overwhelming experience to see all the pieces in one day. The first week at New Haven and NY has been a tremendous opportunity to see new things, and there are four more weeks to go....