ENG2150: Writing New York

The Art-A-Thon I decided to go to was the Flashmob with Dr. Aldemaro Romero. At first, I was confused about why the location said: “at the corner of 24th street and Lexington Avenue” and why it wasn’t being held in a classroom but then it made complete sense. As I walked out of the vertical campus building I was surprised to see a cameraman capturing the Samba dance, Professor Gisele Regatao was showing the audience. Professor Gisele, was in the moment and enjoying the, what it seemed like “Portuguese” music, and teaching step by step on how to dance this famous dance routine from Brazil. It was funny to see how people were trying to get these complicated steps in one try yet amazing how it attracted many races to give it a try. After trying to figure out the steps, I still couldn’t manage to get a complete small routine, it was too embarrassing I had to walk out and enjoyed the 3 professors dance and enjoy their Samba dance routine they had planned.

Throughout high school, I always saw what looked like the 7 train in Chelsea Manhattan.   As visible as this place was, I never bothered to go check it out. I was always curious to know why many people would take time to go up the stairs and take pictures of what looked like a train rail from the bottom. After doing research on the place I wanted to visit in New York, I decided to kill my curiosity and go visit “The High Line”, also known as, “ New York’s Park in the Sky.”

On Friday, I made my commute to “The High Line”. I was excited to see what the big deal was and finally feel some real spring weather. Of course, before visiting, I made sure what I was getting myself into.

“The High Line” is located on the west side of Manhattan and it runs from 14th street all the way through 34th street. Before this big infrastructure in the 1930’s, the railroad tracks ran down the west side waterfront taking goods to factories warehouses. The trains were dangerous and it was always crowded causing many accidents. It was so dangerous that 10th avenue was known as “ the death avenue.” When the High line was build in the 1930’s, trains would run through factory warehouse buildings carrying meat to the meatpacking industry. Now, what we know it as, “The Chelsea Market”. As years passed by, the use of railroads decreased and the High Line was taken over by nature. Since no one used it anymore, layers of soil build up and as years passed, the wilderness took over. Flowers, grass, sunflowers, trees, etc. were beginning to grow on the tracks. Many nearby property owners wanted to take down the High Line because of the waste of space it was taking up. As a result, in 1999, two residents, Robert Hammond and Joshua David started a non-profit group called “Friends of the High Line” in hopes of saving the High Line. After years of fighting, they managed to start the project and save a special place in New York’s history.

As I entered through the 14th street entrance I was amazed at how many people there were. I was not expecting to see so many people walking around and taking selfies with the amazing views the High line had to offer, but it made sense because of how nice the weather was. The first thing I noticed as I began to walk, was the floor. It reminded me a lot of a beach boardwalk but fancier. There were many trees near the entrance and although the trees were leafless it still had its unique presence that attracted tourists. There were many benches for pedestrians to sit and enjoy the moment with their families. After walking for about 10 minutes, I hit a construction site near one of the entrances on 23rd street. Many tourists were amazed at how the construction workers drilled a piece of metal through the concrete floor, they enjoyed the scene, laughing and conversing with random strangers that they ignored the real reason they came to the High Line.

There were also many people trying to hustle and sell their artwork and other stuff to the people that would walk by near them. In fact, one kid stopped me to buy candy off him. I gladly helped him with two dollars and continued on with the walk. I started thinking about how smart these people are coming to a place like the High Line and sell their stuff to tourist who are most likely to buy their stuff than an actual New Yorker.

As I continued my journey, I began to notice pieces of train rails in the middle of the

“boardwalk.” It was nice and engaging to think that there was once a train that passed through there roughly 88 years ago. Despite there being signs that prevented us from entering or touching the tracks, I acknowledged the ancient piece of artwork with my eyes. Continuing my walk, it impressed me how close the High Line was too nearby buildings. Many of them were apartments, it looked as if you can reach your hand out and touch it. It was so close that you could have jumped from the High Line to one of the apartments patio. Near there, one of the staff members were watering the grass that was slowly growing green.

When I got to the end the High Line, I was pleased with what I experienced. I definitely think it was worth the trip and worth the walk. I got to kill my curiosity and enjoy one of the many amazing places New York has to offer. I would really encourage you to go visit!

I chose to go to the Jacques Torres Chocolate Museum because I had been hearing about it for a while. It is located in Manhattan on Hudson st. I never really made the time to go until this assignment. It gave me the encouragement that I needed to do something new. Originally I was going to go with one of my friends but I had to cancel because of things that I had going on at home. I ended up going with a couple of different friends that I need from before college. Most of us live in Long Island so we met up and went together while the others met us at the Museum.

I went with a total of five friends and my little brother, three boys and two girls. Two of the boys and one of the girls took the Long Island Railroad with me and my brother as we lived close to one another.  Before all of this we had to make a reservation online. We paid $15 each because there was no discount for college students and I did not look for discounts for my brother. The tour was approximately 30 minutes long and once we left the museum to go into the store we could not go back into the museum.

When we walked into the museum I was in awe because I wanted to visit it since I first heard about it. My friends were really supportive because they gave up their time on the weekend just to go with me. I thought it was very nice of them even though I told them about it the day before because I could not make it the first time. We were able to book our reservation and then planned to explore after we were finished.

We took the railroad all the way down to Penn Station and then took the 2 train to Houston St. It took us approximately 2 hours to get their because of the delays and us exploring the stores as we walked. We met up with the others at exactly 2:15 outside of the museum. This gave us enough time to make our 2:30 appointment tour.

The tour was very nice and informative. It told us how the Mayans invented chocolate and how they started to use it. We saw many artifacts that I myself thought were pretty cool. We got to taste a lot of chocolate which was my favorite part of the tour. In total we got to taste at least six different types of chocolate. I didn’t really like the dark chocolates but I loved the hot chocolate that we made. Their was also a bon bon demonstration that I thought was really good. The demonstration looked really interesting but I felt like it was missing something.

My only complaint is that some of the workers seem like they did not really want to be their and they were being forced to. I think that they should have been more enthusiastic or at least look like they were enjoying it a little. I think that this would have made the experience more interesting but maybe it was just the day we went that some of the workers were like that. Besides this I thought that the museum was very fun and exciting to experience for the first time. The store was very expensive but they had a recipe book for chocolate that I wanted to get but a lady got the last one before I could.

Normally I do not like going to museums but this is a museum that I would not mind going to again. We are definitely going to be going back here to try the chocolate making classes. These class only happens at certain times during the day though so we will have to go earlier. I think that overall this was a very wonderful and nice experience. I would defined recommend trying this one day if you guys ever have time.

When I was originally planning to go I was going to take the chocolate class and do the museum tour for $45 but I had to cancel. I was lucky I was waiting to make a reservation otherwise I would have lost $45 because it is non-refundable. Unfortunately we could not book the chocolate classes because we all wanted to go to the movies and exploring after. We are all going to be going back for this class towards the end of this month or next month.

During summer vacation growing up my mom would take us to museums and parks. Anywhere that was outside so that we wouldn’t be at home with the air conditioner turned on raising the electricity bill. Although I had been to the Museum of Natural History before either with my mother or on school trips I never realized that it had a butterfly conservatory. Getting to the Butterfly conservatory was a trip that I was familiar with.

I took the Q train from Beverly road to Times Square 42nd street Where I would transfer to the 2 train. I would then take the 2 train to 72nd street broadway, from 72nd street broadway I would walk to the museum which was approximately 10 minutes long. Overall I found the ride to the conservatory to be peaceful. The train stop at Beverly had a view that I enjoyed and the Q train went over the bridge while getting to manhattan, I also loved walking through central park in order to get to the Butterfly Conservatory. If I plugged my earphones in I was able to just drift into my thoughts as I watched the stops pass by. I loved nature and being outside, it was something that comforted me because my mother always wanted us to be out of the house.

After walking through central park in order to get to the Butterfly conservatory. I bought my tickets online and in total it came out to be around 23 dollars. I had been to the butterfly garden at the bronx zoo when I was younger and I was excited to visit this conservatory. When I was younger I went through a phase where I was obsessed with butterflies I loved the pretty colors on their wings and I found them drinking nectar from flowers to be elegant. I guess my small obsession with butterflies was still there because as I was walking through the Butterfly conservatory I kept hoping that a few would land on me like how a bird would land on Snow Whites finger. I walked slowly and tried spotting as many different butterflies as I could I even took a few pictures. Going to the butterfly conservatory made me feel like a little girl again, being excited by all the pretty wigs that were fluttering around and just trying to capture their beauty. The butterfly observatory was something that I have been wanting to do for a while but often times get lazy about because it’s too far or I’m scared that it would be too packed. After the butterfly conservatory I decided to view other exhibits at the museum in order to feel like I got my money’s worth. I Enjoyed the butterfly museum but I didn’t think it was worth 23 dollars.

I enjoyed this experience I enjoyed being outside especially because the weather had improved greatly over the weekend and there were a lot of other things to do that surrounded the Butterfly conservatory. Sadly I didn’t have any butterflies that were landing on me but I was happy with being able to see them up close and being able to take pictures of the ones that weren’t moving too much. The only thing I would have regretted from this trip is how much I had spent. Lucky seeing other exhibits in the museum and walking around central park made up for it. This experience was very peaceful and reminded me of the great time had around here when I was growing up. I Also realized that even though I had been to a lot of places around New York that there were a lot more place that I still haven’t been too. This could be due to the fact that my mom often took us to placed that were free like central park or nearly free in order to save money. This project inspired me to go out more because I really enjoy it and I get bored from staying home all the time. I want to be able to see more places in New York. I have always said that I would stay and live in New York when I grew up and while that still may be true I have realized that I also want to travel, I want to see and experience new places. During this trip I realized that I want to learn and see different cultures which is something that I didn’t know I was interested in until after I had seen the Butterfly Conservatory and I was walking around the American Museum of Natural history.

The “Museum of Sex” is pretty close to the Baruch vertical campus, as my friends and I got there by walking from Baruch. It is located on 233 5th ave. Going to “MoSex” was an odd experience. My friends and I went blindly not knowing how it was or worked except that we had to be 18 years of age. We all went because we were overworked from studying and just wanted to take a break from college. It wasn’t too far and it was surely a fun experience mostly because of my friends.

Before the entrance there’s a sex shop with both serious and funny apparatuses. Walking around there seemed to be “sexperts” who would walk about and inform us on what specific things did and would add random fun facts. Overall, the sex shop in itself was pretty entertaining.
The price of entry isn’t too expensive as it was 20 dollars (it’s even more for the breast bouncy house). (You also have to show ID). They also allow the option of holding your extra baggage for you and give you a ticket.

The museum was completely different than I thought it would be. I thought it would be much more informational and museum-esque but it was more leaning to aesthetics and pornography with a few exceptions. Starting at the apparent main exhibition on Nobuyoshi Araki, a Japanese pornographic photographer who seem to be particularly interested in bondage. This room was extremely dark and had a very weird oaky smell to it. It felt rather ominous and influenced a sense of silence even among my friends. It was pretty silent as well. It was highlighted quite often that Araki was a figure that used his paintings to in some way be rebellious towards the “system”. He wanted to stand different, using taboo materials to shoot his pornography. Another thing that not only caught my attention but as well as my friends is that he tend to have sex with many of the models. This was interesting as this didn’t seem to be that controversial even when there’s an obvious power play going on. His works can vary to extremely beautiful to very rough around the edges. His shooting was extremely fascinating as some made you feel confused whether to feel dirty or cleansed. His photography seemingly was a mix of those two feelings.

Another exhibit that comes to mind is “The Sex Life of Animals”. This was an extremely funny and informative exhibit. This one was very much what I thought I signed myself up for. This exhibit was extremely loud, as it had speakers all over the place playing animals making sex noises. I learned quite a bit from this exhibit. Ducks have corkscrew penises and also are extremely demented animals. Dolphins use more than one type of penetrative places. Some animals have more than one male member. This is in my opinion their most successful exhibit as it was both informative and entertaining.

The other exhibits were really forgettable which was quite underwhelming. Some pieces were surely eye catching though. Pieces which got all of us to argue who’s guess on what was the fruit presented as a phallic object was right were fun. At times even the people who worked at the museum would pitch in ideas as well. I loved how some rooms had a great mix of colors. These rooms were very bright and smelled great, with the scent of flowers. Some pieces on the other hand could be pretty boring. After going up some stairs to a room that smelled like knock-off scented candles, we arrived to some kind of book collection taking a large chunk of the entire room where I believe could have had something entirely different. This piece was not only boring but very inefficient considering that I, someone who stands 6 ft tall couldn’t even see the book in the middle all that well.

All in all, this museum is an alright experience. I personally feel like going alone would be very boring so definitely bring friends as it would lighten up the mood. There weren’t many exhibits open when I went so it was kind of underwhelming in some ways. The fact that it closed at ten p.m. was extremely odd as well. What kind of sex museum closes at ten? I would say that going into this museum is not the best thing you could be doing in New York City but its surely not the absolute worst either. The museum itself was very mediocre, but the experience was definitely memorable.

(By Huffington Post)

(By Wikimedia Commons)

I turned down onto Ludlow, the restaurant awnings lit up my path as I walked down the block. I pulled my coat tighter as a cold breeze blew onto my cheeks. About midway down the block I spotted it; the little sign poked out as if it were curious. “Ludlow Coffee Supply” was painted on it in bold black letters. From the outside it looked as if it were just a hole in the wall but once I pulled open the door there was much more to it. My sister trailed in behind me and we were immediately hit by the warmth of the inside. The smell of coffee quickly filled my nose. “Go grab a seat for us.” I said to her as I turned to the little counter to my right. The barista turned to me with a kind smile on her lips, “What can I get for you today?” she asked. My eyes scanned the menu which was hung on the wall behind the counter. It was a simple black board with white letter tiles highlighting the menu options. There were many different beverages to choose from but I decided to stick with something I knew best. “Two hot chocolates please.” I said to her. “Sounds great, they’ll be up in a bit.” She said and gave a little nod with her head. I handed her some cash and turned back towards the rest of the shop. In the front there was two little tables by the windows that were currently occupied. Behind them towards the left were two long tables that were set up higher and had stools placed underneath them so six people could sit at each of them. Two thing lamps hung from the ceiling casting a dim light over the tables by the windows. There was a little wall behind the two tables with a rectangular opening leading to the back of the coffee shop. The front of the shop was dimly lit and mainly got its light from outside. The back was more lit up and had a different atmosphere compared to the front of the shop. Instead of tables, there were two sofas and little cushioned seats scattered and spread out throughout the back. On the right hand side were three large mirrors that were bordered with wood. There was a rectangular light’s that rested on each side of the mirrors edges. On the shelf where the mirrors were placed was also a big stereo that was set right in the middle of them all. Music could be heard softly from the stereo. To my left was a wall lined with a shelf with another little stereo on it and little plants and cacti in pots sitting next to it. A large black board caught my eye with the words: “I’m in the pursuit of Happiness” –‘Kid Cudi’ written on it. I found my sister over by a tiny cherry colored sofa that fit just the two of us. Beside her were shelves filled with vinyl records and little books. “Two hot chocolates!” I heard the barista call out from the front. “I’ll get it.” My sister said getting up from the sofa. As she headed towards the front, I slid over on the sofa towards the shelves and found a box full of vinyls. I pulled out the closest vinyl record near me, it was Prince’s “Purple Rain” record.

The vinyl was in very good condition compared to some other ones that were slowly falling apart or faded with age. My sister walked back over with two cups in her hands. The cups were white and had ‘Ludlow Coffee Supply’ written in the center. She handed me one of the cups and I wrapped my hands around it. I brought the cup to my lips and took a small sip. My taste buds were greeted with the rich flavor of chocolate and it warmed me up immediately. We stayed for a good 30 minutes just enjoying the setting and our drinks and eventually headed out to leave. I would always pass this coffee shop and never stop by but now I’m glad I actually took the time to go in because it was definitely worth it.

New York City is a huge piece of land filled with many magnificent sites. One cannot explore New York City in one day. Even living in this place for a long period of time, I have yet to explore the riches of New York City. However, on April 6, 2018 I decided to explore a site I have never gone before; the Williamsburg Bridge.

The Williamsburg bridge is a great way to get from South Williamsburg to the Lower East side of Manhattan especially during a hot summer day. At the entrance of the bridge, there are two different lanes. Pedestrians have their own walkway and cyclists have their own as well. This is a great way to prevent pedestrians and cyclists from clashing into one another and preventing injuries on the bridge. However, I did not know this information from the beginning. While my friends and I were walking towards the bridge we did not know there was two different lanes and we accidentally walked into the cyclists lane. We were not aware that we were on the wrong side until a lady stopped riding her bike and said “Excuse me guys, but you are on the wrong side of the lane.” Once she said this we looked to the other side and realized we were on the wrong side and instead of walking all the way back to the beginning, we proceeded with caution. Cyclist blew right past by us in the speed of light. It was indeed dangerous, but at the same time exhilarating for me because flashlights kept flashing behind and in front of us as we walked. It felt like we was walking down the red carpet at the premiere of a new hit movie. Finally, halfway through the bridge we were able to transfer to the pedestrian lane and join our fellow walkers. That was when the adventure had actually begun.

The Williamsburg Bridge is a delightful seen to witness. I had the opportunity to walk the bridge during sundown which made everything I saw ten times more spectacular. While walking the bridge, I saw that the concrete floor of the bridge is paved with the different arts of pedestrians that draw on the ground to express their ideas so future pedestrian may see. With the sun beaming towards the ground, the drawings were coming to life as the colors began to detract from the ground and into the atmosphere. The steels are painted mostly red and blue to perhaps signify the colors of the American flag. The beauty of the bridge is that when you walk it you can view the J and M train running in the middle of the bridge. Especially when I saw it during the afternoon, the train was glowing as it was running. On the left side you can view the river’s currents swaying back and forth with such elegance. Wherever you turned you always have a view to glance at. By the time I was reaching the end of the bridge, which was Lower Manhattan in my case, all I saw was fog. It was foggy towards the end of the bridge which made me wonder “should I continue walking or should I go back and take the M train home.” My friends and I were talking about how creepy the fog made the end of the bridge appear, but at last we all agreed “momma didn’t raise no quitter” and kept walking. We decided to proceed and as we kept walking towards the end, the fog began to get thicker and thicker. It felt like the beginning of a Haunted House. Finally, we had made it to the end, we ended up at Delancey Street where we treated ourselves with a reward for the long walk and determination. Lucky for us there was a McDonald’s right up the block from the bridge, where we all went to celebrate for this accomplishment.

This was a great experience for me because I enjoy walking around and exploring new places. Even though I tend to regret it the next day because I end up with sore legs, it doesn’t take away the experience of doing something new. I had always seen pictures of people crossing this bridge and posting it on social media saying “#WilliamsburgBridge.” I had always wondered where this bridge was at and after finally finding it, I knew I had to walk across it. The best part was that I didn’t do it by myself, but with friends who also enjoyed it and had never walked across this bridge before as well. Although the walk was roughly around 30-40 minutes long it didn’t feel that long because of the site seeing and conversation my friends and I were having. Also by conquering this bridge I was able to check it off my bucket list. You can say I “killed two birds with one stone” by doing this trip.

Image copied from google images

The Queens Botanical Garden is a natural retreat from the loud horns and daily rush of the city life. An “oasis” within the city as many call it. I chose this location because it is often overlooked and unheard of. This may seem like a bad thing, however remaining under the radar is what gives this garden/park its unique atmosphere. The park in its entirety is quite small compared to many other parks in the city such as Central Park. I included an aerial image of the park from Google Maps to represent the size difference to Central Park.

I have visited the garden several times before and usually ask someone special to join me. It always comes as a surprise to people who never knew this garden existed in Queens. The garden has a modern and contemporary vibe which is influenced by its architecture. The visitors building for example has a sleek design coupled with Swedish influence. Clean lines and sharp edges combined with natural landscape is a sight to see. This look is rare and uncommon to come by in the city. To get a glimpse of a landscape like the one in the Queens Botanical Garden, it may require you to travel to Long Island or Upstate. I have included and image of the Visitor’s Center to help you better understand the type of architecture I discussed.

The garden is also special because it hosts a lot of weddings. For many couples seeking an outdoor wedding without traveling too far, the garden offers great views of nature and plenty of space for a decent sized venue. Many weddings have taken place at the garden and many iconic shots have been taken by the famous Gazebo. I have included an image of that gazebo.

One interesting part of this garden is that it’s always evolving. Now of course it’s a garden so different flowers are planted each year. The difference is the orientation of these plants and flowers is ever changing. “The roses that were here are may be over there now!” The park also includes a pond and stream which flow under a little bridge. Small touches like these give an interesting look to the landscape. The picture below shows this attraction. The walkway is modern, and the stream is outlined with small rocks to better emphasize the flow of the water.

For people who have yet to visit the park, here is a little backdrop of what you can expect. As soon as entering the garden, a fee is required for obviously the up keep of the garden and to make the hard-working employees’ time worth the while. The admission fee for adults is around six dollars. After paying and walking into the garden, all you can see is plants, trees, flowers, and a path going many ways. I can assure you that it does not feel like you are in the city anymore. Buildings and other structures are visible however lessen as you travel deeper into the garden. As far as hearing, birds chirping, and leaves shuffling is quite common to hear, of course with slight honking in the background. As soon as entering into the park, you begin to feel better than you felt a few steps back. The fresh air is different because it’s being filtered by trees as it should. Walking down the street, nothing but brick and concrete buildings surround you. It’s impossible to get a fresher breath of air than the one in the garden. Also, any stress you have begins to melt away. It’s commonly known that walking in areas without cars or other machinery has a positive impact on your body compared to areas with heavy pollution. It’s no wonder you see many elderly people walking in gardens because it feels comfortable.

The rest of the garden is an adventure and small paths lead to beautiful plants. My favorite part of the garden is definitely the pond. Seeing water flow has never been so interesting until you step on the little bridge with a stream of water flowing under it. You can see small fishes in the water as well. The deck at the end of the stream is made of wood that has been painted and treated to give a modern touch to something very natural.

Now of course the garden is only so big and eventually comes to an end. However, reaching the end of the garden makes most people including me, anxious to turn around and experience the adventure again, this time in reverse. The garden makes me happy and helps me understand the importance of nature. I hope you can all pay it a visit one day.

Images copied from Google Maps

Central Park

Queens Botanical Garden

Visitor Center-https://bkskarch.com/work/queens-botanical-garden-visitor-administration-center/

Gazebo-https://www.mondebloqueur.com/2241086/nyc-wedding-photography-bride-and-groom-in-gazebo-in-queens-botanical-wedding-garden-attractive-queens-botanical-garden-wedding-3/

Pond with deck-https://www.timeout.com/new-york-kids/attractions/queens-botanical-garden

I want to start off by saying that the Metropolitan Museum of Art is absolutely enormous. I didn’t know much about the museum, and I still don’t, but when I chose it as my trip destination, I hadn’t grasped the feat that it would actually be. I think a big reason as to why I wanted to visit it was because of the Met Gala. Exhibitions about fashion are some of my favorites and I was very excited to visit the Costume Institute at the Met. However, at this time it didn’t seem as if they had an exhibition, as they may be preparing for the Met Gala.

I didn’t get the chance to really appreciate the museum for its entirety because the enormity of it. The little time that I had spent there, I was lost for half of it. I remember having to ask for the exit at least four times, without realizing that I was near it the entire time. The exhibits that I did get to see were absolutely fabulous. Since I was lost for a while, I stumbled into the Met’s medieval art exhibit. Most of the first floor seemed to be dedicated to medieval art as well as interiors of Roman and Spanish castles. I remember thinking that I felt as if I was inside an actual castle during medieval times. The actual layout of the exhibit as well as the Met is very reminiscent of one, and I was completely in love with it. The Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery was a space that I absolutely adored because it made me feel as if I was in the basement of one of those medieval castles. There were little rooms hidden everywhere that led you to even more exhibits.

One of my favorite parts were that of the armor that soldiers had to wear during the war. I had always seen the armor on television but never in person. I was absolutely enamored by it because it gave me a glimpse to the attire of men during war. It made me realize how hard it must have been to have been in the middle of a war having to wear attire that looked incredibly heavy.

The life-size statues of Roman emperors and gods were a bit creepy sometimes. I felt as if some of the eyes of the statues were actually following me. However, since I hadn’t seen sculptures of that size in person, it was absolutely flooring to see them. It made me appreciate the talent of these artists a lot more because of how real the statues seemed. Not real in the sense that they might come alive after everyone in the museum has left, but real as in the planes of their chests and the actual position of their body parts seemed very life-like. Another favorite part of mine, regarding this particular exhibition was that of the rooms on display. The layout of the rooms was taken from actual houses and hotels during this time. I loved seeing how people had their rooms decorated back then, what they thought was most important to have in one’s own room. The layout of these houses and hotels also included layouts of churches. I think most of them were Christian churches, though I can’t be sure. However, the were absolutely spectacular to look at. The overall layout of them made me feel as if I was actually transported back in time and I was just aimlessly walking around to what was actually the place I lived in. It was very majestic.

After walking around trying to find the exit for, like, the fifteenth time, I stumbled upon the contemporary and modern art gallery. This is usually the art that I tend to like the most, and I was not disappointed with the exhibit that was in the Met. A great deal of the paintings and sculptures were life-size, and I loved every single one of them. This particular piece is by Ranjani Shettar. It’s titled “Seven Ponds and a Few Raindrops” and was one of my favorite pieces of art. The artist is mostly focused on the now threatened environment of her native India. The work is supposed to represent different transformations as well as something akin to a hidden oasis.

I definitely want to visit again and see the Costume Institute’s new exhibit, which relates to the medieval art exhibit, as well. This was a very nice visit and I want to go back again to see the rest of exhibits I didn’t get a chance to look at.

https://youtu.be/KhxiuMX6lBI

Trip Report

       The Metropolitan Opera, also known as the Met Opera was where I visited. The Met Opera is known for its outstanding and creative performances. The theatre was said to be founded in 1883 with its first opera house built on Broadway and 39th Street by a group of wealthy businessmen who wanted their own theater. (www.metopera.org). The Metropolitan Opera is a beautiful place situated in New York, at the Lincoln Center. The center has grown a lot since its creation. It has prospered through its many but different performances and the great conductors that helped shaped it.

      I visited the place with my three sisters. We decided to not go at night so to avoid the crowdedness and to admire the view fully. Although going in the afternoon wasn’t as bright as it could be since there wasn’t as much lights, that is inside the building and in the fountain, nonetheless, the natural view was appreciated. Unfortunately for us, there weren’t any shows on that day and we weren’t allowed to enter the performance rooms. As we reached our destination, right before we entered the building we took some time to look around. There were a few people around 40 to 50 in number, which according to the security was way less than usual. Right in the center, and in front of The Metropolitan Opera House was the water fountain. There were a lot of people just sitting around and taking pictures around the fountain. Majority of the people were around the fountain trying to cool down from the air and sprinkles of water coming from the fountain since it was a bit hot that day. The lights in the fountain weren’t on at that time but it was still admirable. The people there were mostly couples and families, there were barely people walking around by themselves. I also noticed that there were a few kids who had their musical instruments with them for a reason. It could have been for practice since there weren’t shows on that time. There also didn’t seem to be many tourists, only a few, the people all seemed to be there to sit and enjoy the scenery or to buy tickets for the next show. At a point when we were walking two guys who were video calling a friend from upstate it seems, were so excited to show him around and boast about how they were in New York City, which was quite amusing. I felt a connection of some sort to them because there have been a few times when my friends have gone out without me and deemed it funny to call me and be in my face about it. There were a few other buildings at the Lincoln Center, like The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Lincoln Center Theater. 

We decided it was time to enter the Opera House after looking around the front for a while. I was informed by the security that we could not go up because there weren’t any shows going on at that time and that it wasn’t open yet. Every worker there was nice and informative. Their priority was to help the people around and ensure continuity and order in things. In the lobby, you could see the chandeliers from the first floor. The chandeliers go all the way down from the top floor to the bottom and lights up the place so exquisitely. Inside the building from the left is the gallery, which wasn’t that big in size. Picture-taking wasn’t allowed in the Gallery. There were pictures of shoes that had been performed in the Opera and ones that have made the Opera really popular, performance wise. On the right side of the Opera House was the shop. Inside the shop were different costumes and artifacts purchasable by collectors and cosplayers. There were clothes from performances based on the oldies and modern ones and also jewelry famous for its purpose like masquerade masks, hats. For instance, there were the ornaments the Pharaohs put on to show their power and position. In the shop were miniature artifacts put together for decoration, like keyboards, cellos, chef sets, and globes.  Right at the entrance of the shop were ballet shoes that have been designed attractively and magnificently in some cases. All these ornaments are sold to the customers and help promote the Opera in more ways than one. One, for financial sources and commercial ways through souvenirs. There are two escalators next to the shop. We didn’t go down since there were no events going on and the only people going down there asked to use the bathrooms

We exited the building and opted to look at the ones surrounding it. There was a statue right in front of the The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. A black statue that really looked like a dog in my opinion, but everyone else thought I was seeing something different. There was also the Lincoln Center Theatre right next to it. It had bright lights as it’s sign used to draw in customers and tourists. There were three different writings on that building namely; My Fair Lady, New Artists New Audiences, and Admissions all written on three different clear glass doors. There were two statues in the center of a little pond-like water with manmade grass stairs around it for people to sit on and relax. There were chairs and benches for people to sit and eat or just relax. In all the Metropolitan Opera House is a place where I would recommend for anyone to go to either to relax or watch a show. It is a place designed gracefully and magnificently.