Weekend in NYC

A couple of weeks ago, my good friend Denise asked if I liked the opera... why yes, yes I do... and if I would want to go to the Met in New York. Of course! She is graduating soon and moving back to Utah, so we discovered that the only free weekend available with both of our busy schedules was conference weekend. Although I felt actually quite guilty about missing conference, which I love watching, it was more important to get to have quality time with Denise while she is still in Boston... and I can always catch up online, right?
Saturday morning we left bright and early on our four hour bus ride. Our highlight of the afternoon was the Guggenheim Museum. The building was amazing and the art was definitely interesting. I did love the impressionistic art inside.
Can you see the track around the spiral? There was a piece that someone would send unbound books from the top down to the bottom (with bells ringing when it passed by feathers on the track) where they would fall onto a large pile of other unbound books... then it would make this whole pulley system go up and down.One I liked was a room covered in gold leafing, with the edges rustling. There was also a room with this loud bee-like buzzing and pink and blue lights, where you were just supposed to meditate. Like I said... interesting.
We took a little stroll through Central Park and enjoyed the daffodils and trees in bloom.

We left time to get back and beautify ourselves for the Metropolitan Opera. The building is beautiful, with more of a modern style deco.
I loved being dressed up and feeling all fancy along with everyone else who was all fancy. It was obvious we hadn't been there before, though, when we couldn't figure out how to get our little subtitle thing swung around so we could read it. I was grateful to have it, though, and the usher was very helpful.
We saw Rigoletto, which was actually a really sad story about horrible chauvinistic men. I did recognize one of the songs which was a favorite in 80's commercials. The scenery was incredible, down to the smallest detail. There was moss inbetween the stones on the ground. The singers had exquisite voices. Denise explained that you have to make it in another market before you're allowed to come to New York... you can't just try out. A-maz-ing.

The next morning we were looking at brochures to find somewhere neither of us had been before. We settled on South Street Seaport. As we came above ground from the subway, there were feathers everywhere. I realized that this was where the International Pillow Fight Day had taken place the day before. I had hoped to make it but the timing didn't work out. This poor fella had feathers stuck in his feet. It was funny to watch him waddle around with them.
The port afforded a lovely view of the Brooklyn Bridge.We went on tours of two ships. This one was a lighthouse ship. It would sit out in the harbor when the water wasn't deep enough for a real lighthouse.The area was really fun. Apparently the port used to be insanely busy, there was a fish market there at one point, but the market changed. The museum had a photography display with interviews from the people.
We also saw many of FDR's model ships and paintings of ships. He loved all things naval. One of his models, the Flying Cloud, was designed by the man we saw the monument for in Boston. Ironic, eh? They also had this poster advertisement.
I had such a good time with Denise. She is very laid back and easy to travel with. Normally, I am pretty good with getting around cities, but for some reason we were having a hard time with subway connections. We ended up going the wrong way or getting on the wrong train a few times. I blame lack of sleep. Luckily we both just laughed about it... even though we did end up taking a taxi to the opera and running to catch our bus when we left. ;)