100 Blogs Every New Teacher Should Read

100 Blogs Every New Teacher Should Read

Metropolitan Museum of Art Part II

After our scrumptious lunch of ham and brie on a baguette, we trekked off to the 19^th and 20^th Century European Sculptures and Art wing. This section of the museum was my favorite because I got to see the works of artists that I had studied and read about for years. The first painting that I noticed when we walked into the gallery was David’s The Death of Socrates, which was very, very cool. There was a group of people in front of the painting listening to one of the museum workers speak about its history and significance, which was both slightly cool and slightly annoying because they were learning, but they were in the way of me studying the painting and taking a picture. One awesome thing we saw was Portrait of a Man in a Turban, which reminded me of the chalk artist professional painting of Man in a Red Turban that was in front of Harrin Hall last semester. Next, we continued on into rooms containing many works by Rembrandt, including my favorite, Herman Doomer.

Off to the side of the art gallery we entered into a section that held musical instruments from all across the world and I think this was one of Katy’s favorite parts. The first thing we saw in here was a set of harps carved out of the complete skull and horns of ibex. You could almost imagine all the different ethnic groups playing on the various violins, pianos, drums, and other instruments. My favorite from this room was getting to see a real Stradivarius violin! After the musical instruments gallery we headed back into the rooms of paintings, where I lived my own mini-Ferris Bueller's Day Off moment when I got a picture standing by a study of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grande Jatte. In the next section, Katy got to see her mother’s favorite painting, Vase of Irises, by Van Gogh, which made her incredibly happy. Speaking of making Katy happy, one of the last galleries that we saw included many works by Degas, which Katy really enjoyed because she likes Degas in general and ballet dancers. Our last stop of the day was to go down to the first floor to see the Greek and Roman sculptures gallery, which was bathed in beautiful sunlight from the awesome day outside. There were many intricate designs, including an amazingly detailed marblesarcophagus. Part three to come!

Tuesday: The Metropolitan Musuem of Art, part 1

Our friends were unable to join us today, so after a late start we headed off to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We walked across Central Park to get there after taking pictures again in front of the AMNH.The Met was incredible and massively huge. It would take weeks and weeks to appreciate it fully. We traveled through the Egypt exhibit where there were walls of hieroglyphs that had been transferred into the museum.

There were also massive sarcophagi everywhere! They were beautifully carved and a joy to behold. Dean was very excited to get to see the Temple of Dendur. It was amazing to behold. The entire temple had been placed indoors next to a reflecting pool. The American Wing was up next with its journey through American history through furniture and period pieces. One of the coolest sights was in the Tiffany room where there were beautiful examples of Tiffany lamps and vases as well as perfect jewelry. Beyond that there were famous artworks in the archives like Mary Cassatt, The Matterhorn, and so many others. At this point we wondered our way into the European Artwork section. Spanning from the Italian Reniassance to the 18th century, the collection was massive. We walked for almost an hour through the galleries and still only saw a small portion of the art. Our favorites were The Death of Socrates, The Man in the Red Turban, The Adoration of the Magi, works by Rembrandt, Goya, and David.We ate lunch and preceeded on to the 19th and 20th century art. (See part 2 to come soon)

Monday

Bright and early Monday morning we met our friends for a short trip to their bank and Madison Square Garden (one of Dean's must sees). It was dreadfully cold yesterday and we were all terribly sore from our last two days of walking all over New York. However, off we went to the American Museum of Natural History
The museum was AAAAMMMMAAZZZIINNGGG! For one it was huge, taking up two city blocks. Our must sees for this massive adventure were the Rose Space Center. Included with our city passes was the Cosmic Collisions show in the Planetarium. It was awesome, except for the 150 small school children who ohhed and ahhed and talked the entire time.
After walking from the beginning of time (on the spiral Big Bang Theory Walk) to the present day we continued through the museum to the Biodiversity room and then the Ocean Life exhibit. The massive blue whale replica hanging from the ceiling was incredible and was definitely my favorite part of the walk through. We then continued to the Human Origins exhibit. By this point our friends and myself were so tired of walking so we sent Dean off into the gem exhibit to take pictures for us.Finally we headed upstairs to see the dinosaurs. They were so cool. The bones were just massive. It is so incredible to imagine those structures with muscles and flesh on them. They were just that enormous.

For lunch we headed off down a block to eat once again at the Shake Shack on the Upper West Side. I tried the Vitamin Creamcicle Shake. It was awesome!
We were all exhausted by this point and decided to try once again to visit Belvadere Castle to look out of the observation deck, but unfortunately they are closed on Mondays. So a trip to Barnes and Noble was decided to be in order. We got on the subway and went all the way down to the WTC stop and visited the local B&N there. The WTC was not very exciting, mainly just a blue wall and lots of empty space. They are building a tribute center there, but it will not be completed for some time. Maybe the next time we visit we'll get to see more of "Ground Zero"

We soon headed back to our hotel for a little relaxation before going to see The Phantom of the Opera. The performance was awesome! Everything I thought it would be. If you have ever seen the movie, the stage performace is a great comparison. I enjoy both equally. The show ended at 11 and we were definitely ready to go get ready for Tuesday and bed.

Internet Woes and Sunday

So the reason we have been so sporadic at posting is that our hotel doesn't have free internet. They want $10 a day for it! How crazy is that! We've been searching for free internet and have finally decided that Starbucks is the best place for it.


But anyway the trip has been fantastic so far! Sunday we met our friends and went to breakfast at a great little corner bakery then caught the subway up to Central Park. We saw the Delacorte Theater, the Belvadere Castle, Strawberry Fields, and the beautiful Central Park Zoo. The Zoo was perfect. There were penguins and polar bears and sea lions, oh my. We had the privilege watching the penguins and the sea lions get fed and put on a show. There are some amazing pictures that I would love to share. They'll be on facebook soon. After Central Park we went to the Flatiron Building and ate lunch at the Shake Shake (claims the best burgers in New York) and it really was good. We then head back up town to catch The Lion King! The awe inspiring show was full of beautiful costumes and incredible singing and dancing. I really like the puppetry. Our friends who live here loved the show and I don't think the adventure will soon be forgotten.
After the show we walked down 5th Avenue for a ways seeing the Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music and the NBC Studios. Dinner was at Jubilee, a fancy little French restaurant with awesome food. I found out that I like artichokes. Had our friends not been there, Dean would have gotten Chicken and potatoes and apple pie and ice cream (instead he had rack of lamb and tried creme brulee). We then went back downtown to Chelsea to catch a movie. We watched Duplicity. It was good. Finally we made it back to the hotel room about midnight definitely ready for a good night's sleep.

Saturday!

Dean – Saturday – We started our first morning in New York by eating at the McDonalds on Times Square, which we felt bad for at first, but we needed a quick breakfast before we went to our first show. After breakfast we headed to the Gershwin Theater for “Wicked: Behind the Emerald Curtain.” I had never seen a Broadway show live before so I had only an inkling of an idea of what to expect, and the behind the scenes look at Wicked and Broadway plays in general gave me a good heads up before seeing my first one. A couple of the cast members gave us the story on how the permanent sets and travelling sets were constructed and integrated into the stage, how crazy things usually are until right up to performance time, and an idea of how much work it took to get a show on stage. When we finished at the theater we headed down the street looking for a good lunch and we happened upon Famiglia Pizzaria, “New York’s Favorite Pizza.” Katy and I had a calzone that was delicious and fairly cheap, and then we headed back to Gershwin Theater for the actual performance of Wicked, which completely blew me away. The show was incredibly well put together and the storyline was amazing! After the show we me up with a couple of old friends who know their way around the city somewhat, and they led us on a tour of sorts that took first too us to Chinatown, where we ate authentic Chinese food at the Nice Green Bo, not to be confused with the New Green Bo, the restaurants old name under old ownership. With our bellies full of noodles, chicken, and shrimp we headed on down to the Financial District, passing many famous buildings that we either knew by sight or gathered the importance from the signs around them. Battery Park was our last destination before dark, where we looked out over the harbor and saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time, which was really, really cool. Lastly, we took the subway on over to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked across, which was very fun, but did get us quite chilly. Katy was a little scared of the old-looking construction and of the height we were at, but all in all it was a cool way to see the harbor and the city. After all that we were very tired, even though it was only 9:00 pm and so we hiked/took the subway on back to the hotel for a shower and comfy beds.

Its Amazing!

So how's this for authentic.... for breakfast we ate at McDonald's on Times Square! It's so beautiful.
Dean said last night that he wonders if when people come to Arkansas do the say "oh there are so many trees!" This comment was spurred by the fact that there are billboards EVERYWHERE! So many billboards, but definitely awesome. We're off to the show next and can't wait to tell about our walking adventures in the big city.

Finally Here!

We finally made it to New York City! The plane ride seemed to take forever last night, with repeated questions of "is that Manhattan?" and "we must be over New Jersey." Flying in, the lights all over the place were so dazzling, it's something everyone should be able to appreciate once in their lives. We have lots of fun, amazing things to do today that we'll still be talking about years from now. When we drove past Times Square last night Katy ooohed and aahhed at all the billboards and it made me quite happy :)

Sidenote 13 seeded Cleveland State came through for me on my NCAA bracket 84-69 over 4th seeded Wake Forest last night bringing me to 26-6 for my first round picks.

Little Rock Airport

Dean - Well, we're here at the airport in Little Rock, about to embark on our wonderful journey to New York City! We left about 30 minutes later than we thought because I had to print off five copies of my 10 page virology paper on Filoviruses, but we had plenty of extra time built in.We just had some wonderful fast food for lunch and we are going to board in about 25 minutes. I was telling Katy on the way here that I can't wait to try all the amazing foods in New York because we will be staying mere feet away from Restaurant Row with food from more countries than the whole of Little Rock probably has.

All Packed and papers finished

Dean and I have been looking forward to our New York trip for months and finally the day has arrived. We leave today at 2:40 from Little Rock and we are so excited. The last 24 hours have been hectic though. For one we had to pack (and do laundry, and clean off the laptop so there will be room for all the pictures :)) and then, more importantly, we both have papers due this morning. My five page Children's Lit paper is just finished and I love it! It is focused on the differences between the classic German folktale,"The Goose Girl" and the 2003 Shannon Hale novelized version with the same title. It's one of my favorite books and now one of my favorite folk tales.
We'll be updating this week with lots of pictures, videos, and general happiness of our week in New York. :)