NEW YORK NEW YORK

When you organize a trip to New York surely it includes a wide range of activities and visits. Because New York is has almost everything, or at least that's how it seems. What you learn just by walking down the street, is its cultural institutions.
For New York is best at giving you a big dose of whatever you seek. Want a medieval monastery? You got it. Want breathtaking views? You got it, you want to relive a movie? You can. Want mythical visits? There are here. The most varied cuisine. Shopping for all budgets. Nature and architecture. Luxury and street art. Monuments and landscapes.

And if art attracts you, New York is your place.
Sometimes I wonder: What museum would I recommend? And while New York has many (many) large, medium and small museums, I have a special fondness for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have visited there many times and never get tired of it.



From these visits, including break I did last October during a short trip to New York, I will leave these tips that I hope will help to organize your own experience.
* ... Go early or late. The Museum is open from 10 to 17.30 hours (Friday and Saturday until 21.00 pm) its recommend being there when the doors open. The bulk of visitors come to mid-morning and early afternoon. Some days, especially in spring and summer, there are so many people it can be overwhelming. But go first thing you'll have more space and time to enjoy the art work. And, whether it's early morning, and the afternoon waiting for the sunset, you'll have two great moments .


Visit the terrace. As you can see in the pictures from the gallery that accompanies this post, from the terrace you have the whole Central Park at your feet. And behind the green, the profiles of the buildings in Midtown are picture perfect. It is not easy: it crosses the halls of African art, modern art then, and eventually find an elevator that goes up to the 5th floor where access to the terrace (open from May to October). The terrace shaded small bar and seating area are great to enjoy the scenery. You can stay as long as you want and ...

* Free or almost. The "official" cost of entry to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is $ 25 per person. It is a value "suggested" by law as public museums may not necessarily charge a certain amount. What to do? Simply, when you walk through the imposing main hall and you approach the counter box office, you give your credit card and say, "five dollars" that's it. Nobody will ask for an explanations, nor pull a face. You are simply using your right to pay what you consider fair. They will give you the receipt and a sticker you with MET on the shirt and on. 

The entrance to the MET entitles you to also visit The Cloisters, a magnificent set up with several pieces of medieval European monasteries and cloisters, reconstructed in the heart of New York. You can read his story (and see some videos of the work).




Follow your taste.  To see 'everything is virtually impossible. There will be so much that you could not see it all if you spent a whole week inside its walls. You will find an impressive collection of religious carvings. But, in my opinion, you should not miss:

Egyptian Art galleries. You run out of words to describe it. The Mastaba of Perneb built 4300 years ago and bought the Egyptian government in 1913. The Temple of Dendur, gift from Egypt to the United States in 1968, for his collaboration to save the monuments of Abu Simbel. The room where it is located has a glass wall overlooking Central Park. It is the ideal place to sit, watch the Egyptian temple and reflect on the passage of time and the immortality of art.

The Charles Engelhard Court not particularly impressed me for its collection (American classical sculpture), but for its monumentality and space. Another good place to kill time watching the people go by.

Columbian Art rooms are essential. It really is an impressive collection that rarely able to see gathered in one place.


The same could be said of going to see the African Art, but by its cultural relevance and hermetic meaning. 



Of course you have the painting rooms where you will meet Goya, Rembrandt, El Greco and others. Of course worth a visit. And if you left a little bit, I recommend you stick your room to 165 and you'll hit a Roman house in Pompeii as it was up to a minute before the Vesuvius began to throw ashes in the year 79 BC.

* Re walking. As a final tip, I recommend you walk back to Midtown. Remember that the Metropolitan's on Fifth Avenue, in one side of Central Park. You can return winding through the park or along the sidewalk to the south. A curious and slow walk where you will discover one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the Big Apple, will pass in front of the Central Park Zoo (can spy on goats and poultry) and reach the end of the park to bump the Apple Store or play around in Fao Schwartz.

From there, you will have a short walk to get to your hotel and end a nearly perfect day. You're left to organize the rest of your day in New York. Although perhaps later you in any other idea for this too. For now I suggest you take advantage when you find a cheap flight to New York and you launch to visit the Big Apple. You will not regret.