Hi Grandma, here's the report you requested:
I'm back from my trip to the Big Apple, which was very
enjoyable. I spent the first day by taking a plane ride at midnight to New York
City, and then Dad drove us over to Washington D.C. I must admit, it's a bit
odd to see those food marts and gas stations in the middle of the freeways, as
it is quite a bit different from the west. Everything also was older, more
chaotic and crowded, it seemed.
Anyway, we got to D.C. and proceeded to walk around the
Mall. We first saw the Vietnam Memorial (which was especially touching and tear
jerking as it was Father's Day and thus had quite a few roses and such)
and
then proceeded to the Lincoln Memorial. It's a fantastic looking building, with
beautiful marble used for the statue. We continued walking the mall, and once
we reached Washington's Memorial, I was surprised; I had been lead to believe
that the monument was quite a bit smaller than it is. It's currently under
reconstruction following damage from natural disasters, but it was awesome. We
also saw the WWII memorial,
before heading off to see the Smithsonian's (or a
few of them, at least). We went to the old Castle, then spent a good amount of
time wandering the Aeronautics and Space Museum. Lastly we spent some time in
the Museum of Natural History, which has some fantastic animals, sea creatures,
humans and rocks. The rocks and crystals were certainly the coolest part of the
museum.
To save on time, and my feet, we took a ride with a bike
taxi over to the Jefferson Memorial. And then we headed to our car in order to
go to my favorite monument: Theodore Roosevelt's.
It's a fantastic one, that I
feel best represents the person they're for out of all the monuments. It was an
island, rather empty of people, full of trees and woods. In one area, the trees
opened up to the heavens making a sort of dome, and in there TR stood, arm
raised, and behind him stood four tablets bearing quotes of his. It was a
beautiful place and fairly serene if you could ignore the sound of
planes.
Afterwards we drove off to New York City, where we returned
the car and took the subway to our hotel. The hotel is named the Sohotel and is
situated next to China Town and Little Italy.
On Monday, I headed off to the Empire State Building.
This
trip took far longer than it should have as I became quite lost. I'll note that I
only got lost perhaps 3 or 4 times (once ending up in Brooklyn) though this was
the worst. I did, however, find some buildings I knew from history classes, and
I also found Madison Park. I did eventually reach the Empire State Building,
and the view was fantastic.
Dad and I met up later on and ate at a pizza place,
which was tasty, before wandering around some more. We eventually found a
Gelato shop, which was awesome! I could go for some more, to be honest.
Anyway, Tuesday was the least eventful. I went to the
museum of natural history, which was nice enough but was really similar to the
Smithsonian on Natural History. As such, I didn't spend a terribly large amount
of time, but I did try and see most of the building. It was a bit larger than I
expected, as many things turned out to be. For example, Central Park for having
relatively small dimensions, is quite huge. It's one of my favorite places in
New York, and I unfortunately didn't have enough time to explore most of it.
I proceeded to find the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and it
was nice enough.
Most of it was full of ancient art, which although
interesting, was not terribly different from other things I'd seen. However,
the American wing was much more interesting. It contained many different
paintings that I thought were of an interesting style, as well as very pretty
sculptures; however, the best portion was the weaponry. They had many different
weapons, armors and such from all over the world, and all were ornate and
fantastic.
Anyway, that night we saw a musical on Broadway based on
the lives of the members of the Four Seasons. It was nice and the music was
pretty good, and very similar to the original singers.
The next day, a Wednesday, I proceeded to go to the
Rockefeller Plaza. It's really cool area there, with interesting art and
architecture, and I went to the Top of the Rock(efeller) and it has a view
that rivals the Empire State Building; in fact, it stands straight across from
it. Anyways, the view was great and there was this seemingly random room which
would track occupants and assign them lights on the roof and walls that would
react to their movements.
I wandered the Plaza for another 2 hours, viewing the shops
(including Nintendo World) and generally enjoying it. I then moseyed over to
the Museum of Modern Art, the most controversial experience of my trip.
I say the most controversial because I'm torn between
feelings of confusion and plain dislike towards the even numbered floors
(excluding half of the sixth floor) and great enjoyment of the odd numbered
ones. The 2nd floor, the first floor with art, had much of the more recent art
and much of it was things I didn't really think of as art, and/or were quite silly
or plain dumb. This included the constant donations of a woman's hair, nail
clippings and, upon her demise, her cremated remains. Yep, not a word there was
hyperbole or metaphor. I didn't spend much time on the 4th floor for similar
reasons.
On the other hand, the 2nd floor contained sculptures that
had uses, including one that was used to activate mines as well as video games
including one of my favorites: Portal. There was also a copy of Pac Man,
Tetris, Katamari Damacy and others. Furthermore, they were playing music from
the games. The rest of the 2nd floor was full of architectural drawings, models
and other such objects.
I couldn't find a picture of Starry Night, but this one is nice, Wheatfield with Cypresses) and Davis probably saw it too. (cja)
The 5th floor contained one of my favorite pieces of art:
Van Goth's Starry Night. It was beautiful to see it in person, and I also
managed to see some of Monet's Lilies. The 6th floor is half of art I didn't
care for and the other half contains more architectural art, which I do enjoy.
That night, Father and I went to see another musical, this
time we saw the Newsies.
It was also quite good, and the set changes were quick
and efficient. I do feel like some of the songs were too repetitive or went on
too long, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I also spent some time in the
intermission, finish and start scribbling on a survey they gave out (which I
never did get to return to them).
On Thursday, our last day in town, I went to take a cruise
around the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I would've gone to the island
itself, but it's sadly still under construction from the damage dealt by Super
Storm Sandy. My journey to the cruise was a long one, full of mistaken finish
places, wrong subway choices, and eventually resulted in me getting fed up and
just walking. Still, I made it in time to the ship where I spent my time standing
on the bow of the ship, feeling the wind in my face, and learning that I still
burn really easily. Anyways, the view was stupendous, and the Freedom Tower is
at its full height (an impressive one too) and someday they will be
completed.
We returned home that night, late and tired. It was a
fantastic trip, but I need this short break before I return to the East Coast
this upcoming Thursday for my trip to Florida.
P.S. I suppose I forgot to mention the two times I nearly
got hit by a car, but hey, I didn't.
Thanks for the great report, Davis!
