Saturday: Guggenheim, Upper Midtown, and more

The Guggenheim cleared my head! You may recall that I hadn't been feeling that good the past couple of days. This day started off no different.

After grabbing lunch (I forget where: this teaches me to write my posts reasonably close to the day I'm writing about), I went to the Guggenheim. Judging by the crowd, it seemed to be very popular with tourists, especially international ones.

I was generally disappointed by the Guggenheim. There was little (or no) commentary about the artwork, unlike many other museums. (I like reading the commentary!) There was also a lack of spots to sit and view the pieces; the sloping floor encourages one to continue moving without stopping to process what is on display.

I did (re-)discover I liked Kandinsky and Mondrian. Maybe I'll get more posters when I move back to california.

They had an amazing large collection of pieces about hands ("Speaking with Hands" exhibit). By amazing large, I mean probably the same size as their permanent collection. Although a number of pieces were neat, only two struck me enough that I made a note to write about them in my blog. Both served as Game clue idea inspiration. But now I realize I must omit mention of them here because gamers may come here hunting for clues when I decide to run another game...

After the Guggenheim, I was feeling good. (I don't really know why.)

Heading north, I arrived at the Museum of the City of New York twenty minutes before it was supposed to close. It was a cool museum (as I expected), with an extravagant collection of old pictures, dollhouses, period rooms, toys, furniture, etc., which is why I wanted to visit it before leaving the city. The pictures, with their images evoking New York life, were the star of the museum (in my mind). At some point during my rapid exploration, a museum attendant tracked me down and gave me a free pass for another visit. I guess they felt guilty making me pay the entrance fee for only twenty minutes.

After this, I started being in places where I could take pictures. I've uploaded them here.

Grabbing a subway to downtown, I saw Bloomingdale's (because I was supposed to) and a few other famous buildings. One that bothered me was the IBM building (see picture), because it had such a heavy looking granite skyscraper above a large unsupported space. And it had yet another weird statue (see another picture). The trump tower shopping complex, while impressive looking and very reflective, was surprisingly small. A few blocks away, I spotted another weird statue (see another picture).

The only other notable sight on this trip to upper midtown was the Citigroup Center, built on a block of land with the St. Peter's Lutheran Church on the corner. They had to figure out how to support this skyscraper without getting rid of the church. I remember this making news years ago, and now I've seen it. (And if you view my pictures, you can see it too!)

For dinner, I went down to Katz's. I figured I should go there again before I leave, and hoped that eating a good sized chunk of meat would help give me energy to keep off whatever was previously making me feel bad.