New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is officially the Big Daddy of museums. In terms of sheer size, it is absolutely massive. “You’ll need a whole day for the Met” my well-meaning friends warned me as I told them of my intention to explore ever nook and cranny this vast treasure trove had to offer. I had my comfy shoes all packed, so “Bring it on!” I told them.
After visiting their near-by neighbour The Frick, it seemed like a good idea to tackle the next museum on my New York Hit List: The Mighty Met. I’ve blogged about this museum before, as part of my Museums and the Movies series as it’s featured in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.
But with such a sprawl of rooms, galleries and spaces, where does one begin?
Where all museum visits begin, naturally, with the entrance. But to which wing? Egyptian or Greece and Rome?
The one thing I was really looking froward to seeing was the Temple of Dendur, but alas, there seemed to be a corporate event going on in there. I forgot that in the US, $ comes before everything else.
It was very strange to see an installation used like this because it doesn’t happen in the UK. Yes, there are functions and galas and whatnot, but they don’t interrupt the day-to-day like this did. Grumpy? Me? Yes, actually.
State Selfies
You might remember a while ago, Statue Selfies became a thing. Well, I was trying to make them a thing and it seems to have caught on in certain circles. As I made my way around the labyrinthine layout of the Met, there were a remarkable number of candidates for new Statue Selfies. So, naturally, I whipped my camera out and got to snapping.
A few things really struck me about the Met; the first thing was the incredible sense of balance in the galleries, which shouldn’t really be at all surprising considering their logo looks a lot like the Vitruvian Man.
The second thing that struck me was the amount that the café brazenly charges for a humble sandwich. I’m not the first and I won’t be the last to have a bit of a moan, but it was just a ridiculous amount. Couple this with the ‘suggested donation’ being pretty much a compulsory donation and one cash-strapped Museum Adventurer really starts to worry about his budget (by the way, we found somewhere a bit more budget friendly to have lunch…).
You would think with all this money coming in they could easily have a few more suits of armor covered in gold. As it is they have the golden armour of two Henrys: II of France and VIII of England.
(With all the intricate, delicate floral detailing on this, Loras of House Tyrell of Highgarden can really eat his heart out).
The third thing that struck me? When people said “You need a whole day for the Met”, I thought they were just being hyperbolic, but it truly is a marathon of a museum adventure. On the upside, I now have a *lot* of material for an upcoming “How to battle Museum Fatigue” post.
In a museum full of cultural highlights, the best thing really was the small child in the modern art galleries asking of every work, painting and sculpture, “Is this one a Picasso?”.
Jack's Adventures in Museum Land 
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