Top of the rock and a couple of blocks





Second day in New York, I took a walk done to the Circle Line Wharf to go on the "Liberty Cruise". It was really nice to get a commentary on the cruise to point out a whole lot of areas of interest but the queen of the cruise was most definately Lady Liberty herself!

I figured I'd seen the city from the top of the Empire State at night so would visit the top of the Rockerfeller Centre (Top of the Rock) by day. The view was spectacular ( though not with the same sense of nostalgia as the Empire State.

Everything about the Rockerfeller Centre is overdone and they were in the middle of taking out the cafe in their plaza to replace it with the ice skating rink they have in winter.

 

Guggengeim Museum was next on my MUST SEE list but disappointment because more than half of it was closed off! The main ramps that spiral up/down the inside of the building were closed because they were setting up an exhibition. By the look of it, they were not going to be open for another two weeks or so! The artworks I did see in there weren't that impressive (after all the day before I'd been to the Met  but the glimpses of the architecture of the building I got inside and out were certainly the star of the show. I'm all for good architecture, but when it comprehensively overshadows what is within the museum, then kind of makes you wonder what is the point. That seems to be a bit of the Guggenheim way though internationally.

Took the bus down to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and pleased to say I was blown over from the moment I arrived. They were letting everyone in for free (even though I had a pass anyway!) but was great to see the welcoming way it was done and they were moving people through really quickly.

The sculpture garden was incredible, not just the scultpures in it, not just the way it was organised and designed but  mainly by the way it really was a 'people' space and everyone seemed to feel comfortable in it. There was even a coffee shop up the end that blended in really well with the space and gave it an added dimension of warmth.

The artworks in MoMA were absolutely incredible! Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' and the star as far as I'm concern was Picasso's 'Les Demoiselles D'Avignon'. Les Dems was much larger than I thought but was so impressive in the scale and the painterly quality of it. Picasso's 'Three Musicians' was also in MoMA and  some of the yellow/brown areas in it were painted so beautifully it really looked like gold paint had been used (it hadn't). Mondrian, Cezanne, Matisse, Chagall's 'I and the Village', Modigliani and a room full of Monet waterlilies that was just sublime amongst many, many more!

When I finished at MoMA, I booked a Cirque du Soleil show (Zarkana) in its last days at Radio City Music Hall. Went back to the Hotel to drop off my junk I'd been dragging around all day. Really enjoyed the show although I was a long way from the stage, but as usual they really put on a great night.