"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."

When I was looking for a title for this blog post I wanted something that related to art.  I found this quote by Henry David Thoreau and I think it fits.  I told Kayla when we were walking through Central Park yesterday that I feel like different cities have different personalities.  When I think about Boston or Philadelphia I think history.  When I think of Washington DC, I think formal, power.  When I think of Seattle I think romance and free spirit.  When I think of New York, I think art.

New York City has every kind of art there is.  There are the performing arts...music, dance, theater.  There are culinary arts in bakeries, delis and restaurants.  There are textile arts in fashion and interior design.  Then there are the fine arts such as paintings, sculptures and architecture.  So far in this trip I've experienced performing art in the theater and culinary art in the restaurants.  Today I got to continue my exploration into the arts.

Today we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or The Met.  This is a picture I took of the fountains outside The Met the last time I was here.  The fountains weren't on today, but I really like this picture.  We took our lunch and ate on the steps leading to the front door of the museum.  While eating we were treated to the music of the gentlemen below.  They sang several Motown hits for the crowd assembled on the stairs.  They were selling CDs as well.  We didn't buy a CD but it did make the group more legit than the many random musicians we've seen in the subway or in front of other museums.

The Met is the largest art museum in the United States with approximately two million square feet and a length of close to 1/4 of a mile.  There are over two million permanent works of art housed at the Met with temporary exhibits that also make an appearance.  The works are from all over the world and span from ancient pieces to modern photography.  It would take hours or days to truly see everything.  We started our time in the museum today with the tour of period rooms in the American Wing.  Beginning on the third floor you can walk through history.  There are 18 rooms set up to resemble various eras in history.  From there we went to the musical instruments exhibit.  There were instruments of all types from all over the world.  We also spent time in the arms and armor exhibit and the Egyptian rooms.  Everything that we saw was amazing, you learn so much when you spend time at The Met.  Here's a picture of one exhibit from the arms and armor room.

On the way home we walked by some windows not far from Kayla's apartment building that are decorated for the holidays.  These are interior design businesses with beautifully artistic displays.  I'll leave you with a sampling of New York City holiday windows.