Jun 25, 2010

New York, New York

I had some free time to explore New York. This was my first time there, so it was quite interesting for me.

I spent most of my time in museums. New York has some really spectacular museums - you could spend an entire day or two in a large one, if you really wanted to see all the exhibits.



Here's a picture I took at the Natural History Museum. The museum has plenty of dinosaur fossils and the picture shows one of the largest ones.

When you're standing right there, close to the fossil, it's pretty remarkable to think that once upon a time, such a massive creature was real and alive, and stomping and stamping its way around planet Earth.

I also visited the world-renowned Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. Quite delighted to see many famous paintings which up till then, I had only come across in books, postcards etc.

Here's one of the paintings, The Death of Socrates. A painting that you would appreciate a lot more, if you saw the real thing in full size, and also know the story of how Socrates died.

I also went to the Apple store to buy an iPad for a friend. The iPads are still selling like hot cakes. You can't get them unless you place a prior reservation. And the rule is that the reservation lasts for only 24 hours - you need to pick it up within that time.

I would have bought one for myself, but I'm not sure how an iPad would gel with the data plans in Singapore.


It seems to me that in the long run, an iPad is the way to go, for a book lover like me. I've often had to restrain myself from buying more books, because my house is already full of books and they take up so much space. I throw away and give away books, and yet I still have so many.

With an iPad, I could switch to reading ebooks. Right now though, I'm not too sure what the range of available book titles would be like.

11 comments:

EC said...

Never realized that there is 'The Death of Socrates' in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art...

Would love to visit when there's a chance.

Anonymous said...

that pic u uploaded is not a real ipad but an early mockup.

Lucky Tan said...

Are the museums in NY free entrance?

I was in Washington a few years back and the museums there were free and it was a great experience.

Anonymous said...

It's also pretty remarkable to think that once upon a time, you were a fish which crawled onto land to drop your fins and gills, developed lungs and then skin instead of scales and then.. U know, that's the story of how U & these humungous prehistoric dinosaurs came about in the theory of evolution.

Gilbert Koh aka Mr Wang said...

Lucky:

No, but i get free entry, because my employer is a corporate member ...

Anonymous said...

"Free" entry was what made me walked into The British Museum decades ago. Fell in love with the Parthenon Marbles and visited Greece. Since then, visited museums/art galleries in Florence, Rome, Paris, Istanbul etc. A visit to Iraq museum is on my bucket list. If not for that "free" invitation, my life would have been so much poorer by it.

Lucky Tan said...

anon 10:49,

I got stuck in the British Museum because of the Rosetta Stone. I spent 2 hours on that single exhibit.

For me, the British Museum is the best in the world.

Gary said...

Please let me know when you plan to give away your books. I would be glad to help alleviate your problem. Seriously.

Artxy said...

haha, gary.
there are very good secondhand books that can be picked up at ridiculous prices in bras basah.
(might have to spend some time searching though.)
there's a good one - evernew book store - on the first floor, beside the currency changer.
got a book on michaelangelo for $1. ex new york bestseller written in a beautifully succinct manner.
it's the place for bibliophiles.

oh, there are decent art exhibitions in SG too. SAM and SAM 8Q for fine arts. been going there for years. 8Q had a wonderful debut exhibition :]

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visceral said...

NY is a great place to visit museums. Did you manage to visit the Guggenheim?