New York, New York
6/3/12 10:12![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ibonekoenOkaaaaaaaaay, let's talk New York vacation, eh? Just got back from a three day trip aaaand I have pictures! Yay!
The weather was not so bad. It stayed mostly in the 40s, and Thursday was overcast while it rained a bit on Friday. Of course, when I was leaving on Saturday, the sun came out, lol. Isn't that the way it always goes?
So, I took Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off from work. Wednesday was my relax and pack day, and then Wednesday night, Mom and I drove up to my uncle's house to spend the night. He lives less than an hour away from Orlando International Airport, so it saved us from having to get up at 4am. Then again, I'm not really sure if it was worth the aggravation of having to wait for my aunt and cousin to show up from their shopping trip. My uncle told them we'd be there between 8 and 8:30, and it was 9:30 when they finally showed up. They claim that they told my uncle they were leaving a key under the mat, but I don't know. I wouldn't put it past them to have placed the key under the mat after getting off the phone with my uncle, but whatever.
The bed in their guest room is soooooooo uncomfortable, and Mom was snoring, so I didn't really get a lot of sleep, which made getting at 6am a bitch. Mom woke up first, and then we got dressed and headed out. She dropped me off at the airport, blah blah blah, I ate breakfast and waited. The plane actually left on time (yay!) and I was in JFK by noon. Got my suitcase and hailed a cab, and I was checked into my hotel by 1:30.
The first day, I just kinda spent it wandering around the neighborhood. Apparently when I'm in New York, I forget that I'm a fat woman who rarely exercises because I tried to walk six city blocks. Talk about winded. I thought I was going to die. X(
I got up Friday and headed off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I saw about maaaybe a quarter of the exhibits, lol. I loved it though. I got some pictures!
You can click on all of these pictures to see them bigger, of course. I have the originals at a much, much higher quality, so I dunno, if you wanted any, let me know. LOL
Anyway, this is just a really neat, gorgeous building that is across the street from the museum. I love, love, love the architecture of New York, and this is just a prime example.
The main entrance of the museum. Again, stunning example of New York architecture.
A fountain outside the museum. I have a thing about fountains, and this one just caught my eye.
A replica of an Egyptian pharaoh's tomb. I wish I'd written down which pharaoh it was, but alas. I also wish I'd gotten a picture of the water feature around the tomb, because it was supposed to represent the Nile, and it was just really serene and awesome.
Pieces of heiroglyphs from actual tomb walls.
A view of New York through the museum windows. Gorgeous, right? (Warning: I'll probably overuse the word 'gorgeous')
So, I didn't take pictures of all of the Egyptian wing, but it was so awesome. They had another replica of a priest's tomb -- his name totally escapes me at the moment, but it started with a P and he was the head honcho of pharaoh ceremonies and stuff. Gah, if I had my museum map, I could tell you... Oh well. Anyway, they had actual pieces of the tomb walls behind glass, and they had it set up just the way the tomb would've been in Egypt. So the chambers and halls were really kinda narrow, and the guy said if you were claustrophobic that you probably shouldn't go in but I went in anyway because c'mon, how many times are you going to see something like that?
Then they had statues from Hatshepsut's tomb (she was an Egyptian queen) and all kinds of jewelry and artifacts, and it was just so neat thinking about the fact that I was staring at stuff that was made thousands of years ago. They had some of the sarcophagi that Egyptians were buried in (alas, no mummies) and all I can say is that they were really, really skinny and tiny people.
Next up after the Egyptian Wing was the American Wing and the first thing I saw...
Was this gorgeous (see, there's that word again) bedroom set. Now, I've always adored sleigh beds, but I really like the way the curtain drapes down around the bed. The sheets aren't so bad either. Lovely, lovely color. Made me think of my mom because red's her favorite color. Anyway, this furniture is from the 1800s and was in the Millford Mansion, which is located in South Carolina.
This was in the courtyard near the café. There were lots of naked statues too, but I was more interested in this. I love these old style lamp posts, and the little angel is cool too.
Oh man, I wish I could've taken a picture of it, but there was this panoramic room with a painting of Versailles that wrapped around the entire walls. It was so impressive. I can't remember the painter's name but it was from the 1800s too. That was the theme of the American Wing, apparently.
This is the epitome of breathtaking. This was created by Louis Comfort Tiffany, the son of the founder of Tiffany and Co. and, I believe, the maker of Tiffany lamps. Don't quote me on that. Anyway, they had a lot of his stained glass artwork, and it was all gorgeous but this really took my breath away. I wanted to purchase a replica of it from the museum gift shop but it was too expensive, of course. So I'll just have this printed and framed.
Ohhhh, the arms and armor room. There was a separate room that had a lot of samurai swords and armor but I didn't get pictures in there because the lights were so dim and I couldn't use my flash. Anyway, this is tournament armor, I believe? I'm not sure, I didn't take a picture of the placard, lol. I just thought it was really neat.
Also, while I was looking around the room at all the armor, I thought of that scene in Bedknobs and Broomsticks where Angela Lansbury casts a spell and makes all the armor come to life to fight the Nazis. Sooooo cool.
Flaaaaaaaailing over this because this is King Henry VIII's field armor from later in his life. I'm a huge fan of The Tudors, and I wasn't expecting to see this. I was walking around and taking in all the skinny armor, and then I came across this and was like "Oh, yep, that was owned by a heavyset person." Then I walked over to the placard and nearly fell over when I saw it was Henry's, LOL. Sure enough, it's from later in his life when he was overweight and suffering from gout.
Eh, I took this one for my stepdad. It's a Colt .45, one of Samuel Colt's best, and my stepdad is a huge fan of all things Western.
Another stunning example of New York architecture. This is near the museum as well.
Okay, so, the main reason that I planned this trip to New York was to see Nick Jonas in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Now, he replaced Darren Criss, who replaced Daniel Radcliffe. I really wanted to see Darren, but I couldn't swing the finances at the time. Getting to see Nick was such a pleasure though.
One of my goals for the trip was to track down Nick's billboard in Times Square. My friend![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
emo_dj_steph lives in Queens, and we were planning to meet up and hang out anyway (because how often do you get the opportunity to meet an online friend when they're in your area?) and she's a Nick fan too, so I asked if she minded going on a hunt for the billboard.
She figured that the billboard was in the quintessential part of Times Square, on Broadway, where you see the ball drop and everything, so we started off on 42nd Street and started walking down Broadway, checking out all the advertisements. We didn't really see the billboard the first few blocks, so we kept walking and we finally started to get toward the end, and she said "You know, we're going to start running out of advertisements soon..."
We stopped at an intersection to wait for the crosswalk signal to give us the okay to cross, and I happened to be looking around at the ads and things across the street. There was this building with a black, shiny facade, and I gasped because I realized that there was a pair of familiar eyes reflected in the surface. So I pointed it out and was like "OMG, I see his eyes!" and she looked and said "Oh, okay, we must not be able to see it from the angle we're standing at, so let's cross the street."
So we did, and sure enough...
There it was! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! So, of course, we both snapped pictures and then we decided to cross the street again so that we were standing across from it.
Look at that handsome face. Have you ever seen anybody look so dapper? (Besides Blaine Anderson, of course.)
And then, of course, I had to take one at the actual theatre.
So, those are my pictures. Now to talk a little about How to Succeed. I was fully prepared to go into the theatre and be completely bored out of my mind because I'd read the synopsis of the play online and was kinda eh about it.
Boy, was I in for a surprise.
This was one of the best, funniest shows I've ever seen. The cast was amazing, the songs were catchy, the set was colorful and bright. The entire thing was really entertaining. I laughed so hard so many times. Beau Bridges wasn't present, so his part, JB Biggley, was played by another guy. I spent most of the play trying to figure out where I knew him from, lol. He reminded me of the actor who played Danko in the third and fourth seasons of Heroes, but I knew it wasn't him -- he was too tall! Anyway, I ended up googling him, and his name is Michael Park. He used to be on a soap opera that I watched with my grandma eons ago. He was great. He and Nick played off each other so well.
The ladies who played Hedy LaRue and Rosemary Pilkington were really hilarious and gorgeous, and the guy who played Bud Frump, lol. Everybody was so great. They had great chemistry with each other, and the dance numbers were impressive.
But let's talk about Nick for a second. Well, more than a second because wow. Now, I've been a fan of the Jonas Brothers for going on four years, and I've watched this kid kinda grow up, and I can honestly say that he has never been better. His voice, holy shit.likesthesilence is more up on the technical stuff of music because she's a singer, and she told me that he sounds so dramatically different than he does on anything he's ever sang because he's singing more from his chest instead of his head, but all I can say, whatever he's doing, it's blowing me away.
It wasn't just his voice though. He was funny. He was animated. He was charismatic. He was gorgeous. He was stunning. He was breathtaking. He was...lots of inappropriate things are coming to mind here, honestly, because I'm thinking about the kissing and wow. I was so proud and I wanted to drag him off the stage and just- Hnnnnnng.
I know, I know, he's ten years younger than me, and he just turned 18 two years ago, BAH, I DON'T CARE.
If you get the chance to see the show, you really should, because I had so much fun, and I'm so glad I went. I got a couple of souvenirs, of course -- a t-shirt and a mint green bow tie. Alas, I didn't get to meet Nick afterwards and get my program signed, but maybe another time.
And then Saturday was spent flying home, LOL
What a trip though. I'm so glad I went. Oh, and apparently there was a Darren Criss Sex Riot while I was gone because outtakes from his People's Sexiest Man Alive shoot were released. Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.
I'll be making an entry about that later when I go through all the photos and pick out my favorites.
The weather was not so bad. It stayed mostly in the 40s, and Thursday was overcast while it rained a bit on Friday. Of course, when I was leaving on Saturday, the sun came out, lol. Isn't that the way it always goes?
So, I took Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off from work. Wednesday was my relax and pack day, and then Wednesday night, Mom and I drove up to my uncle's house to spend the night. He lives less than an hour away from Orlando International Airport, so it saved us from having to get up at 4am. Then again, I'm not really sure if it was worth the aggravation of having to wait for my aunt and cousin to show up from their shopping trip. My uncle told them we'd be there between 8 and 8:30, and it was 9:30 when they finally showed up. They claim that they told my uncle they were leaving a key under the mat, but I don't know. I wouldn't put it past them to have placed the key under the mat after getting off the phone with my uncle, but whatever.
The bed in their guest room is soooooooo uncomfortable, and Mom was snoring, so I didn't really get a lot of sleep, which made getting at 6am a bitch. Mom woke up first, and then we got dressed and headed out. She dropped me off at the airport, blah blah blah, I ate breakfast and waited. The plane actually left on time (yay!) and I was in JFK by noon. Got my suitcase and hailed a cab, and I was checked into my hotel by 1:30.
The first day, I just kinda spent it wandering around the neighborhood. Apparently when I'm in New York, I forget that I'm a fat woman who rarely exercises because I tried to walk six city blocks. Talk about winded. I thought I was going to die. X(
I got up Friday and headed off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I saw about maaaybe a quarter of the exhibits, lol. I loved it though. I got some pictures!
You can click on all of these pictures to see them bigger, of course. I have the originals at a much, much higher quality, so I dunno, if you wanted any, let me know. LOL
Anyway, this is just a really neat, gorgeous building that is across the street from the museum. I love, love, love the architecture of New York, and this is just a prime example.
The main entrance of the museum. Again, stunning example of New York architecture.
A fountain outside the museum. I have a thing about fountains, and this one just caught my eye.
A replica of an Egyptian pharaoh's tomb. I wish I'd written down which pharaoh it was, but alas. I also wish I'd gotten a picture of the water feature around the tomb, because it was supposed to represent the Nile, and it was just really serene and awesome.
Pieces of heiroglyphs from actual tomb walls.
A view of New York through the museum windows. Gorgeous, right? (Warning: I'll probably overuse the word 'gorgeous')
So, I didn't take pictures of all of the Egyptian wing, but it was so awesome. They had another replica of a priest's tomb -- his name totally escapes me at the moment, but it started with a P and he was the head honcho of pharaoh ceremonies and stuff. Gah, if I had my museum map, I could tell you... Oh well. Anyway, they had actual pieces of the tomb walls behind glass, and they had it set up just the way the tomb would've been in Egypt. So the chambers and halls were really kinda narrow, and the guy said if you were claustrophobic that you probably shouldn't go in but I went in anyway because c'mon, how many times are you going to see something like that?
Then they had statues from Hatshepsut's tomb (she was an Egyptian queen) and all kinds of jewelry and artifacts, and it was just so neat thinking about the fact that I was staring at stuff that was made thousands of years ago. They had some of the sarcophagi that Egyptians were buried in (alas, no mummies) and all I can say is that they were really, really skinny and tiny people.
Next up after the Egyptian Wing was the American Wing and the first thing I saw...
Was this gorgeous (see, there's that word again) bedroom set. Now, I've always adored sleigh beds, but I really like the way the curtain drapes down around the bed. The sheets aren't so bad either. Lovely, lovely color. Made me think of my mom because red's her favorite color. Anyway, this furniture is from the 1800s and was in the Millford Mansion, which is located in South Carolina.
This was in the courtyard near the café. There were lots of naked statues too, but I was more interested in this. I love these old style lamp posts, and the little angel is cool too.
Oh man, I wish I could've taken a picture of it, but there was this panoramic room with a painting of Versailles that wrapped around the entire walls. It was so impressive. I can't remember the painter's name but it was from the 1800s too. That was the theme of the American Wing, apparently.
This is the epitome of breathtaking. This was created by Louis Comfort Tiffany, the son of the founder of Tiffany and Co. and, I believe, the maker of Tiffany lamps. Don't quote me on that. Anyway, they had a lot of his stained glass artwork, and it was all gorgeous but this really took my breath away. I wanted to purchase a replica of it from the museum gift shop but it was too expensive, of course. So I'll just have this printed and framed.
Ohhhh, the arms and armor room. There was a separate room that had a lot of samurai swords and armor but I didn't get pictures in there because the lights were so dim and I couldn't use my flash. Anyway, this is tournament armor, I believe? I'm not sure, I didn't take a picture of the placard, lol. I just thought it was really neat.
Also, while I was looking around the room at all the armor, I thought of that scene in Bedknobs and Broomsticks where Angela Lansbury casts a spell and makes all the armor come to life to fight the Nazis. Sooooo cool.
Flaaaaaaaailing over this because this is King Henry VIII's field armor from later in his life. I'm a huge fan of The Tudors, and I wasn't expecting to see this. I was walking around and taking in all the skinny armor, and then I came across this and was like "Oh, yep, that was owned by a heavyset person." Then I walked over to the placard and nearly fell over when I saw it was Henry's, LOL. Sure enough, it's from later in his life when he was overweight and suffering from gout.
Eh, I took this one for my stepdad. It's a Colt .45, one of Samuel Colt's best, and my stepdad is a huge fan of all things Western.
Another stunning example of New York architecture. This is near the museum as well.
Okay, so, the main reason that I planned this trip to New York was to see Nick Jonas in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Now, he replaced Darren Criss, who replaced Daniel Radcliffe. I really wanted to see Darren, but I couldn't swing the finances at the time. Getting to see Nick was such a pleasure though.
One of my goals for the trip was to track down Nick's billboard in Times Square. My friend
emo_dj_steph lives in Queens, and we were planning to meet up and hang out anyway (because how often do you get the opportunity to meet an online friend when they're in your area?) and she's a Nick fan too, so I asked if she minded going on a hunt for the billboard.She figured that the billboard was in the quintessential part of Times Square, on Broadway, where you see the ball drop and everything, so we started off on 42nd Street and started walking down Broadway, checking out all the advertisements. We didn't really see the billboard the first few blocks, so we kept walking and we finally started to get toward the end, and she said "You know, we're going to start running out of advertisements soon..."
We stopped at an intersection to wait for the crosswalk signal to give us the okay to cross, and I happened to be looking around at the ads and things across the street. There was this building with a black, shiny facade, and I gasped because I realized that there was a pair of familiar eyes reflected in the surface. So I pointed it out and was like "OMG, I see his eyes!" and she looked and said "Oh, okay, we must not be able to see it from the angle we're standing at, so let's cross the street."
So we did, and sure enough...
There it was! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! So, of course, we both snapped pictures and then we decided to cross the street again so that we were standing across from it.
Look at that handsome face. Have you ever seen anybody look so dapper? (Besides Blaine Anderson, of course.)
And then, of course, I had to take one at the actual theatre.
So, those are my pictures. Now to talk a little about How to Succeed. I was fully prepared to go into the theatre and be completely bored out of my mind because I'd read the synopsis of the play online and was kinda eh about it.
Boy, was I in for a surprise.
This was one of the best, funniest shows I've ever seen. The cast was amazing, the songs were catchy, the set was colorful and bright. The entire thing was really entertaining. I laughed so hard so many times. Beau Bridges wasn't present, so his part, JB Biggley, was played by another guy. I spent most of the play trying to figure out where I knew him from, lol. He reminded me of the actor who played Danko in the third and fourth seasons of Heroes, but I knew it wasn't him -- he was too tall! Anyway, I ended up googling him, and his name is Michael Park. He used to be on a soap opera that I watched with my grandma eons ago. He was great. He and Nick played off each other so well.
The ladies who played Hedy LaRue and Rosemary Pilkington were really hilarious and gorgeous, and the guy who played Bud Frump, lol. Everybody was so great. They had great chemistry with each other, and the dance numbers were impressive.
But let's talk about Nick for a second. Well, more than a second because wow. Now, I've been a fan of the Jonas Brothers for going on four years, and I've watched this kid kinda grow up, and I can honestly say that he has never been better. His voice, holy shit.
likesthesilence is more up on the technical stuff of music because she's a singer, and she told me that he sounds so dramatically different than he does on anything he's ever sang because he's singing more from his chest instead of his head, but all I can say, whatever he's doing, it's blowing me away.It wasn't just his voice though. He was funny. He was animated. He was charismatic. He was gorgeous. He was stunning. He was breathtaking. He was...lots of inappropriate things are coming to mind here, honestly, because I'm thinking about the kissing and wow. I was so proud and I wanted to drag him off the stage and just- Hnnnnnng.
I know, I know, he's ten years younger than me, and he just turned 18 two years ago, BAH, I DON'T CARE.
If you get the chance to see the show, you really should, because I had so much fun, and I'm so glad I went. I got a couple of souvenirs, of course -- a t-shirt and a mint green bow tie. Alas, I didn't get to meet Nick afterwards and get my program signed, but maybe another time.
And then Saturday was spent flying home, LOL
What a trip though. I'm so glad I went. Oh, and apparently there was a Darren Criss Sex Riot while I was gone because outtakes from his People's Sexiest Man Alive shoot were released. Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.
I'll be making an entry about that later when I go through all the photos and pick out my favorites.
