A Morning at the Met

Fun fact: I lived in New York until I was 6, but I really grew up in Maryland. I still go to New York a lot, but hard as it is for me to admit, I'm not a New Yorker. I lack aggressiveness and have too much of a taste for Old Bay.

I do love the Metropolitan Museum of Art, though. It's my mom's favorite museum, and she actually had her wedding pictures taken on the steps. Now that we don't live in New York anymore, most of our visits to the Met are around Christmas, so we can see their tree.

Last week, I was in New York to visit family, but I broke off to hang out with friends in the city. We agreed to meet at the Met on Tuesday morning right when it opened at 10, so naturally we all strolled in around 11:30 in desperate need of coffee but ready to start the day. Still early enough, right? Wrong. I don't remember the last time I'd been to the Met when it was

a) not Christmas
b) so crowded


Everyone was there. Seriously. Everyone. Even Tony winner Christian Borle was swaggering around the sculptures. But crowds couldn't stop us from having a Snapchat-worthy adventure.

        

                           

Some of the highlights from my snap story.

Elisabeth showed us her favorite painting, Jules Bastien-Lepage's Joan of Arc: 

Stephen found Georges Seurat's Study for A Sunday on La Grande Jette.

And I saw some work by my favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh.

Pretty sure like half the hipster population wears these shoes now. 

One of my absolute favorite paintings, The Starry Night, is over at the MoMA, but I do love his cypresses and olive trees. I love how his work feels animated, almost three dimensional. The paint kind of leaps off the canvas at you.

There was also a room with a huge painting of horses. But it was closed off.

Almost ruined my day tbh.

From there, we all went off in separate directions. I tagged along with Elisabeth to see some works by Vermeer, and on the way we passed through the Medieval Art.

AKA "Bible Fanart by men who had never seen a naked woman before."

Then, while on a search for a water fountain that provided a peek at the overcrowded Egyptian wing, I discovered that there was temporarily MORE Van Gogh and I had to see it for myself. Van Gogh's Irises and Roses will only be at the Met until August 16th, so hurry over before it's too late!

I didn't take pictures of the irises and roses, but this Van Gogh rendering of a baby was also at the exhibit. Enjoy. 

The rest of the group was meeting at the armor hall, which I was all too happy to head over to myself because it's my favorite part of the museum. Maybe it's the horseback rider in me. Or the Marylander in me (the state sport is jousting--there's your fun fact of the day). I don't know.

But on the way over I caught some of the Tiffany stained glass.

We had a poster of this one, View of Oyster Bay, in our dining room for a while. 

And then, the arms and armor.

Look at that height difference!

Unfortunately, I spent a little too much time in the New American Wing with Tiffany and Co. and my friends had gone back to the Irises and Roses to look for me. So we met in the gift shop. Where we found these BRIDGE cards! Get it??

Well I thought it was hilarious. 

And that was my Tuesday morning at the Met.