You Bet It's The Met! - Ana Adventure

Today’s story begins on the subway, lost and overconfident. A great combination.

I’d come to New York to see the documentary premiere of Project Iceman by Yes Theory, and had arranged to meet up with some fellow Yes Fam members to snap photos together around the city. This morning, we’d planned to meet in Brooklyn, so I downloaded the app for the subway, plugged in my location and my destination, and watched it list off the exact instructions on which train to take to get there.

I didn’t feel confident in my abilities to navigate the subway alone, but I did feel confident in receiving directions, so I walked to the subway station indicated on my app, and waited for the train it told me to get on.

It never came.

Instead, the same train came three times, and finally, the subway employee nearby approached me and said, “You must be lost.”

“Is it that obvious?” I asked, always wishing to appear like a local and wishing I didn’t look lost, even though I was.

“Well, the train has come three times now and you haven’t gotten on, so you’re either lost or you’re a criminal,” he said.

“I’m definitely not a criminal!” I said, which is exactly what a criminal would say. Or so I hear.

I explained to him how I’d looked up directions on the app, and he told me that train wasn’t coming that morning. He then very kindly gave me instructions on which trains to take, which I wrote down in my notes app. After I felt semi-confident in these instructions and very grateful for the kindness of strangers, he gave me a talk about how unsafe the New York subway system is. He told me to keep my head up and not look at my phone, be aware of my surroundings and possessions, and to look out for it, because it wasn’t as safe as he wished it was. He seemed very concerned about me, which I appreciated – he definitely gave off strong dad vibes, and as I got on the train, he gave me a look like he wished he could escort me to my destination. “Be safe out there, honey.”

Feeling very behind-schedule but also comforted by the gestures of kindness from strangers, I took the train to the stop he told me to, and then promptly got on the wrong train.

Kind of. Technically, I got on the train he told me to get on, however, I got on the train going in the opposite direction. Instead of heading to Brooklyn, I ended up at the top of Central Park. I tried to navigate using the app, maps on the trains, and text messages to my New Yorker friends, but ultimately I gave up, left the subway, and called an Uber.

I was on a tight schedule, as I was already late to meet my pals, and shortly after snapping photos with them, I had scheduled tickets to Liberty and Ellis Islands. I felt a bit defeated by my inability to navigate the subway myself, but I didn’t have the luxury of time.

I ended up in DUMBO feeling like a dumbo, but the view of the bridge there was, in a word, iconic.

I met up with my fellow Yes Fam members, chatted for a bit, and then apologetically told them that I actually had to leave, since I had gotten there so late. I planned to walk to Battery Park, where you board the Liberty Island ferry, and told them they were welcome to join me if they’d like, as I’d be crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. They did join me, which was really fun!

I’d come to the Brooklyn Bridge during my last trip to New York, but it was still fun to cross it again during this trip. Plus, the views were pretty.

Click here to read about my trip to Liberty and Ellis Islands – I’ll give you a small insight into the trip in noting that my battery was at 11% by the time I returned to Manhattan, so I returned to my hotel for awhile to charge it.

Battery full charged and feet rested, I ventured out again, taking a stroll through Central Park on my way to the Met.

The Fall colors were in full swing, and I even saw this really cool tree shaped like a cross.

How did it get like that??

I passed by Bethesda Terrace, which is where I saw a famous baseball player be absolutely swarmed by fans in the most concerning way possible approximately ten years ago.

If you’ve ever seen a grown man rapidly swallowed by a crowd of screaming teen girls, you know exactly how terrifying that is.

Soon enough, I arrived at the Met!

Which was good, because I only had a few hours to explore, and I was ready to put them to good use.

Look how pretty the entrance is, first.

Let’s go inside, shall we?

I was immediately intimidated by the size of The Met, in combination with the very short amount of time I had to explore. I had decisions to make. I knew I wanted to hit the gift shop afterward, so I had to plan for time there, and then, my number one desire when visiting any museum is to see the Egyptian exhibits, so I decided to start there. And boy, am I glad I did.

They just casually had a tomb on display. Or at least, part of it.

Here you see the Mastaba Tomb of Perneb – a portion of the underground burial chamber.

The stone slabs were protected by glass, but it was still truly something else to get this close to them. You could even walk into the burial chambers.

You would think this would be hard to top, but just wait!

Let’s check out a few of my other favorite pieces before we really bring out the big guns.

For starters, I love a good jewelry section – past or present.

Gold from the second and third centuries.

They also had a sarcophagus.

The top had a gorgeous cobalt scarab that was really striking to see.

The scarab with wings is meant to guarantee the individual’s deliverance to the afterlife, and here the scarab is lifting a sun, as the scarab was often closely related to Khepri, the sun god, who lifts the sun each day and is also a symbol of rebirth.

I was also struck by this portrait – it was so richly painted and was actually gilded.

This panel was once part of her mummy’s wrappings. The portions that are unpainted would have gone under the wrappings, and they would have then gilded the panel and painted the top. They do not know her identity, however it’s dated around 120-140 A.D.

This is the “Torso of a High General.”

They also had a sculpture of the head of King Amenmesse, which originally was part of a statue that still stands in the Temple of Amun at Karnak. Reuniting them might be a good idea!

This one was interesting, because even though you can’t see it, they found pigment on the statue that indicates the crown was once painted blue. Super neat to imagine!

There were lots of hieroglyphics, which I always gravitate toward.

They are so intricately drawn, it’s amazing. Being a writer really meant something different during those days. I would love to learn to read Egyptian hieroglyphics.

At one point while in high school, I’d taught myself the basics of their hieroglyphics, but I would love to get back into it and to be able to read pieces like this while visiting museums.

There was an assortment of ankhs, which I’m always drawn to.

They had a whole hallway of different engraved and painted stone slabs, all of which I thought were gorgeous.

I was also drawn to this carving of a woman carrying a basket – she would have been placed in a tomb, representing the eternal provisions needed to bring the individual to the afterlife.

Ok, this is all beautiful and wonderful and amazing, but wait until you get a glimpse of the Temple of Dendur.

Words cannot explain to you how my jaw dropped when I entered this room.

First, you are greeted by the Four Statues of the Goddess Sakhmet.

She actually represented the force of violence, unexpected disaster, and illness, so not all great things, but Egyptians saw doctors and treatment of illnesses as an appeasement to her, so many physicians were priests of Sakhmet.

This temple was originally located along the Nile, so the space is surrounded by water to reflect its origins.

The space also has gorgeous windows, which at the time, overlooked the gorgeous Fall foliage in New York.

In the 1950s, Egypt and Sudan were working to save monuments that would have been destroyed by the creation of a dam, and the U.S. made some major contributions to their preservation efforts. As a gift, Egypt Gabe the temple of Dendur to the American people, and President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded it to the Met.

I really badly wanted to get closer to it, however they were setting up for a private event that evening. I was extremely jealous of whoever was going to be joining a celebration in that space.

I spent a lot of time simply marveling in this space before moving on.

I felt like I’d seen a good share of the Egyptian Wing, so after making a pit stop at the gift shop, I moved on to the European art.

A lot of the artwork here reminded me of my Catholic upbringing.

It’s giving stations of the cross vibes.

It also had a very striking bronze statue of a siren on the ground level of the exhibit.

It’s thought to have been placed outdoors at the residence of a prominent Roman family.

I liked the overall design of the space – it felt very immersive.

At this point, it was nearly closing time, so I was hustling, because there was a literal chariot that I wanted to see. Along the way, however, I was slightly slowed by an exhibit on Roman wall paintings.

I mean come on, how are you supposed to not stop and look at this?

They had a set of wall paintings from a bedroom on display.

I’d definitely put that in my bedroom, too.

Ok, on to the chariot!

I mean, look at her!

Let’s get closer.

The chariot was incredibly detailed, and honestly, not in bad condition for a sixth century vehicle.

And after I’d spent a few minutes drinking in every detail, it was closing time at the Met.

It did not stop any of the people from hanging out on its steps afterward, however.

I had two more tasks for myself this day, and both involved bookstores. First, I walked to The Corner Bookstore, which was incredibly charming.

They had a fantastic poetry selection, and I got myself a few little gifts here.

Along the way, I passed a few pretty rows of homes.

It was a quiet, charming neighborhood.

I also passed the Guggenheim, which I was less impressed with.

The Guggenheim was on my list to visit, and while I unfortunately ran out of time and was unable to check it out during this trip, I was pretty shocked to see how bad the condition of the exterior was. Maybe I’ve gotten a little snooty after working in marketing for so long, but the building was missing chunks in the exterior, and looked very patchy overall – I just thought it was a bit odd, and it didn’t entice me to go out of my way to fit this in my schedule.

Last on my list was Albertine, which is a French bookstore right in New York!

There was a lot of scaffolding, but the interior was pretty.

I was again struck by the same observation I had in France – so many French covers are simply white.

The books on the table had more colorful images, but if you check out the bookshelves in the background, the majority of them are white.

It’s intriguing to me! I did find a copy of The Great Gatsby in French, so of course, I had to pick that up.

And with that, nightfall had struck, so I headed back to my hotel.

With treasures from my bookstores, a few gifts from the Met, and memories of adventuring around the City and Liberty Island, I was satisfied in my packed itinerary.