Guggenheim Museum NY

As a special for the month of May, Bank of America offered their account holders free admissions to selected musuems in different states. The Solomon R. Guggenheim museum was on their list and I had been wanting to go see this place but never got around to it somehow (I kept getting distracted by central park's activities and the METS).

So last Sunday, I finally went.

I have heard so much about how brilliant the building's architecture was for so long. I was gravely disappointed (actually that was also the reason why I nearly walked right pass it without realising I was already there!!) when I got there and found scaffolding outside the ENTIRE place. Even the museum's name plates at the front had been removed from the concrete wall!! It was still open and had exhibitions inside, but outside - NOTHING to look at!! I asked the lady at the ticket office and she said they were renovating the exterior and it would be like this until mid next year at least. Oh dread. I hope they finish the renovation before I leave NY. I'd at least like to see it once in its full glory!

Since I was already there (and it was free), I would have to take a look around at least.

The inside of the museum was beautiful and I am glad I took the time soak it all up. The building was in the shape of a giant spiral. So it was completely open in the middle of the museum, with a glass skylight right at the top so natural light filled the interior. Each of the 6 exhibition floors led to the next much like a giant continuous inclined ramp (there is an elevator should you want to make the trip quicker back to the ground floor). There were annex galleries on each floor with permanent exhibitions of Kandinsky, Picasso and Van Gogh works.



The weekend that I went they were featuring the work from sculptor David Smith. So on every floor of the museum, there were some weird and wonderful metal sculptures on display.


Fig 1. "Australia"? Hmmmm... Fig.2 Sculpture "Australia" Fig. 3 Hudson River Landscape

I say weird and wonderful because personally, I am not much of an art buff and I don't pretend to "get" or understand modern art (and thus I don't appreciate them all that much). My opinion was that if some of the "art pieces" in there got placed in a junk yard, I wouldn't be able to pick it from a pile of compacted scrap metal. Sorry.

However, even for someone with no appreciating for what "art" might be, some of the pieces were simply spectacular in their shapes and form. A pile of twisted metal rods and blocks came together somehow to became this spectacular 3-dimension "thought" that just seemed to leap out at me. I have to hand it to the sculptor - no way from looking at the 2D drawing in his sketchbook could I have predicted how in awe I was with the actual 3D sculpture.

With that said, I wasn't transformed into an instant modern art fan - so I actually managed to go up the 6 levels in relatively little time. In fact, the people watching was more interesting as some obviously had no more clues than I did, even with their audio commentary guides. Most of us "tourists" pondered together which parts of the metal pile were suppose to be what according to the title of the pieces.

I did spend much longer looking at the Van Gogh paintings they had (I love Van Gogh's brush strokes and use of colours for some reason unknown...), and the Kandinsky I almost dare to say I "liked" because of the vibrant colours and lines.

Boston

I had a project up in Boston so I spend the last week up there.

Boston is roughly an hour and a bit by flight so I think I actually spent more time at the airport waiting to go through check-in and security than actually on the plane itself.

For the week that I was up there, it was foggy and drizzling most of the time. But on the weekend, the weather was beautiful! The sun was out both days so I suspect I actually got a bit of a tan (yap that's me - 20 minutes out in the sun, I got tanned). Boston was easy enough to walk around. They also had the "T" - essentially the public train lines, which I relied on heavily since I didn't have a car.

I visited Feneuil Hall and Quincy Marketplace, located near the Boston City Hall. Quincy Marketplace was basically a very large foodcourt, with carts and stalls selling souveniors and other goodies on the outside. You could find a lot of shops selling clam chowder and lobster roll.

I went out for a visit to MIT and Harvard in Cambridge. There wasn't anything much around MIT on the weekend, but the buildings and MIT grounds were grande and magnificant. I walked around the courtyards and the gardens and even sneaked into one of the hallways inside (I am sure I could be counted as a traspasser, but hey, I am harmless). MIT was located right on the water front so I took a walk along the waterfront that looked back towards Boston city. It was a very pretty place.

In contrast, Harvard Square was buzzing with life in comparison. It was full of people - tourists, students, local shoppers alike. There were a lot of people like me, who just HAD to visit Harvard and you could tell they were all from out of town. The dead giveaways? Speaking in a different language, holding a camera and a map trying to figure out which way was what. There were some very trendy shops there, complete with the best burget joint ever (Apparently, it is voted the Best Burger in Boston, no kidding). Prices were not cheap, considering there was a student community there, but I guess it is Harvard. I am dining on expense so what do I care right... hee hee hee.

Of course, since I was in Boston, of course I had to eat lobsters. Ever since I was a kid, the only thing I knew about Boston was that there were lobsters there (I had no idea about MIT or Harvard as a kid, food comes first and I don't even know how I came across that piece of information). So I was pretty excited to finally be IN Lobster-land (incidentally, Boston's nickname is actually beantown, as in baked beans, which I had no interests in). Sure enough, there were lots of lobster souveniors. You can even get lobster shaped gummy candies, chocolates, hat, kitchen mits, pencils, etc.

Another spot I absolutely loved was the Boston Public Gardens. Its Spring time in the States and the wonderful colours in the garden just had me snapping away like crazy. There were also these really cool Swan boats on one of the lakes. I am not sure if it was meant to be a summer thing or that I went too late in the day, I saw them but they were all chained up and sitting in the middle of the lake with no one riding them. Oh well.

I also managed to walk over to the North End, which is also know as Little Italy in Boston. I stumbled upon an Italian cafe/restaurant on Hanover Street, which was lined with eateries and boutique shops with imported Italian goods. The lobster ravioli there was to die for (of course, the cute bartenders and servers there were drooling materials as well...mmmm)