Goodbye, my Coney Island baby

Our final full day in New York sees us jump on the subway for the 45-minute ride out to Coney Island, the self-proclaimed Playground of the World.  We've been lured here by the promise of good, old-fashioned American family fun, an iconic boardwalk, and throwbacks to the roaring 20s, when promenades along the beach and all-in-one stripy swim suits were very much the rage.  By the looks of it, the seaside resort does get very busy in the summer months, as New Yorkers make the short trip out to enjoy building sandcastles and taking a dip in the North Atlantic, but on our April visit, a biting wind cuts across much of the sun's warmth, blowing sand into our eyes, and rendering the beach virtually out of bounds.  Nonetheless, the boardwalk has its own charm, and the variety of shops offer up a few different souvenirs for the discerning tourist.

Coney Island boardwalk

A Coney Island map

First stop, offering shelter from the wind, is the New York Aquarium.  Formerly situated in Battery Park (see Following the Immigrants) the aquarium moved to this coastal location in 1957, and is now part of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) which also oversees the city's other zoos.  The aquarium was rocked in 2012, when it suffered significant damage from Hurricane Sandy, flooding the facilities and shutting down the power supply.  Although staff who remained on-site at this time were able to save 90% of the creatures held there, the ramifications of the storm are still clear for all to see.  An enormous rebuild is therefore underway - even more than four years later - which understandably leaves some of the site inaccessible.

An old-fashioned aquarium mural

What the aquarium does have, however, is a wonderful array of tanks, amongst the very best that I have seen.  In Conservation Hall, we are taken on a journey around the world - the Amazon basin, the African lakes, coral reefs (the aquarium grows its own coral, aiding its sustainability agenda) and marine environments giving a flavour of the wondrous life that exists beneath the waves.  In fact, I've been so impressed by what I've seen, that I've since tried to remodel my own tank on their Amazon biotope.  Outside, there are penguins, sealions and otters, and a large circular tank housing small sharks, a temporary solution until the Ocean Wonders habitat is completed.  The aquarium is also planning an underwater viewing area for the penguins, an Explore the Shore coastal section, and an Alien Stingers exhibit.  Lots more to come back to one day, as they continue their recovery from the deadly force of nature.

A beautiful Amazon tank

A home-grown coral reef

Back on the boardwalk, and there's only one real choice for lunch - Nathan's Famous, who have been feeding this part of Brooklyn with old fashion hot dogs since 1916.  The brand is a popular one, and an American institution - they are the official hot dog providers to the New York Mets and New York Yankees baseball teams - located as they are in an unmissable yellow building, in front of which a sizable crowd is gathered.  We join the queue, and two cheese dogs later, we're pretty satisfied.  Looking around, we also realise that we've ordered on the lighter side, for the food is flying out of the kitchen, and some diners are tucking into weighty portions.

Nathan's Famous of Coney Island

Cheese dogs and fries

The rest of Coney island is dominated by Luna Park, a sprawling fairground with more than a hint of Paignton to its character.  Central to the park is the Cyclone, a rattling old wooden rollercoaster from the heyday of the amusement park.  A piece of history in its own right, it is known locally as the "Big Momma," with more than 2,500 feet of track and 12 drops.  Would I ride it?  Probably not, for despite its decent safety record and multi-million dollar investment in recent years, it looks a bit too rickety and dated for my liking!

Time is running out.  Evening sets in and, back in Manhattan, we catch the subway to 42nd Street, for the short walk to the Circle Line cruise terminal.  For our last evening in New York, we've made the decision to see the whole of Manhattan from the water, and as dusk sets in, we brave a chilly wind on an open-top boat, which takes us down the Hudson, past Ellis, Liberty and Governors Islands, across the harbour, and up the East River.  Watching the sun set and night take hold over the New York skyline is a special sight, and a memory that will linger for a long time.  It's also the perfect round-up from our trip, for playing out in front of us is everything we we've seen and done - the Financial District, the Brooklyn Bridge, the UN, the Chrysler Building, Southstreet Seaport, Battery Park, the Williamsburg Bridge, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and numerous others - bound together in this wondrous, magical city.  From here, I understand what Scott Fitzgerald was talking about, when he wrote, in The Great Gatsby: “The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.”  It provides the most fitting farewell and a fond reflection of our time, all the more so for us, as we leave the city having embarked on a new chapter in our own relationship, doubly enshrining our New York trip amongst our happiest of memories.  

USA HQ

A raging thunder storm greets our introduction to early Saturday morning, shattering a dream in which I was waiting to drive to a Torquay away match (clearly I have troubling dreams.)  Drawing the curtains, we watch from the bed as lightning forks across the sky, and rain smashes down on the road far below.  It's 5.30am and it's time to get up.

Our destination is Penn Station, for the "Carolinian" Amtrak service to Washington DC.  The journey takes us three hours, calling along the way at Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, which to my mind puts us through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.  We're joined on board by a friendly conductor, who clearly likes a joke with his passengers - when he comes to scan our tickets, he says: "So it's Elizabeth going to Washington, and it looks like Nicholas gets off at Philadelphia."  Brief panic, then a laugh - I've been had!  We've also been joined on board by several climate change protesters, off to a demonstration in the capital - pertinent, given the current President.  Our Amtrak service is comfortable, roomy and speedy, and along the way we encounter some of the great rivers of the eastern seaboard, riding alongside the Delaware, and crossing the Susquehanna, Bush and Gunpowder.  We roll into Union station bang on time, and there's no immediate hurry to alight - the train is due for a half hour comfort stop, which makes sense when you consider that its final destination is Charlotte, North Carolina, a further ten hours' travel away.

There's a need to be slightly diplomatic and a little bit sensible as we exit the station, eschewing the offers of placards and posters as we pick our way through the protests to the US Capitol Building.  The building is the home of the US Congress, and sits at the top of the National Mall, on what is called Capitol Hill.  From the bottom of the steps, we can survey virtually everywhere we intend to visit today, for our area is fairly contained.

The Mall is flanked on both sides by the numerous buildings of the Smithsonian Institute, the world-famous free museums housing everything Americana.  We've agonised over which museum to visit, but finally decide upon the National Air and Space Museum.  The choice is not a disappointment, for within these walls are great, historic and significant items.  We're quite short of time, so we earmark the most interesting of the galleries, seeing along the way the Hubble Space telescope, the Apollo-Soyuz test project and astronaut spacesuits.  Outside the spaceflight galleries, the pioneers of flight are celebrated - Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St Louis, the plane that made the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight in 1927, is here, as is Amelia Earhart's Lockheed 5B Vega, in which she became the first woman to fly non-stop across the Atlantic five years later.  Another of the great aviators, Howard Hughes, is represented by the Hughes H-1 Racer, which set both a world airspeed record and a record for the fasted flight across the United States.  But topping even these icons, sitting reverently in its own gallery, is the one that started it all - the Wright brothers' plane which, on 17 December 1903, was powered 20 feet above a North Carolina beach for twelve seconds, in the process changing our world forever.

The Spirit of St Louis

The Wright Brothers' plane (caveat - the canvas is a reproduction)

Back outside, and in a really punishing heat, we start our long walk down the Mall, stopping off at a catering van for a Philly cheese steak sandwich, which we eat in the cooling shade of nearby trees.  Looking down the mall, the famous Washington Monument dominates the vista, a giant needle dedicated to the memory of George Washington.  The monument took some time to build, for having begun in 1848, it was not completed until 1888, due to lack of funds and the intervention of the American Civil War.  On completion, it was the world's tallest structure, an accolade it held until the Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889.  Nowadays, it is the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, at around 555 feet.

The Washington Monument

Feeling warm on the National Mall

Beyond the Washington Monument, the National Mall gives way to the World War II Memorial's massive fountains and pool - in which people are dipping their toes - and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which film-lovers will remember fondly from Forrest Gump.  By the time we get here, we are seriously over-heating, sweat pouring off us - and everyone else.  Undeterred, however, we plough on, for there is one more must-see sight, which has been on my list for many years - the Lincoln Memorial.  Standing in the form of a classic Greek temple, the memorial is America's great "thank you" to one of its greatest presidents.  I leave Lizzie on a shady spot of grass, and hike the steps in sun-stroked delirium, passing through the colonnades and into the cool and shady interior.  Up above, the face of Honest Abe looks out over his capital, observing the same view that Martin Luther King Jr saw in August 1963, when he gave his I Have A Dream speech from the very steps on which I stand.  For me, it is a moment of happiness, admiration and reflection - I've finally made it here.

The Lincoln Memorial

The 16th President, Abraham Lincoln

Our walk back to the railway station - back up the Reflection Pool and the National Mall - is equally exhausting, but there is at least one more distraction to help keep our mind off the heat.  Not that we can get anywhere near the house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but straining for a view across the park and through the trees, we can make out the most famous address on Earth, the White House.  It certainly looks like an amazing place to live, and you can only imagine the comings-and-goings of so many presidents - Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Reagan to name only a few- and the decisions they made from within those walls, which impacted so many, both in positive and negative ways.  I suppose that's a good thought to sum up Washington DC - it is the ultimate seat of world power.

The White House

Spanning the rivers, scraping the skies

Returning from our Statue of Liberty cruise, we stroll through the financial district and down the historic Wall Street, with its curious mix of bankers and tourists.  This is the command centre for the world economy, and what happens here has a frightening baring on everybody in the world, at least to some degree.  When the stock market crashed here in 1929, it caused a cataclysmic series of events that ultimately shoulders much responsibility for the onset of the Second World War.  Nonetheless, the mood is jovial enough, but with a definite air of purpose absent from other parts of the city.  Wall Street is also home to Federal Hall, the site of the very first capitol building of the United States, where George Washington was inaugurated as the first President, and where the Bill of Rights was first introduced to Congress.  The original building was razed in 1812, and the current structure completed in 1842, built as a customs house.

Wall and Broad Street

Federal Hall

Our destination is the Brooklyn Bridge, which crosses the East River and connects Lower Manhattan with (funnily enough) Brooklyn.  When it opened in 1883, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, and was dubbed "the eighth wonder of the world." Still a magnet for tourists like us, and a lifeline for local commuters, the bridge carries 150,000 vehicles and pedestrians every single day.  From end-to-end, it's just over a mile to walk, which is slightly terrifying if, like me, you suffer from heights and the occasional bout of vertigo.  Nonetheless, the opportunity to cross such a noteworthy landmark cannot be passed up, and so we approach, step-by-step, until we're well over the river.  To the north sits the nearby Manhattan Bridge, whilst a 180-degree turn reveals the splendour of the city in all its glory - skyscrapers aplenty, all merging together beyond a mesh of thick cables that keep us on the level over the East River.

The Brooklyn Bridge

Looking back at Manhattan

Brooklyn sits on the east side of the East River, and is one of the five boroughs that make up New York City (the other four, for future pub quizzes, are Manhattan, Queen's, the Bronx, and Staten Island.)  It's actually quite a sizeable borough, so large in fact that if it were a stand-alone city, it would be the seventh largest in the US.  We content ourselves, after our mammoth walk across the famous bridge, with a stroll around Brooklyn Heights, a residential neighbourhood by the water, with commanding views of Downtown Manhattan.  There's a atmosphere of Sesame Street about the place, with its brownstone rowhouses and well-maintained roads, aided by the fact that it's clearly kick-out time in the local school, and kids are running around the little playgrounds, and queuing up at the local ice cream van.  Adjacent to this neighbourhood sits Brooklyn Bridge Park, where the water laps up against the shore, and swanky new apartments take shape with million dollar vistas.  It's a little escape, a brief shelter from the bustle of the city, which is just across the river, but feels many miles away.

Brooklyn Bridge Park

Back in Manhattan and all-too-briefly rested, we set out for another of New York's engineering marvels, the Empire State Building.  The building is named after the nickname for New York State - the Empire State - and was completed in 1931, when it instantly became the world's tallest building, a record it held until the 1970s, and the introduction of the World Trade Centre twin towers.  Nowadays it is the world's 34th-tallest, but few of its rivals can match the location and history of this truly magnificent structure.

The Empire State Building from 34th Street

Like many of its companion skyscrapers, the Empire State Building was a child born of the roaring twenties, when money was easy, and dreams attainable.  New York's economy was booming, and a frenzied competition was underway to see who could build the world's tallest building, with the Bank of Manhattan's 40 Wall Street Building up against the Chrysler Building, conceived by motor mogul Walter Chrysler. Then, in August 1929, General Motors executive John J Raskob and New York Governor Al Smith announced a third major player in the race - the Empire State Building.  Of course, it surpassed both its rivals to take the crown, but as its completion coincided with the Great Depression, much of the building space went unrented, and New Yorkers quipped that it was in fact the Empty State Building.  This was certainly not the case on our visit, and it seemed like half the city was indeed in the queue, which (it has to be said) lacked a little organisation and coherence.  Nonetheless, we do eventually emerge on the 86th floor, and in the evening air, the lights of the city glowing in all directions ensures a magical experience.  We are in awe, for it's as if the whole city finally makes sense when viewed from here.  Maddison Square Garden lies directly below, the Chrysler Building and its beautiful roof is a few blocks away, the bridges in the distance, like fairy lights twinkling in the night.  The visitor can actually go even higher here, up the spire to the 102nd floor, an add-on to the original design of the building, built so that air ships could dock.  It's an amazing idea to take away, and one that perfectly sums up the 1930s experience in this most celebrated of locations.

Views from the 86th floor

Following the immigrants

Castle Clinton sits on the very edge of Lower Manhattan's Battery Park, watching over the harbour with a military air, just as it was designed to do when it was built in 1811, as a fort to keep the British at bay during the early days of the new republic.  Back then it was on its own island, but subsequent landfill expanded Manhattan to the degree that the fort is now attached to the mainland.  When the British threat was over, Castle Clinton took on numerous different roles - between 1823 and 1854 it was an entertainment centre called Castle Garden; in 1855, it became an immigration landing depot; and in 1896, it was remodelled to become the New York City Aquarium.  This remained until 1941, when the aquarium was relocated to Coney Island, and the National Park Service was restored, and eventually reopened as a national monument.  Today, somewhat appropriately given its history, it is the ticket hub for cruises to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, its usurper as New York's immigration centre.

Statue Cruise boat

The Statue Cruise boats ply the waters between the mainland and the islands all day long, transporting thousands of passengers to the world-famous Statue of Liberty every day, and around four million tourists each year.  Our arrival on Liberty Island is a foggy one, and for most of our cruise we have seen neither the mainland or our destination, so shrouded have we been in the harbour mist.  By the time we disembark, however, the sun is making an improved effort, and in the space of 20 minutes after landing, much of the mist has burned away, and Lady Liberty gives us our first real glimpse.  It's a funny feeling - this is one of those monuments that everybody knows, and seeing it in the flesh is a lot like greeting a familiar friend.  Nonetheless, the statue is bigger, taller, and more beautiful than I had previously imagined, and indeed when mixed with the worldwide fame (is this the most famous thing on Earth?) it's very difficult to take your eyes off her.  The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France, designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustav Eiffel (see my Paris blog!)  It was dedicated on 28 October 1886, and its green colour can be explained by the fact that it is made of copper, which has naturally corroded over the years.

The Statue of Liberty

Being up close on Liberty Island is one thing, but for me, the better view of the statue comes from being on the water.  The reason for this is that we share a view that those immigrants, who had endured such long and treacherous sea passage in order to find a new and better life, would have seen when they first arrived in these waters.  You can almost feel the euphoria with the lapping of the waves, the first sight of land for two weeks, and a bold statement of freedom to boot.  The first immigrants to see the statue would have docked at Castle Clinton, but within a few years of its completion, the immigrant centre at Ellis Island had been established, and new arrivals had to endure a rigorous process of registration, legal and medical inspection, and in some cases detention (for example in the case of single children, until their safety could be guaranteed by way of a telegram from a relative in the US.)  Despite this process, 98% of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island eventually made their way to the US mainland - only 2% were sent back to their port of departure, usually due to disease.  The Ellis Island museum gives a succinct summary of the immigration process, the people who arrived, and the means of their arrival, but the greatest reminder is the large registry room, where desks would have once been set up, and questions asked to a constant stream of some 5,000 newcomers. After approval was granted, those with permission to leave could change money, buy train tickets for onward travel from New York, collect their baggage from the baggage room, and then take a boat on to New York City, leaving Ellis Island behind forever.

Ellis Island's Registry Room

The baggage room

We stand behind the museum and take in the stunning view of Manhattan Island.  Sure, it has changed a lot since the immigration boom of the early 20th century, but the general ethos feels the same, and anyone arriving after weeks - or months - of travel from the deepest parts of Europe would surely have felt the palpable sense of wonder and excitement that I feel, as I take in the panorama of this Land of Opportunity.  It's also a moment to pause and remember my Grandad, who I know always wanted to come to New York, but never achieved his goal.  I feel that perhaps, in looking across to the Manhattan skyline, I am in some way ensuring that some part of his dream has been fulfilled.

The Land of Opportunity: Manhattan Island from Ellis Island

Returning to the mainland and the relative shade of Battery Park, we happen upon a sculpture entitled The Immigrants.  Sculptor Luis Sanguino embodied the diversity of New York City, and the struggles immigrants faced through their journeys and in establishing new lives in the USA.  Figures include an Eastern European Jew, a freed African slave, a priest and a worker - different people with different backgrounds, coming to America with one shared goal.  Are their necks craned upwards because they too are straining for a view of Liberty?

Luis Sanguino's The Immigrants

Mooching in Midtown

The Rockefeller Center, straight out of the A-league of historic skyscrapers, stands on West 49th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenue, sending up its enormous tower high into the clouds.  On our first visit, we're told there's no point ascending, as the view is non-existent, so we return the following day, when the sun is much brighter and the drizzle has ceased.  Top of the Rock - as the viewing platform is called - is the best-organised visit of our entire trip.  A timed ticket ensures we are not standing in a huge queue, and allows us enough time to wander the Art Deco lobby, and eat lunch in the plaza.  The flags are flying all around, and what's even better, there's Lego store, complete with their own take on this historic building.

The Rockefeller Center plaza

The Rockefeller Center lobby

The Center itself is actually comprised of 19 high-rise buildings, with the Top of the Rock sitting on the roof of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, currently called the Comcast Building.  The whole history of the site is something to savour, with development beginning in 1930, just as the Great Depression was starting to hit.  John D Rockefeller Jr originally planned for an opera house for the Metropolitan Opera on the site, but changed his plans following the stock market crash and Metropolitan's subsequent struggles.  As the financier himself said: "It was clear that there were only two courses open to me.  One was to abandon the entire development.  The other to go forward with it in the definite knowledge that I myself would have to build it and finance it alone."  The construction was the largest private building project ever undertaken in modern times, and the complex was completed in 1939.  You can only admire Rockefeller Jr's determination, given how many jobs he must have provided to New Yorkers at that most desperate of times.

30 Rockefeller Plaza

It takes the elevator 43 seconds to ascend the 68 floors to the observation deck, with another two flights of stairs to reach the highest visitor level.  From this vista, the views are - as expected - incredible, spanning out in all directions.  The vast expanse of Central Park lies to the north, the Hudson to the west, Brooklyn to the east, and lower Manhattan - and even the Statue of Liberty out in the misty distance - to the south.  The surrounding high-rise blocks include the famous Empire State and Chrysler Buildings, the latter being arguably the most beautiful skyscraper of them all.  From here we realise, for the first time, the scale of New York, for whilst the population of the city proper is about the same as London (8.5 million,) the urban area population of New York extends to some 23 million (London's is a little under 10 million.)  In this context, there are very few cities - four in fact - that are larger, and what unfolds under our feet and out into the horizon is nothing short of a mega city.

Top of the Rock looking south - The Empire State Building is in the centre, the Hudson River is to the right

Atop the Rock

Just around the corner from the Rock sits Radio City Music Hall, a famous entertainment venue nicknamed The Showpiece of the Nation.  Opened in 1932, the site served as a theatre and cinema, and following financial difficulties in the 1970s, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Nowadays it's a popular venue for concerts and stage shows, notably hosting the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and holding events such as the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, and the NFL Draft.

Lizzie outside Radio City Music Hall

Meanwhile, around the other corner from the Rock is an altogether different building, sitting unchanged and defiant amongst the skyscrapers.  The famous St Patrick's Cathedral, an oasis of peace and calm in this hectic part of town, serves as a sanctuary for the weary traveller, and is a wonderful twenty-minute stop, if only for its comfortable pews.  There's a juxtaposition to the whole experience, but such is the reverence to this old building, it has survived the development on its doorstep, despite having what must be astronomical land value.  The cathedral itself was finished in 1878, at the time dominating the Midtown landscape, and by the time the spires were added in 1888, it was the tallest structure in New York, and the second highest in the country.  Not for long, of course, with the onset of the 20th century, and now the very fact seems unimaginable. 

St Patrick's Cathedral

If you leave the cathedral and walk seven blocks up 5th Avenue, then take a left and walk three blocks along East 57th Street, you will come to the New York institution that is Bloomingdale's.  The city's premier department store was founded by Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale in 1861, predating the Metropolitan Museum of Art, St Patrick's Cathedral and Central Park, although the opening of these sought to attract Bloomingdale's wealthy clientele to take up residency into Midtown.  There's a certain quality to the feel of the store, as we make our way up to the sixth floor for a browse at the home wear and the pool wear, inflatable lobsters, colourful towels and floating drinks holders included.  It feels as if Bloomingdale's has retained all the charm of an earlier era, and it's very easy to imagine the store in its 1940s heyday, where opulent shoppers perused quality goods in this finest of shops.

Bloomingdale's Department Store

We end one of our Midtown days at Times Square, the bustling centre of New York City, sometimes known as The Crossroads of the World and the Centre of the Universe.  Its image is known globally, blazing neon lights advertising everything from theatre to sneakers, phone networks to food outlets.  We actually crossed Times Square a number of times during our trip - all roads seem to lead here - but none was more dramatic than our night time visit, where the pavements were rammed with tourists, the bars and restaurants packed to the rafters, shops almost shaking with the rumble of cash registers, and excitement building as the curtains went up in the Broadway theatres.  We opted for the Palace Theatre's production of Sunset Boulevard, fronted by a giant of theatre, Glenn Close, playing the role of Norma Desmond, a washed-up film star from the silent era, whose dreams of Hollywood stardom in the new age of the talkies brings her to the brink.  Brilliant music and a wonderful show followed, all well worthy of the standing ovation it received at the end, with Close bringing the house down just like the billboards said she would.  On our exit, the Broadway lights give a false impression of daylight, even at 10pm, and my response is a mixture of both amazement and alarm, for this is Piccadilly Circus times a thousand - it must cost a fortune, use up boundless energy, and add humungous amounts of light pollution, but is also dazzling, breathtaking and mind-blowing in its enormity.  I guess this is why, if New York City was summed up in one single space, it would simply have to be Times Square.

Times Square

The Palace Theatre, home of Sunset Boulevard

Natural wonders, MoMA masterpieces

Those who know me - or at least those who read the right hand side of my blog - will be aware that I love a good museum.  London's British Museum, Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum, and the Tropen Museum in Amsterdam are all up there in my opinion, and New York's American Museum of Natural History is one more to really savour.  We're wise enough now to know how to tackle these cultural leviathans, and success comes with knowing which galleries are your personal "must-sees," and which ones you'll accept having to miss.  The American Museum of Natural History spans several floors packed with artefacts of everything nature, with an additional focus on people of the world.  Lizzie, the Geography graduate, picks out the Earth and Planetary Sciences galleries, whilst the archaeologist in me immediately selects human origins and the Hall of South American Peoples.  Here lies a collection greater than anything amassed in Europe, creating a journey through the world of the Incas, the Nazca people, the Mayans, Oaxaca, Olmecs, Tolects and Aztec.  I'm in heaven at this point, the only downside being that there is simply so much, it's impossible to dwell on everything.  Some favourites, though, include some fabulous pieces of Nazca pottery and an Aztec sunstone.  

Aztec sunstone

Nazca pottery

There's something especially intriguing and mysterious about the civilisations that emerged in Mesoamerica - how did they first get there?  How did they develop such complex society?  And what do their remaining artefacts tell us about their ways of life?  My undergraduate dissertation examined the rise of polities in Mayan culture, possibly the most mysterious civilisation ever known, for their emergence appeared to come straight out of an inhospitable jungle environment.  Even now, nobody is really sure how Mayan society began, nor how it suddenly disappeared again - it seems that the rainforest swallowed these secrets, and is unlikely to ever give them up again.  Nonetheless, Mayan ceramics do survive, and give us a taste of the complex artistic and cultural complexity of these most interesting people.

Mayan ceramic sculpture

Beyond the world of human history, we of course explored the dinosaur gallery, where there are some wonderfully complete skeletons of the tyrant lizards that once roamed and ruled on Planet Earth.  Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops are the kings of these galleries, which are divided into two parts - ornithischian dinosaurs, characterised by backward-pointing extension of the pubis bone, thought to have helped support enormous stomachs that these dinosaurs needed to digest tough vegetation - and saurischian dinosaurs, characterised by grasping hands, in which a thumb is offset from other fingers.

Stegosaurus

Tyrannosaurus

The following morning saw us take the subway up to Midtown, to one of the world's foremost art galleries, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA.)  Now, this one I've wanted to visit for years, for within its walls are some of my most favourite paintings.  If I'm being honest, there's a lot of modern art that I simply don't connect with, and so we make a plan to be fairly brief, seeking out what we most want to see - the 1880s-1950s collection - which is conveniently all located on one floor.  Hot picks for me include my most favourite work of all, I and the Village by the Russian-French, Belarusian artist, Marc Chagall.  The painting was finished in 1911, and seems to evoke thoughts of the 'old country,' a place of simplicity and folklore.  As with much of Chagall's work, there are religious undertones - the green face wears a St Andrew's cross and holds the tree of life, whilst in the background an Orthodox church sits amongst other dwellings.  To me, it's as if the artist is painting a dream - one of his village, perhaps of his childhood, and a subconscious fondness or longing for the natural pleasures of home.  I connect to this - and even felt a little emotional approaching the canvas - for this is a painting I have admired for a long time, and seeing it face-to-face (there's an artistic pun in there, if you look at the painting!) is inspirational - definitely a big one to tick off my list.

Marc Chagall's I and the Village

Beyond Chagall's wondrous painting, there is a host of other brilliant works, including Henri Rousseau's The Sleeping Gypsy, Picasso's Three Musicians, Dali's The Persistence of Memory, Monet's Water Lilies, Matisse's Dance, Cezanne's The Bather, Munch's The Storm, Gauguin's The Seed of the Areoi, and Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans.  Perhaps most famous of all, the museum is also home to the Van Gogh painting, The Starry Night, complete with its very own security guard and crowd of admirers soaking up its undeniable beauty.  All in all, this is a heavyweight in the world of art galleries, with a giant of a collection that puts it firmly amongst the greatest collections in existence.  We come away in an uplifted and buoyant mood, honoured to have been in the presence of such iconic and enduring masterpieces.

The Sleeping Gypsy

The Three Musicians