2 New Travel Experiences (Goal No. 5)

I blogged about my Goals for 2022 where I hope to have 8 new travel experiences this year and I am "off to a good start" 😇 , with Singapore opening up for both business and leisure travel.  

I was on a business trip to New York recently and the "Covid" procedures have been relatively smooth as you no longer need to have a PCR test on your arrival back to Singapore.

Besides Central Park, I decided to visit two museums for the first time. 

Central Park

I have been to Central Park during different seasons and it is one of my favourite parks. This time round, I am quite fortunate to see the Cherry Blossom in full bloom.

Plaza right before entering the park with a few Cherry Blossom Trees

Central Park is huge, so make sure you have a good pair of walking shoes. My feet is still suffering from blisters as I was walking with my "work shoes", which was totally not suited. 😅

Cherry Blossom in full bloom

I was walking to the Guggenheim Museum through the Central Park. The weather was perfect for walking, having been gloomy over the last few days.  

Panoramic view of the dam on a bright sunny day 

New Travel Experience #1 for 2022 - Guggenheim Museum

I have been to several museums in New York. My favourites and "absolutely must visits" are the Met and Natural History Museum, if you are into dinosaurs and such. If you visit New York and only has time for one museum, it will be the Met.

Guggenheim Museum

 The Guggenheim Museum has a unique structure and looks pretty artistic on the outside, with its nice curves at one end. It is frankly a waste of space... and time.

The displays are few and far in between and mainly along the "curves"

While the structure looks aesthetically beautiful - like all its museums around the world - the exhibits in New York are just not my cup of tea, with most of them in abstract form (see below).

Abstract art works

There is a small section with a few art pieces by Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne where there are actually few pieces of decent artwork by Picasso (not his doodling and abstract stuff). 

Can't believe Picasso can actually draw?

Many comments of his art work are usually less flattering, such as "my 3 year old can draw better", anyway, you get what I mean. You can decide for yourself if the painting above is one of his better artwork?

Plate of Peaches by Paul Cezanne

Anyway, it took me less than an hour to walk from bottom to the top of the spiraling structure. If you have no time for this, it is really okay to skip this museum unless you are into architectural structures.

Inside Guggenheim - view of the dome from below

New Experience #2 - MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)

The second museum which I visited was the Museum of Modern Art. This museum is very centrally located in New York city, unlike the rest which are further up north. Some visitors find this museum inspiring but I think it is so-so. There are 5 floors of exhibits and some sections are constantly refreshed to keep it interesting for visitors.

Here is some modern art soup for you! 

There is a mixture of old and new here. The Campbell soup artwork is the modern interpretation  if you prefer contemporary art work. Personally I prefer the Impressionists artwork starting from Claude Monet, who is more well known for his artworks on Water Lilies.

Claude Monet's Water Lilies

The other "modern" and living artist which I find interesting is Banksy. I am sure our government here will find him too "difficult to handle" given he is more known as the graffiti artist. His take on Claude Monet's water lilies, known as "Show me the Monet" raked in almost $10m. See the picture in the article by Forbes here. 

I also visited the Museum of Sex in one of my prior trip to New York but visit only if you are sex deprived and you will probably come out feeling even more disappointed. 😜

On a parting note, if you are into museums, the other city where you can find good museums is in Washington DC! 

Hope these two museums didn't put you to . . . 😴😴