NYC: Christie's, The Met, and The Guggenheim - Feb 4, 2025

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - My Birthday was yesterday, so I wanted to give myself a present: A Day-Trip to New York City! There were over 80 pieces of art (including 3 Greek vases) that I wanted to see at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, plus The Guggenheim is only 10 blocks north of there, and there are some Turner watercolors and Guardi paintings up for auction (and on display) at Christie's.

It is no longer any fun driving to New York City. There always have been "regular tolls" for bridges and tunnels, but The City just instituted a "congestion pricing program" for vehicles driving on "local streets and avenues at or below 60 Street". Also, the traffic has always been hit-or-miss (sometimes it worked GREAT, sometimes in has been a VERY LONG RIDE HOME). So I decided to spring for The Amtrak Acela train (out of Westwood/Route 128). It is expensive - $217 down, and $138 back (total $355), plus $7 parking, but I did reading, Sudokos, and resting. (of course, the non-Acela options are cheaper, but take 45 minutes longer - time is money)

I left the house a little after 6 AM, and was parked by 7:20 for my 7:29 train - nice train:

Pretty views along the Connecticut shoreline:

Slight delay, and we pulled into "Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station" at 11:07

A BIG PART of a New-York-City-visit is being out on the streets, seeing skyscrapers, theatres, and Times Square:

I reached Christie's at 11:50, and saw some fun stuff:

Francesco Guardi - "The Piazzetta of San Marco, Venice, looking towards San Giorgio Maggiore", no date, oil (estimate $600,000 - $800,000) [sold Feb 5, 2025 for $756,000]:

Hubert Robert - "The Antiquities of Nimes, Orange and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence", no date, oil (estimate $300,000 - $500,000) [sold Feb 5, 2025 for $252,000]:

J.M.W. Turner - "Lake Lucerne at Dusk", circa 1842, watercolour (Price upon request) ["Private Sale" = no results announced]:

J.M.W. Turner - "Binger Loch and the Mäuseturm", no date, watercolour (estimate $200,000 - $300,000) [sold Feb 4, 2025 for $226,800]:

NOTE: the picture you want to see may not be there: J.M.W. Turner - "The approach to Venice" or "Venice from the lagoon", circa 1840, watercolour (estimate $300,000 - $500,000) [sold Feb 4, 2025 for $327,600]:

Don't worry - maybe it will turn up:

UP FOR AUCTION AT CHRISTIE'S - if there is any art at your local museum, you BETTER SEE IT NOW, WHILE YOU STILL CAN. Top photo: Jan Both - "An Italianate landscape with bandits leading prisoners", no date, oil (estimate $1,000,000 - $1,500,000) [unsold Feb 5, 2025]:

I hit the MFA Boston website, and this is what I found:

I left Christie's and walked up to The Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Getting there at 12:53

The sidewalks are bone-dry, so I didn't need my L.L.Bean boots; it is windy, so I shouldn't have brought my hat; and it is in the low-40s, so I didn't need my coat/scarf/gloves. Aside from that, it is a beautiful day in The City.

I am always impressed by The Entrance Hall:

My first stop was "Three Greek Vases". Old photo (top) was taken Nov 22, 2013:

Other "Comparison Photos" include Thomas Moran - "The Teton Range", 1897 oil. Old photo (top) was taken Oct 8, 2019:

Francesco Guardi - "The Grand Canal above the Rialto", late 176Os oil. Old photo (top) was taken Oct 8, 2019:

The last "Comparison Photos": Frederic Edwin Church - "Heart of the Andes", 1859 oil. Old photo (top) was taken Oct 8, 2019:

That's all for here, for this blog. I took pictures of 98 works of art at The Met, and I covered 2.5 miles in 2 hours 20 minutes:

10 blocks north was The Guggenheim:

I saw a Monet-I-have-not-seen - Claude Monet "The Palazzo Ducale, Seen from San Giorgio Maggiore (Le Palais Ducal vu de Saint-Georges Majeur)", 1908 oil:

It was 4 PM when I left The Guggenheim, so I took a cab back down to Penn Station. It turns out that the Train Station is under the original Post Office (10001 - New York, NY):

The Station is Beautiful:

I bought a pastrami sandwich (at Pastrami Queen), and boarded my 5:00 PM Acela. Nice views Heading Home:

The train got to Route 128 at 8:30; I was home by 9:30, and bed by 10. Thank You God for this wonderful art/adventure day!

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Jan 17, 2025

Friday, Jan 17, 2025 - I wanted to have a "Date Day" with my beautiful bride, so last week I grabbed Library Passes to the MFA for today. NOTE: the phrase "Library Pass" refers to a credit-card piece of paper that the Library used to give you, which was torn out of perforated sheets of paper. You handed it to The Museum, and they let you in at a discounted price (or free!). You could also be given a larger paper in a plastic sheath, which you returned to The Library after your Museum visit. Now a days, you are sent an email, which you open and click on a link, which takes you to a page that you print and give to The Museum.

It was easy driving in after my Step Class (and shower-shave-and-shine). We parked and walked around to the front:

The Library Passes allowed us in at a discounted price ($10 per person), but also included EXHIBITIONS, so we saw their "Georgia O'Keeffe and Henry Moore" Exhibition (it closes Jan 20, 2025):

Georgia O'Keeffe - "Ram's Head, Blue Morning Glory", 1938 oil (Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM):

Henry Moore - "Working Model for Three Piece No.3: Vertebrae", 1968 bronze (Tate Modern, London, U.K.):

For lunch, we went to the downstairs cafeteria - it was perfect! After lunch it was time to head back into The Museum.

Today's trip was inspired by two things: take photos of art that I have not seen before (6 pieces), and take "new photos" of pieces that I had photographed with my old camera-phone (40 pieces). New Art includes:

Martin Johnson Heade - "South American River", 1868 oil:

Eugène Louis Boudin - "Venice, Santa Maria della Salute from San Giorgio", 1895 oil:

"Comparison Photos (Old-then-New)" include:

Robert Scott Duncanson - "Dog's Head of Scotland", 1870 oil. Old photo was taken April 18, 2019:

Albert Bierstadt - "Valley of the Yosemite", 1864 oil. Old photo was taken April 18, 2019:

Thomas Cole - "View of the Round-Top in the Catskill Mountains", 1827 oil. Old photo was taken Dec 3, 2015:

Giovanni Paolo Pannini - "Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome", 1757 oil. Old photo was taken Dec 3, 2015:

We left The Museum a little after 2 PM. I like the look of the whole 2.2-miles:

Thank You God for this wonderful art/adventure day!

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/

4 Days in London: Day 4 = Thurs. Dec 5, 2024

Thursday, Dec 5, 2024 - Although they were calling for "Rain" today, it looks like I will have a rain-free window from 8 AM to 1 PM. Plenty of time for me to to grab Post Offices North-and-West of my hotel:

It is a nice day for a walk-about:

It is FUN to "peek-over-the-wall" once in a while:

Although I was in "non-rain", it had rained throughout the night. I'm sure these sidewalks made Wonderful Sense when they were designed (and even installed), but when you GET RAIN on them, they are VERY SLICK and Great Attention must be paid just to walk on them:

More FUN Houses-in-London:

I wound up collecting 9 Post Offices today. My favorite is when the building/location is exclusively a "Post Office" (W9 3ND - London, UK):

I find them much-less-appealing when the "Post Office function" is just a small part of the business (W9 1EU - London, UK, for example):

I was just about done with my 7-mile-hike at noon, and had lunch at Harrison's Coffee:

The view to my right from my lunch-table:

Back to the Hotel as the rain started coming down (had to get a bag of chips on the way). I worked on my computer, and read my Science-Fiction book, and packed. It turns out that I grabbed 34 Post Offices over 4 days:

4 on Monday (purple)
12 on Tuesday (orange)
9 on Wednesday (black)
9 on Thursday (blue):

And I wound up walking 42.2 miles over those 4 days:

-------------------------

Friday, Dec 6, 2024
My flight home is Virgin Atlantic #4011 - Economy Class (handled by Delta)
Terminal 3 (Gate 23?)
Heathrow Airport, London, UK, 08:50 AM - Logan Airport, Boston, MA, US, 11:45 AM

Heathrow Express From Paddington: every 15 minutes from 5:10am to 11:25pm

I got up after 4 AM; cleaned up and got out of there. Reached Paddington Station at 4:51

I went down to the end of the platform and looked back:

15-minute ride to The Airport:

When you get off the train, you first look right:

And then you look left. Well, I am flying Virgin-and-Delta, so this LOOKS GOOD:

I checked-in, got through Security, and the tried to find the Gate for my Flight-to-Boston. So glad I got here early:

I think Heathrow has taken lessons from The Museums - the Only Way to the Gates is through The Gift Shops:

I finally found a seat among some nice little stores:

Nice plane with a lot of room:

Taking off from Heathrow:

Cool window seat:

Landing at Boston - that's My Plane:

WOW - Thank you God for all these wonderful "Adventures-in-London" days! (and for Safe Travels hither-thither-and-yon)

Past entries of this blog are available on the website https://dixonheadingwest.blogspot.com/

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/