Manhattan: Met & Magnolia!

So last Sunday, after only two weeks of living in New York, I made my first trip as a semi-tourist (someone who lives close enough to get into the City on a regular basis, but doesn't actually live there) into Manhattan!

The trip wasn't without purpose, however. We went with the task of visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, specifically their temporary exhibit entitled "Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul", for a report due in our Art and the World honors course.

So my classmate and friend Lisa picked me up right behind my dorm, and we took the 1.5 minute drive to the train station where we met Kristen. We hopped on the train and while I fully intended to do my Into to Communication Theory reading on the 45 minute train ride, I never even attempted to take out the packet. 45 minutes seems like a good amount of time, but let me tell you, when you're busy talking to your friends, people watching, or looking out the windows at the drastically changing landscape from perfectly manicured Garden City to Queens, it honestly seems like a ten minute ride! We met Maddie at Penn station and decided that a taxi was the best way of getting to the Met.

This was my very first NYC Cab ride!!! The windows were down, the sky was blue, and the weather was wonderful as we rode through the upper Manhattan, all for $12 (in all)!

We arrived at the Met around noon and ate NYC hotdogs on the steps of the Met.

We tried to get into the Museum for free, seeing as the cost is merely "recommended" and we were only there to see one exhibit for school. Yet the long haired, greasy, tired young man at the ticket counter informed us that the Metropolitan Museum of Art's definition of recommended is "you have to pay something." So we proceeded to pay $1 each, which also included a complementary eye roll from the young man, and were on our way to the exhibit.

The exhibit was absolutely wonderful! Now, I am definitely not the biggest history buff in the world, and when I find myself at museums or landmarks I read a plaque every now and then and I am generally satisfied to get the mere overall explanation for what I am seeing. On this day, however, I was forced to read every historical description on the walls, many of the explanations of artifacts, and even take detailed notes so I could end up with plenty of material for my paper. Let me tell you, thank goodness I saw this exhibit for school! I learned so much and was really able to understand all the different rooms, artifacts and history. One room, the room displaying artifacts from the excavation tomb site at Tillya Tepe, was set up just as it was found! Four smaller tombs of women surrounding one larger tomb of a man. The walls were curved and there was dessert landscapes around all four walls, so it felt like you were actually in the tomb in the middle east!

Once everyone was satisfied with their pages and pages of notes we spent fifteen minutes trying to get out of the museum. Then we decided it would be crazy to leave Manhattan on such a beautiful day at 3:00 in the afternoon. So we walked around the Upper East Side for a while, plotting how we were going to marry the filthy rich youth of Manhattan, and live out the rest of our lives spoiled rotten in one of the penthouses or brownstones surrounding us.

We walked through the park and found ourselves on 67th street of the Upper West Side. Just two blocks away from Magnolia.

Now for those of you in California who have never heard of Magnolia, you are missing out, just as I was. It is one of the little bakery chains that is famous for their delicious, and over priced cupcakes!

We made it to Magnolia, and stood in the long, long, line to pick out our delectable cupcakes. I even got one for my roomate! We were deeply saddened to find no avaible tables where we could actually eat our cupcakes, however, so we walked in the direction of Penn station hoping to find a bench or table along the way. We had no luck, however, and 20 minutes before the 4:40 train back to Long Island was to leave, we found a subway stop for the 1 train, bought our Metro Cards (I purchased the deal where if you buy 3 rides you get 1 free, so now I have the card in my wallet and it makes me feel like a real New Yorker), and took the subway to the station.

Once we got on our Train back home we gobbled up our cupcakes with many odd looks from fellow passengers.

The way home, however, did feel like 45 minutes, and we swear that the train was going slower!

Here are some pictures of Magnolia.

I didn't bring my camera into the city (these pictures were from Maddie's camera) because you couldn't take pictures in the exhibit and my camera bag is bit too bulky, especially when I need a whole extra bag for all my other stuff. I plan on ordering this ASAP so that there will be plenty of Manhattan pictures for all of my future trips.

Please comment! I would love to hear what everyone is doing!!!!

Also, keep looking back for posts about tons of upcoming events I plan on participating in, including:

Amnesty Internation's On Campus "Make Noise" concert to end suffering in 3rd world countires
Homecoming week!
Circle K and other Amnesty International Events!
Honors College Cultural Events in the City: Morphoses and Hamlet!!!!!
Just silly College stuff!!!