Recently, NASA scientists discovered that most people love to play video games but hate to die in fiery airplane crashes

I’ve just been to New York City for the first time in my life. The second day was devoted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was raining that day, but despite the crush of people at the entrance, the museum was not so crowded that I felt uncomfortable. The Met was full of wonderful surprises and curiosities.

We started in the Ancient Art sections and wandered our way into exquisite 18th century paste porcelain figurines. We found a whole Venetian bedroom. At one point, the maze took us to a sculpture atrium to see The Burghers of Calais by Rodin. There are all manners of things in this museum. We spend four hours there and maybe saw 60%, only 20% which we actually absorbed I think.

Painting wise, the collection of the Met is really fulfilling. We made sure to dash through American Art only for the John Singer Sargent paintings. Most of our time was spent in European painting. Oh, the Vermeers and Rembrandts! When we were apart and barely acquainted with each other, Dillon used to say I looked like this particular Vermeer; so I was really excited to see it. My favorite came down in the more modern section. The Met has No. 5 in Gold. I love this painting. It’s one of my top 10 favorites and I was really happy to see it in person.

The next day we went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art which is an excellent museum, but just isn’t the Met. However, they were having a great special exhibit on Feminism in art and we got to see The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed.

The following day we went to the Cloisters, a Medieval art museum way up at the top of Manhattan. I really liked it, but it was uncomfortably crowded and I didn’t feel like I could spend the time there I really wanted to. I don’t have any pictures because I didn’t feel like dragging around the camera that day. I’m really camera shy, not only do I hate having my picture taken; I also hate to take pictures. I think I’m always disappointed with the results.