h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Museums:
Ellis Island was very impressive, though I lost my penknife to the security scanners. I knew that there was heavy security for the Statue of Liberty, which I didn't plan on climbing; but I didn't realise that the heavy security screened people before the ferry, which goes to both Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The whole presentation of the immigrants' experience at Ellis Island was very moving.
The Natural History Museum was a wonderful experience. The whole top floor was a modern exhibit about vertebrates, with rooms for fish/amphibians/early reptiles, the two main groups of dinosaurs, and mammals, all arranged with wonderful clarity according to the evolutionary relationships. Whole fossil skeletons included an Apatosaurus, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and lots more dinosaurs, with some great mammoths and mastodons in the mammal room. We also visited the Hall of Gems and Minerals, which had some very impressive specimens.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was another wonderful experience. Like the Natural History Museum, there was far too much to see in one day, so I concentrated on the European paintings, and the American wing, while M went off to see the Asian art. Of the huge Egyptian collection, I saw the Temple of Dendur (a whole temple rescued from the flooding by the Aswan dam, and presented to the USA by the Egyptian government). The American Wing had whole rooms done up in period style, from the 1780s onwards. The one that struck me most was the Frank Lloyd Wright room, where everything including the furnishings and colour scheme had been designed as an organic whole by Wright. Absolutely amazing! There were also a number of stained glass windows by Louis Tiffany, with lots of Tiffany glass in vases and lamps as well. M tells me I missed some fabulous Asian art, including a whole Japanese garden, and the interior of some temples. Maybe next time!
Azara

(and now part 3--since when did the journals refuse to post more than a certain length?)
The F???? Collection is presented in a very different way from the Met: it's in a mansion built for the collector, who chose nearly all the works individually, so the overall effect is very much of one person's favourites, displayed in his own (extremely grandiose) house. Lots of British paintings here: Holbein, Van Dyck, Constable, Turner, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Raeburn, Lawrence were all represented by masterpieces. Piero della Francesca, Velasquez, Vermeer, El Greco; again, it was very obvious that these were someone's favourite paintings, with the quality of the actual paintings (as opposed to the painters' reputations) absolutely topnotch. A genuine must-see!

The architecture, the gardens, the ambience:
Spring seems to be an ideal time to visit: the cherry blossom was out in Central Park, and most of the trees just coming into bud. The park comfortably held hordes of people playing baseball, jogging, cycling, touring the landmarks, and just going for a stroll. We also went to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, which had more cherry blossom, lots of magnolias, and what was for me a fascinating area showing the native ecosystems found within 100 miles of New York. Also fascinating were the groups of people from the strongly ethnic local communities, with lots of Hasidic Jews and Russians out for their Sunday stroll.
We managed to see much of the city's great architecture in passing, though we didn't go up the Empire State (my vertigo and a general lack of time!) We took a long leisurely stroll around the part of SoHo which has lots of buildings with cast-iron frontages, and is now being preserved and restored as a historic district. The buildings there were built as sweatshops, and have big windows with wide spaces inside; the decorative cast-iron fronts were, at the time, a fairly cheap extra. Great architecture, with a nice neighbourhood feel.
We may have been seeing the city at its best, but we certainly found walking around was very pleasant, and everywhere we were felt quite safe. (Apparently a big change from around 1980!) I'd happily go back, since there's so much more still to see.

Azara

That's the first time I've run afoul of the new "profanity" filter! The collection is called the F R I C K collection after a man called F R I C K and his F R I C K ing name is carved in big F R I C K ing letters on the front of his F R I C K ing mansion which faces out on 5th Avenue, and if the F R I C K ing prudish Americans don't worry about it I don't see why the BBC should complain.


Azara

- That's just plain daft. Hands up here who would get outrageously appalled and offended by the word "F R I C K"... (PS - if you do, maybe the internet is not the place for you. Play Solitaire or something instead). Sheesh.

Anyway - what a great experience you have had Azara ! I knew you would like New York. It's one of those few places in the world where I got a profound sense of deja vu visiting it for the first time back in 1994. As we went passed the Throgs Neck bridge towards Long Island I saw the Empire State Building and the Twin Towers for the first time and it brought a lump to my throat. There are so many places there that would be familiar to us Europeans from films, comedies and documentaries etc. There is a real sense of life about the place. Did you visit Ground Zero?

One of the big s the last time I was over there was seeking the 1964 World Fair observatory towers in Flushing Meadows on my way back to the airport. That was the setting of the finale for the movie "Men In Black". New York is that kind of place.

I was wondering what the censorship was hiding, Azara.

If I were you, I'd be tempted to do a short entry on it to make the point!

I've come out in sympathy, Azara - I think it's ridiculous that you can't use the word 'F-r-i-c-k' either in this context or in a different one.

I have to say that I didn't even know that frïck was an actual word, let alone a swear word, until I typo-ed on a post (I meant to type flick) and my post was blocked.

I mean, what the flick?

This is just getting way too silly. Words that people don't even know are words are banned by the profanity filter and then aren't even highlighted when you find your post banned.

Gaaa!

az

Also, Azara, if you'd tried to post an F with four ****s after it, that would have also been blocked. But apparently and F with five *****s is okey dokey. The mind reels.


az

Y'know, just having a quiet word with the Italics, querying whether or not something is wrong and suggesting that it ought to be changed often gets results.

Rather like this, in fact: F615?thread=2907852 You'll find that it really does work sometimes.

I've not had a reply from the italics, mind, Gosho (old habits die hard)!

Well, we've had a weekend (when the Eds don't work) since you posted that, and no doubt they were busy with other stuff on their to-do list today, but I reckon you'll get a reply eventually... even if you have to bump the conversation once or twice

I think the eds are away. They haven't answered anything in the last two weeks.

How can they all be away? That's weird.


az

Natalie is around, but she doesn't do much in the line of big editorial decisions, as she is too busy managing. I may be wrong, though.

But how can they just be gone? As in, not working? Or are they simply ignoring h2g2?


az

I don't know. But I notice that numerous questions asked at Editorial Feedback over the last couple of weeks have got no answer.

Curiouser and curiouser . . . does this mean that they are planning to shut down h2g2? Ya reckon?

az

I reckon not.

Hope not. So what is your guess about why all the Eds have suddenly disappeared, Gnomon?


az