Photos
January 16, 2014
We have another busy day before us. Since it is Thursday, sadly the
Guggenheim is closed. We hadn't take it into account when we planned this trip, not realizing how nearby it was and that it is a Frank Lloyd Wright building. We had hoped to just make a quick buzz through, but here is the exterior anyway.
We were up about 7am and went down to the included continental breakfast by 8am. It was adequate. We went back upstairs and brushed our teeth, packed and then checked out and left our bags for pickup later.
We set off with the Guggenheim our first stop. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art doesn't open until 10am anyway. So, we had some time to kill. We got there early and got in a line of other early arrivers to await entry and buy our tickets. Museum tickets are expensive! Lucky that Clay is a senior and saving us a little money. The Met was another beautiful building. We decided to limit ourselves to just a few items of interest beyond the collection's Vermeers so we wouldn't wander in there all day! We went first to the Vermeers. Then to the Temple of Dendur. A Roman temple from Egypt that was a gift from that country to ours when it would have been lost to the Aswan Dam project. Amazing! Beautiful installation! To the Impressionists for Clay and then the Gift Shop on our way out. I got a crazy detailed jigsaw puzzle of the museum.
Mission accomplished for NYC. We have viewed 9 Vermeers in the last 24 hours. Now on to Philadelphia for Vermeer number 10 and cheese steak sandwiches!
So, in no time at all we were back to The Franklin picking up our luggage and car and on our way to Philadelphia. We decided to try to spend the night tonight in Washington, DC. See the Vermeers at the National Gallery tomorrow and get on home. There are new winter weather advisories out for the East Coast and it looks like the nice, though colder weather will not hold through the weekend.
We were at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art by midafternoon. We parked out front and walked up all the steps! They were in sets of 13. How odd is that? There was a Rocky statue out front too which was funny. Clay reenacted the scene at the top of the stairs on our way out. We saw our Vermeer #10 and some modern art before leaving. I was delighted to find
Duchamp's fountain/urinal! Who knew Philly had a very large
Marcel Duchamp collection? Surprise! We asked a couple of door guards about where to find a
Philly cheesesteak nearby and got a great recommendation for
City View on Spring Garden. Too far to walk, but we have the car. So, off we went, starving!
It was easy to find City View and we found onstreet parking about a block away. We each got an enormous sandwich and we devoured them. Clay got his with onions and provolone. I got mine without and with the traditional Cheese Whiz. Mine was better than Clay's. The Cheese Whiz is the key! We can't wait to try making these at home.
We set off for the longer than expected drive into DC. We used Clay's smartphone to make a reservation at the Embassy Suites near Dupont Circle because it was the only place we could remember being reasonably priced and conveniently located that we had stayed at before. It was still more expensive than NYC, but it was a LOT bigger room and better breakfast too! We got in about 8pm, missing the complimentary cocktail hour once again. Once checked in and parked, we crashed into bed. Our room was very conveniently located near the elevators on the 2nd floor. We could leave the car parked in their underground garage for up to 24 hours for the extra $42 parking fee! I should point out that it was more reasonably priced the last time we were here, before the Ritz Carlton opened on the next corner! I guess the neighborhood was more marginal then and much more upscale now and the prices reflect it.
