Day 8 - June 27, 2022 - MET and 09/11

Today is the last day in New York City. It's another beautiful day with a comfortable temperature of 25 degrees. We had breakfast on our terrace and left the house separately again. This time, Marie and Anne wanted to visit the 9/11 Museum, while Pauline and I wanted to go to the Metropolitan Museum (MET). I heard that it's very impressive, especially in terms of size. So Pauline and I took the subway to Manhattan. We arrived around 11:30 am and there was quite a long line of visitors in front of the entrance. We lined up and waited, but it didn't move forward. I went to check and saw that there was another line on the other side where things were moving quickly. So I went back, took Pauline with me, and we lined up on the opposite side. It moved very quickly here, and we were able to get our tickets for $25 from the ticket machines inside. We started our tour on the ground floor in the Egyptian section. We really enjoyed this section as the exhibits were very interesting. For example, we could see inside a colorful painted sarcophagus that had been opened in the middle. The mummies were also displayed in an informative way, with plenty of space. There were also various jewelry pieces made of gold, silver, and bronze. Many exhibits were gifts from Egypt. Then we entered the middle section of the museum. The first thing that caught our attention was the large courtyard with a long line of people waiting in front of the building in this courtyard. There was a poster saying that there was an Instagram Fashion exhibition here. I didn't know much about it, but we decided to join the line and after a short wait, we were allowed in. Inside, it was dark and quite cold. Unfortunately, we didn't have jackets with us. Anyway, there were different rooms here showcasing different time periods and social classes. We could see the people in these rooms dressed in clothing corresponding to their respective time periods and social classes. It all culminated in a grand ballroom with several people wearing the most curious outfits. We could also read about the designers of these dresses, including fashion giants like Armani and Dior, among others.

After about 45 minutes, we returned to the indoor areas of the main building and headed to the Roman era section. There were many paintings and sculptures to see in this area, which stretched across two floors. In between, there was a restaurant where we took a break. We grabbed cappuccino, caffe latte, and cake from the self-service area. Everything was good and tasty, but once again, it was all served in plastic and paper dishes. I don't think I could ever get used to that. Once we were refreshed, we continued with the ancient Romans. I particularly liked a courtyard with sculptures and beautiful fountains. I could vividly imagine how the Roman upper class must have enjoyed the grandeur and strolled around here. Then we moved on to the Greeks, where we could admire even more sculptures, coins, and writings. In the middle of it all, we came across the museum shop, where Pauline seriously considered buying an overpriced sweater because she was cold. The museum was quite clever in that respect... But after careful consideration, we were asked to make a decision as the shop was closing. Fortunately, that was enough reason not to buy it. So we returned to the ancient Greeks and admired the exhibition. It was already close to 5:00 pm, and the museum was about to close. We had only seen half of it, but we were also exhausted. I have to say that this museum was my favorite out of all the ones I visited there. For me, it's definitely the most impressive museum. When we left, it was very crowded at the exit, much to the dismay of Pauline, who wanted to take selfies there. Oh well, then it would be selfies with the crowd.

Then we walked south from the museum towards the Empire State Building. We planned to meet Marie and Anne here to say our goodbyes on our last evening in Manhattan in a rooftop bar (Fifth Avenue 230). Unfortunately, we underestimated the distance (Pauline had calculated it), so we arrived about 30 minutes late. I thought they might have gone up already and ordered us something cold, but they were patiently waiting in front of the building. 😃After a joyful greeting, we showed our IDs (Pauline could only enter with her parents 😅), and we went up to the terrace. We found a nice table with a view of the Empire State Building right in front of us. Anne and Marie went to the bar and got us "adults" a cold Corona beer. Pauline got something more suitable for kids. We enjoyed the view in the evening atmosphere and listened to cool bar chillout music. We were all pretty exhausted from the day and decided to go home around 8:00 pm. We ate the leftovers from our fridge on the terrace and talked about the day.