I'm finally bringing you the last instalment of my New York series (although that's kind of a lie because I will be writing a dedicated post about all of the places where we ate while we were there). I wasn't going to even post these photos because they're from my phone but the last two days we went to two museums and I loved both of them so I wanted to share the experiences with you all.
Our last full day got off to a terrible start because it absolutely lashed rain for half of the day. So much so that there was no way we could have left the apartment to walk to the subway station. We had an umbrella but sadly we weren't equipped for such heavy rain so we decided to take it easy and then go get lunch in Astoria before heading into Manhattan to visit the Met. Entry to the Met was part of our City Pass so we just went up to the desk and got stickers to go in. I didn't actually realise that you can pay what you want to gain entry to the Met. The recommended price is $25 though which is something that kind of annoys me, I feel like they should either charge or just say pay what you want because from what I've heard if you pay less than $25 they don't like it. It is a good idea for those living in New York who want to go a few times a year because I guess you could just pay whatever you wanted so that it doesn't cost you $25 each time. It's such a big museum that I know if I lived there I'd want to go a few times to see more of the exhibits.
In fact we only ended up seeing two exhibits, the Rei Kawakubo/ Comme des Garçons Art of the In-Between which actually opened while we were there ( I watched The First Monday in May on the plane so I was even more excited to go to the museum). The second was the Irving Penn: Centennial exhibition which blew me away, it was incredible to see such iconic photographs all in one place. It's actually closing soon so if you happen to be in New York and interested in photography it's a must!
I adored the Rei Kawakubo exhibit too, it was amazing to finally see one of the Costume Institute exhibitions in person, it's something I've wanted to do for years. I was conscious of the fact that I dragged Simon along to see this and I knew he wouldn't be hugely interested and it was quite crowded so we didn't stay that long, we tried to just see everything and not linger, although I could have stayed longer. We went on a Friday when the museum is open until 9pm as it is on Saturdays too, every other day it's only open until 5.30 so bear that in mind if you're planning to visit. It was the perfect activity for such a rainy day when walking around the city would have been difficult.
Thankfully all the shops were open late because it was about 8pm by the time we got there so we dashed around looking for presents and I made a quick final trip to Sephora to get a few things for myself and my sister. We then decided to walk around Times Square before getting the subway home because we hadn't seen it at night yet. We got some Cold Stone Creamery ice cream (which was amazing!) and just people watched for a bit before going home. It was our last night and also happened to be Cinco de Mayo so we went out for some tacos and $5 margaritas and had the perfect last night in New York.
Our flight wasn't until 10pm on the Saturday so we had the most of the day to do a few more things before we left. We packed up and cleaned the apartment and our kind hostess let us leave our bags there until we had to go to the airport. Instead of going back into Manhattan we decided to explore a bit more of Queens. We had read about the Museum of Moving Image which is beside Kaufman Studios. Kaufman Studios was opened in 1920 and was home to Paramount Pictures for about 20 years before most of the film industry moved to Hollywood. Films and tv shows made there include Goodfellas, Sesame Street, Orange is the New Black, First Wives Club, The Wiz, Carlito's Way, The Affair, The OA, Birdman, Angels in America and many films during the Silent and Talkies eras of cinema. Being a huge film fan and having studied it in college it was so cool to be in the place where they filmed so many amazing films and tv shows.
We both loved the Museum of Moving Image, it was $15 entry which we thought was reasonable however there is usually an bigger exhibition on as well as the usual museum exhibits that are there all year round. We had just missed the Martin Scorsese one and I was devastated to learn they were about to open their Jim Henson exhibition (which actually opens this Saturday) and has been in the works for years. I was so sad because they're apparently going to have lots of props, costumes and memorabilia from Labyrinth (which is one of my favourite films!), The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal and Sesame Street. It's basically my dream exhibition. It's supposed to be a permanent fixture so I'll definitely be going to see it when/if we go back to New York.
The actual Chewbacca head from of the the original Star Wars films, I can't remember which one!
Marlon Brando's prosthetic teeth from The Godfather
Makeup used in one of the Sex and the City films, not exactly cinematic greatness but interesting to any beauty fans reading this!
Sketches and models of the sets from Silence of the Lambs which is one of my favourite films
Robin Williams Mork costume from Mork and Mindy
Robin William's costumes from Mrs Doubtfire
Part of the miniature model that was used as the Tyrell Skyscraper from Blade Runner
The head turning animatronic Linda Blair from The Exorcist
Props from A Nightmare on Elm Street
I loved the museum despite missing out on those other two exhibitions. It had props, sketches and memorabilia from lots of film and television including film and tv cameras from throughout the years. There was also interactive rooms which would be great for kids (we loved them too). The staff were so friendly and helpful too. I'd highly recommend visiting this museum if you're in the area. I'm so glad we got to do something like this that was a bit different than the usual New York touristy museums.
Afterwards we went and got our last New York brunch and then our last coffee in our favourite café Astoria Coffee and went and collected our bags and got an uber to the airport. I thought JFK was a great airport, as airports go. It's kind of like a shopping centre, there's plenty of shops and places to eat. We got our last Shake Shack which was amazing and everything was pretty straight forward with travelling home which hugely helped with my travel anxiety. The only thing I would have changed is I wouldn't fly overnight again because I didn't sleep at all and therefore was awake for about 24 hours so I had to have a few hours nap when I got home. I didn't really know what to expect with the jet lag. Going over was fine because it was just like we were staying up late which I tend to do anyway. But the week after coming home I was all over the place. Thankfully I had the good sense to book a few extra days of work so that I could readjust to life after New York without jumping back into work straight away.
So that's it (almost) for our New York adventure. Like I said already I'm going to put together a post with all of the places we ate as a sort of guide for anyone who is planning a trip to NY. I found these kinds of posts really helpful when we were planning our trip and I have lots to say about eating out and food in New York so I'm hoping some of you will find it helpful and insightful.
To sum it all up, New York exceeded my expectations. I'm so happy we went for the length of time we did and that we stayed where we did. I don't think we'd go for as long the next time but I'd definitely stay in Queens again or perhaps Brooklyn. If you're looking to do New York on a budget there are definitely ways to do it such as staying outside of Manhattan (air bnb is the only way to go), combination tickets, finding the right places to eat, doing lots of free activities like the High Line, Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge etc. Most museums have an afternoon per week where admission is free so if you time things right you can see a lot without paying anything.
We're both dying to go back again, there's still so much I want to see and do. We did fit a lot into our trip but not too much that we were exhausted. I also think late April/ early May is a great time of year to go. I think next time I'd like to go in October.
There's so much more I could say but I think four long blog posts with close to 200 photos is more than enough. If you haven't been to New York, then I hope reading my series of posts about it has convinced you that you need to go. I think about our trip at least a few times a days and I'm constantly looking at the photos on my phone. It was the trip of a lifetime!
If you have any questions at all please ask away and I'll help if I can. Let me know if you've been to New York and what you thought and what the best place you've ever visited is.
Emma x
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