Working on my bucket list

     On Thursday, June 28, it was rainy so we decided to visit the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. It was just a short ride on the subway from our hotel. The museum’s core exhibits explore how moving images throughout history are made, marketed, and shown. It goes from flip books to movies, TV, and digital. There is also a whole section on Jim Henson’s career which brought back many memories of Sesame Street and the Muppet Show. We enjoyed watching the movie on Jim Henson behind the Seams (how muppets are made) and one of the Muppet shows featuring Bob Hope.

     Friday was another day to make a dent in my bucket list of NYC activities. We started out by visiting the Church of the Ascension on 5^th Avenue. It is a National Historic Site, but it was closed and no sign of a visitor center or a National Parks Passport Stamp!

"Delirious Matter" in Madison Square Park

     Our next stop was the Museum of Math at Madison Square Park. This is a 5 year old museum and looks like a lot of fun playing with math. It would be worth a visit when we have more time. We walked through Madison Square Park and looked at the art installation, six sculptures by Diana Al-Hadid, called "Delirious Matter."

     At Washington Square we stopped in the Grey Art Gallery, one of many sponsored by NYU. I loved the brass painted “weeds” that one of the artists had “growing” along the floor and some of the walls.

  

Grey Art Gallery at NYU

Merchant's House Museum

     The Merchant’s House Museum on 4^th Street was built in 1832 as a home for the Tredwell family. It is a 5 story brownstone and is still filled with the family’s original furnishings. It is basically one room wide. I managed to struggle up the stairs to see everything except the servant’s quarters on the top floor.

      Our final stop was the Judd Foundation on Spring Street and Mercer. This is in a 5 story cast iron building where the artist Donald Judd had his home, office, and studio. It is open for tours, but we only spent time looking at the installation of 12 extruded aluminum works in 12 anodized colors on the ground floor - slightly under whelming!

     We finished our day with a ride on the free Staten Island ferry to Staten Island and back.