The last field trip for the class is discovering the Lower Manhattan.  The class get to visit the Fraunces Tavern.  This restaurant is an important landmark because this is the place where General George Washington bid his farewell to his officers on the 4^thof December, 1783.  I went inside to take a glimpse.  I found out that this is not just a restaurant, but it also has a museum on the second floor.

Fraunces Tavern

National Register of Historic Place

Another landmark that we saw on that day was the National Museum of the American Indian.  I will definitely visit this museum soon because I became more interested in museums now.  I want to learn more about the Native Americans since I don’t know a lot of things about them.  Across the museum is where the Bowling Green Fence park can be found.

National Museum of American Indian

Bowling Green Fence

We also get to discover the famous “Charging Bull.”  It was my first time seeing it.  I didn’t get to see the “Fearless girl” though due to the number of tourists taking pictures in the location.

Charging Bull

New York Stock Exchange

Federal Hall

After that, we went to see the New York Stock Exchange building.  On our way there, we get to discover a residential building that has a huge chandelier inside.  I was in awe of how beautiful it was.  We went to the Federal Hall next, which I find very fascinating.  The inside was like a round shape that has a very beautiful circular ceiling.

We head over to the Trinity Church next.  We could not go inside because it was under renovation.  I found out that Alexander Hamilton was buried in the graveyard of the church.  Whenever I come to this area before, I usually just pass by this church, not knowing how significant this place is.

Trinity Church

The last destinations that we went to were the Oculus, World Trade Center, 9/11 memorial, and the waterfront.  I have been to these places a few times in the past, so I am more familiar with it. On my home, I discovered some colorful murals.  I even get to see some of the people painting the walls.

Oculus

Waterfront

Mural

I decided to go to Whitney Museum of American Art for the museum visit assignment.  The museum focuses on twentieth century and contemporary American art (“About the Whitney”).  The museum was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.  It was opened the following year on West Eight street in Greenwich Village (Schjeldahl, 2015).  I found out about this museum from a classmate of mine a few semesters ago. She had a PowerPoint presentation about the Whitney Museum for one of the hospitality management classes.  I got very interested after watching her presentation.  I did not get a chance to visit the museum though.  This museum was also mentioned a couple of times in Urban Tourism class too, the reason why I decided to come here.

Just like other popular museums in the city, the general admission for adults is $25, $18 for seniors and students. Visitors who are 18 and under get to go inside for free (About the Whitney”).  When I went to the counter, I showed my CUNY ID to the staff.  I was also readying my credit card to pay for the student admission.  I was surprised when the employee handed me the ticket without asking me to pay.  I asked her if I have to pay, she then told me that CUNY students get to visit the museum for free.  I feel like $25 has been the standard fee for museums in New York. Because of that, I think that the price is reasonable.

The closest subway station is the 14^thStreet station that has A, C, and E train lines (“About the Whitney”).  I took the C train to go to the museum. After getting out of the subway, I have to walk for about ten more minutes before arriving to the museum.  While doing some research about the Whitney museum, I found out that the building was new.  From Madison Avenue, the museum moved to Downtown in the meatpacking district in 2015 (Schjeldahl, 2015).  This explains why the building looks so clean and new.  The architect who designed the new building, that cost $4422 million (Weiss, 2016), was Renzo Piano (Schjeldahl, 2015).  I really like the location of the place.  There are a lot of restaurants and shopping stores in the area.  Chelsea Market is also a few blocks away.  The building is also placed near the waterfront. The High Line is also overlooking. For some reason, the building reminds me of a shopping mall.  The staffs working in the museum were very polite and accommodating.  I was greeted nicely, and I felt very welcomed.  The interior of the new building is modern, which matches the contemporary arts that the museum is showcasing.  I also noticed that there are restrooms almost most of the floors.

Based on Lois Weiss’ article, the museum has about 340,000 numbers of visitors annually.  However, Adam Weinberg, Whitney’s director, said that they were hoping that the new museum would double this number (2016).  During my visit, I noticed that there were a lot of millennials visiting the museum.  Probably fifty percent of the guests were millennials, and the other half was a mixture of baby boomers ad Generation X.  I also did not notice a lot of kids inside.  There was probably only about five of them.

There are five galleries in the museum, but the gallery on the fifth floor is close. The first gallery that I saw was the one on the third floor called “Flash.”  This is a photography collection by Harold Edgerton.  In sixth floor, some photographs, paintings, and other art forms regarding the history of protest are being displayed that made me feel gloomy because of the tragedy that happened and is happening in the country.

All this museum is very educational.  I enjoyed my visit in the museum.   I would not be surprise if becomes more popular in the future and that the number of annual visitors would be doubled or tripled.

Works Cited

About the Whitney. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://whitney.org/About

Schjeldahl, P. (2015, June 19). The Whitney’s Downtown Move. Retrieved from.  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/27/new-york-odyssey

Weiss, L. (2016, August 29). Whitney Museum drowning in water bills: Report. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2016/08/29/whitney-museum-drowning-in-water-bills-report/

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the most popular museums not just in New York, but in the world.  It welcomes about seven million visitors.  It is also said to be the most visited museum in New York City for both domestic and international crowd (metmuseum.org).  I found out about this museum through my auntie.  I still remember the first that I went here, my aunt was touring me around Central Park until we get to this museum.  We went inside and were about to buy tickets, but we thought that the tickets that cost $25 for general admissions were too expensive. My aunt thought that it was free, but she was unsure.  We decided to just stay in the lobby for a little bit and left.  Based on the museum’s website, the general admission fee for adults is $25.  For seniors, it is $17.  For students, it is $12 (Penn, 2016).  Since I was not a student during my first visit, I have to pay $25.  I thought it was ridiculously high, and just rather spend that amount of money to food.  When I found out that the $25 admission fee was just a suggested price, so I told my friend to come visit it with me.  I get to visit the museum for the second time, and this time I get to go inside and not just in the lobby.  However, I did not get to enjoy it that much because it was only less than an hour till the museum closes.  The museum usually opens at 10 am to 5:30 pm on Sundays to Thursdays.  For Fridays and Saturdays, it opens until 9 pm (metmuseum.org). I found this information through the museum’s website, which I find very user-friendly.

The class had field trip in the Metropolitan Museum of Art last June 19^th.  It was my third time to visit the museum.  I arrived a bit late because I had a class that ended at 11 am on that day. The closest subways to the museum are 4, 5, and 6 (Penn, 2016).  I took the 4 train from Borough Hall station and it took me about 50 minutes to an hour to arrive in the museum.  I also have to walk for about 12-15 minutes.  Good thing GPS was invented.  Without it, I would definitely get lost.  As usual, there were a lot of people touring inside the museum.  Just like my first and second visit, I noticed that some staffs were a bit impolite to some visitors.  The staffs in the information desk were very helpful though. However, the employees who were working in the register were showing lack of interests towards the guests. Since the Met is a very popular tourist attraction in NYC, I think that the employees should be friendlier and patient to the visitors.

Since I only get to explore a little part of the museum on my last visit, I did not expect how big the place is.  Because the museum showcases over 5,000 years of art from around the world. The museum did not just focus in one collection, but many—including Asian art, European paintings, American history and many more (metmuseum.org).  My perspective has changed since my first visit to the museum.  As we tour around the museum, I realized that the admission price was worth the visit.

I get to see the Slit Gong or the Atingting kon, which I found out that it was the biggest gong.  I also get see Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings that I only saw online.  The tour guide also mentioned Van Gogh’s painting technique “impasto” that has a thick texture that leaves visible brush strokes.  Bronzino’s “Portrait of a Young Man” is the opposite to Van Gogh’s technique.  In Bronzino’s painting, there is no visible brush stroke compared to Van Gogh’s “impasto” painting style.  The tour guide pointed out the gargoyles in Bronzino’s painting.  She said that these gargoyles may represent masks.

After the tour, I walked around the museum.  I will definitely come back to this place again.  I feel like I went time traveling as I look at the sculptures, paintings, and historical objects in the museum.

Work Cited

Penn, A. (2016). Guide to the Met Fifth Avenue. Nycgo.org. Retrieved from https://www.nycgo.com/articles/guide-to-the-met-fifth-avenue

Metmuseum.org. Retrieved from https://www.metmuseum.org

the Slit Gong

Mural

Wheatfield

Portrait of a Young Man

The class went on a field trip on June 12.  Often times, I just go straight to school ones I get out of the subway station. After my classes, I head straight home. I noticed that the Brooklyn Bridge park was near the area where the location of the school because I could see the view of the Brooklyn Bridge outside the school, but I did not that it’s just a walking distance.  I realized while the class was walking to the Brooklyn Bridge Park, that there were so many things to do in the area.  On our way, we get to see old buildings that still existed today.  Usually, I just past by these kinds of buildings, not realizing that they are historical ones and has been built many decades ago.  It is very smart that these historical buildings have a summary of their history placed on their walls so that people will be more aware of their histories.

Eagle Warehouse

It was only my second time going riding the ferry.  The fee for the ferry is also reasonable because it only cost $2.75 each ride. Once I got inside the ferry, I went straight upstairs so that I can get a better view of the surrounding.  I think that transforming the waterfront into a park is a good idea.

Domino Sugar Factory Building, 325 Kent

Walking from the Williamsburg ferry station to the Domino park, we get to see some street murals/graffiti.  We even get to witness someone painting the walls.

Street Mural

Turquoise

The first thing that I noticed in the park is the color turquoise, which gives a refreshing, calming vibe.  It is so nice how some things in the past, such as the cranes, tanks, screw conveyors, still remains in this park.  There are a lot of outdoor activities that people can do in this park.  There is an area where people can play beach volleyball without having to go to an actual beach. There are playgrounds for kids to have fun with.  There are also people sitting on the grass or the benches reading books, eating, relaxing, or chatting.  I agree that they should provide more signage or labels that gives people information about the history of the place.

It is a clever idea to include a fast food restaurant, which is the Tacocina, in the middle of the park because food is significant thing for people.  I am little disappointed about Tacocina though.  We waited in line for so long.

Overall, I enjoyed the field trip to the Domino Park.  I hope that more people will get to know the history of this place.

Domino Sugar Factory Building

325 Kent Signage

Domino Park