The Metropolitan Museum

Saturday was my last full day in the city.  I checked out of the hotel, left my luggage with the bag captain and hitched a cab to the Upper Eastside.  I saw on the web that the Met had an interesting sculpture on the roof made of bamboo and that you could line up for tickets to climb up.  This was the last weekend before they started taking the sculpture down.  When I got to the museum, the place was packed.  I asked about where to line up for the roof sculpture and they pointed me to another exit.  After wandering around trying to figure out what they were talking about, I found the wheelchair entrance with a bit of a line of people.  I was able to get one of the last tickets (yay!) and some time to check out a few other exhibits.  The first place I headed was the Khubilai Khan exhibit.  They had some beautiful examples of pottery, textiles, paintings and many other decorative objects.  I focused mainly on the decorative objects, I didn't have the energy to focus on the paintings.  In many of the pieces on exhibit, I learned about how the art during this period brought together artistic styles and techniques from all corners of the Mongol empire.  They were also very open to just about any religion, which also influenced the art.

From the Khan exhibit, I headed up to the roof to check out this sculpture that I was going to be walking on.  It was stunning and huge!  Walking underneath it was like being in a dry bamboo forest (but with climbing rope scattered throughout).  A lot of people were up on the roof having a drink, taking pictures of the sculpture, looking at the colourful foliage in Central Park.  I would be up on the sculpture in a couple of hours!

I took a brief break in the cafe in the American Wing.  This is one of my favourite places in the museum.  I just love the light in here and the way it shines on the various sculptures.

The tour of the Big Bambu sculpture met downstairs.  While I was waiting for it to start, I noticed a familiar face taking her kids to the museum.  Turns out it was Marcia Gay Harden! 

In order to walk on the sculpture, they required that we leave our belongings in lockers (so that nothing could accidentally drop on someone below).  We got to walk up the bamboo paths, on this amazing structure that was just sitting on the roof, not bolted down, creating this wave-like form, with various sizes of poles tied together with different colours of climbing rope.  By the time we were at the top, we were 50 ft above the roof of the Met, looking out over the Park and across at the Penthouses surrounding it.  The bamboo underneath our feet flexed as we walked.  The rock climbers who worked on the structure created a place for a beer cooler, places for bamboo lounge chairs and a small bamboo wind chime.  It was an amazing feeling being up there!  The wisteria on the roof's trellis had started growing up the bamboo.  It was an incredible feeling to be within and a part of this beautiful artwork, knowing that it was going to be gone within a few weeks!

After I got back to the hotel, picked up my bags and headed to Wilson and Ming's coop, I was pretty tired.  Instead of heading to the theatre (to see Cedar Lake at the Joyce) I decided I needed a Shake Shack burger and fries and a frozen custard.  Plus, it would give me a chance to reexamine the light sculptures in Madison Square Park.  It was a fitting way to end a busy week.