Sunday–Last Day in New York

We went to church today at the New York Ward.  It was nice and you could tell everyone was from New York.  The whole congregation was huge, loud, noisy and very friendly.  They clapped when a young man was called up front because he won second in the pie eating contest the previous Saturday.  Different, but as always the Church is the same where ever you go. It was nice to be in church on Sunday.  A nice calm reprieve.

The Temple is also housed in this building.  We were unable to attend because it was Sunday.  Someday, I hope.  

The highlight of our visit was seeing the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Oh my gosh, I wish we had time to go completely through it.  I would come back to New York for that.

We went on a tour which was so interesting. Our cute little tour guide was from France and talk about knowledgeable – WoW!  She knew everything.

One of the things we learned was that the blue used in the paintings of the Madonna was more valuable than gold.  You will notice that all of the paintings with the Madonna have her wearing blue.  Some of the blue stays better than others.  The more expensive the blue paint, the better the color lasts. I took some pictures here and maybe you can see how some blues last and others don’t.  Some even look green.   

The screen shown below was bought by Randolph Hearst for his home.  He negotiated with the Catholic Church who owned the screen and didn’t want to sell it. He finally offered them a massive amount and they said ok. But, when it was time to put it in his home, he found that the screen didn’t fit.     Therefore, he gave it back to the museum and got other things in return.   Money doesn’t buy everything . . .

One of the museum’s most generous donors was a Robert Lehman. He had millions of dollars of art objects. He donated them to the museum with three conditions: 1. They be kept all together 2. The rooms are made to look exactly like his home and 3. The exhibit must be next to the front door so all can see them. The art was incredible.  He even had dishes which I thought were beautiful. I want them for my home – until I slowly broke everyone with my clumsiness.  Thus the reason we have Corelle wear.

Had a great time in NYC!  But, glad to be back to normal life and serving in our Mission