Category Archives: Outings

Gatsby

Gatsby

On Friday my friend Reissa and I went to a screening of The Great Gatsby dressed up as flappers (although she was a much more convincing flapper than I was). Ultimately the hair is everything and in hindsight I should have just bought a wig. But I did buy and wear a drop-waist dress for the occasion, which is not even the least bit kind to someone who has a larger bust like myself. And I had a bit of razzle-dazzle too in the form of Art Deco-ish jewels, glitter nail polish and a sequin clutch.

It was such a fun night, and I had such an amazing time that I think I will dress up for all future trips to the movies!

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The Barnes Foundation

Barnes Foundation

Today I took a day trip to Philadelphia with my master’s program to visit The Barnes Foundation. It was my first time visiting Philadelphia; however, since our sole purpose for visiting was to view the Barnes Collection, I was unable to get a real feel for the city.

The Barnes Foundation is an educational art and horticultural institution that was founded in 1922 by Albert C. Barnes. The foundation was formerly located in Merion, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, before being moved to downtown Philadelphia; however, the Merion campus is still the site of the Barnes’s Arboretum. I definitely recommend watching the documentary The Art of the Steal (currently available on Netflix Instant), which examines the foundation’s very controversial move to Philadelphia. The Barnes Foundation possess about $25 billion worth of art consisting primarily of works by Impressionist and Modernist masters.

Unfortunately, photography is prohibited inside the collection and exhibition galleries so I do not have any art to share, but I definitely recommend visiting the foundation’s site to get an idea of what the collection consists of.

http://www.barnesfoundation.org/

If I had to pick a favorite work of art that I saw today, it would probably have to be Matisse’s Le bonheur de vivre. It was truly amazing to see how intensely beautiful the colors are in person despite having faded over time. I also particularly enjoyed the actual placement of the work within the collection – it is located on the second floor, tucked away in a little alcove.

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{Henri Matisse Le bonheur de vivre (The Joy of Life) 1905-6}

Image via

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Ladurée

Ladurée

This past Sunday I visited Ladurée, which is the macaron shop to end all macaron shops. They have, hands down, the best macarons in the city, and possibly anywhere – they’re just that good! The only downside is that they’re pretty expensive, but since this keeps me from going on a weekly basis, it’s probably for the best. I should also note that the shop is delightful and lovely, and the Ladurée packaging is absolute perfection!

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Ladurée

864 Madison Avenue, between 70th and 71st Streets

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Saturday

View from Bryant Park

Alex usually has to work on the weekends so whenever he manages to score a day off during the weekend, we try to do something special. Sometimes something special means spending the day inside and having a marathon of some sort (e.g. the House of Cards marathon we had a couple of weeks ago). But other times we venture out into our beautiful city and do a bit of exploring, which is something we rarely get the chance to do.

This past Saturday Alex had the day off so we decided to visit the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market, which we actually had never been to before. All in all we really loved it, aside from the obvious absence of food, which is of course, our favorite thing about the Williamsburg Flea Market. However, the true test to gauge whether or not a flea market is any good is whether or not you find anything worthy of taking home with you. I managed to walk away with an equestrian print silk scarf for $3 (seen here), as well as a vintage Longchamp bag that I was able to get down to $25. Success!

After our flea market experience, we grabbed lunch before strolling through Bryant Park on our way over to Grand Central. While in Grand Central we picked up some jumbo macarons from Eli’s (big surprise) and the hopped on the subway and headed uptown. Once uptown, we popped into Banana Republic where I proceeded to take pictures of Alex as he tried on suits. We then ended our evening with dinner and a movie. It was a really lovely Saturday and I hope to have many more just like it in the future.

Hell's Kitchen Flea Market

{Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market}

Hell's Kitchen Flea Market Ice cream truck

{An ice cream truck outside Bryant Park}

Outside public library

{An ornate lamppost by the library}

The Chrysler Building

{The Chrysler Building}

Outside Grand Central

{Outside Grand Central}

Grand Central

{Inside Grand Central}

Chandelier

{A lovely chandelier}

Pastries at Zaro's

{Pastries at Zaro’s in Grand Central Market}

Macarons from Eli's

{A bag of macarons from Eli’s}

Jumbo macarons

{Caramel, coffee, raspberry and strawberry}

Raspberry and strawberry

{Alex had the caramel and coffee and I had the raspberry and strawberry, naturally}

Alex!

{My handsome man looking sharp in a suit!}

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The Windmills in Kinderdijk

Windmills

Kinderdijk, a village in the Netherlands, is home to a system of 19 windmills, which happens to be the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands. If you want to see some old windmills, this is the place you need to go! It is an incredibly peaceful and serene area – perfect for a leisurely stroll, especially after days and days of long bus rides and countless museum visits.

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The Stedelijk Museum

The Stedelijk Museum, which is located in Amsterdam at the Museum Square, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design and its collection is comprised of works from the early 20th century up to the 21st century, featuring artists such as Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Kirchner, Chagall, Matisse, Pollock, Warhol and De Kooning. This past fall the museum reopened after receiving a renovation and a new wing, which people have nicknamed “the bathtub.”

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Peter the Great at Hermitage Amsterdam

Peter the Great

Hermitage Amsterdam is a branch museum of the Hermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg, Russia, located on the banks of the Amstel River in Amsterdam. The museum itself is comprised of two large exhibition halls and smaller exhibition rooms. The two current exhibitions on display are Peter the Great, an Inspired Tsar and Vincent: The Van Gogh Museum in the Hermitage Amsterdam. Photography was prohibited for the Van Gogh exhibition and I was too afraid to sneak a few pictures or try and see how strict they were about the rule. For all I know photography was prohibited for the Peter the Great exhibition as well, but I did manage to take several snapshots anyhow.

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The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, located in Rotterdam, is one of the oldest museums in the Netherlands and began with the collection of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans in 1849. In 1958, the collection of Daniël George van Beuningen was added to the museum, and the museum acquired its current name. The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen has a very diverse collection of artworks ranging from Medieval Art to Contemporary, with a focus of Dutch Art.

If you ever find yourself in Rotterdam, I recommend paying this museum a visit; I was given a pretty fantastic tour when I was there and I must say that their coat check is pretty much the coolest coat check ever.

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The Kröller-Müller Museum

Kröller-Müller

I would have to say that the Kröller-Müller Museum, which is located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo, was my favorite museum that I visited while in The Netherlands. I particularly loved the museum’s current Van Gogh exhibition, as well as their sculpture garden, and was also quite impressed by the overall collection of artworks. Here is a glimpse of what I saw while I was there!

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The Bonnefanten Museum

The Bonnefanten Museum, which is located in Maastricht, was the first museum (of many) that I visited during my trip to The Netherlands. Here is a taste of what the museum currently has on exhibition.

  

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