u.s.a. new york in spring

the day after graduation, we had lots of friends and relatives all in new york, so one of the things arranged was a tour of one of our favorite places, the metropolitan museum of art. as you know if you read this blog regularly, i am rather infatuated with quality museums and the met rates up there with the best of them.

it was a bit of a rush to get everyone ready and go through the subway and all meet up - many went on the 'woman and the seed' tour, but since we had already done that we decided to wander around instead. i did enjoy 'the woman and the seed' (and recommend it if you are in new york) but i also enjoy walking slowly and taking time to take pictures of some of the wierd and wonderful things. one of which is this chap:

all 3 meters (10 feet), 9 tonnes of him are carved from a single block of granite around 4,000 years ago. archaelogists think it might be amenemhat II but its hard to tell because when a new egyptian pharaoh would get power, he would rub off the names of the previous pharoah from all the statues and carve his own name in.

another highlight of the met is the walls from the palace of ashurnasirpalat at nimrud. since assyria was one of the world powers that had dealings with Jehovah's people, they are mentioned quite often in the bible. the assyrians were the descendants of asshur, son of shem (gen 10:22), and interestingly they worshiped a god named.....asshur.

the assyrians are known for their brutality and violence. here's what ashurnasirpalat said after crushing a revolt:  "their men young and old i took prisoners. of some i cut off their feet and hands; of others i cut off the ears noses and lips; of the young men's ears i made a heap; of the old men's heads i made a minaret. i exposed their heads as a trophy in front of their city. the male children and the female children i burned in flames; the city i destroyed, and consumed with fire."

nice chap, then. his successor was shalmaneser the III, and he had dealings with the isrealites. there is an obelisk that lists jehu as one of the kings paying tribute to him. later on of course would come kings mentioned by name in the bible such as tiglath-pilaser and sennacherib, who was sent packing with his tail between his legs after the 185,000 soldiers were destroyed.

to change the subject a bit, the picture above is of the great hall of the metropolitan museum of art (and the back of our old pal, amenemhat II). its easy to miss its beauty because when you walk in you are worried about where to put your coat, pay your fee and find all your family and friends because we were supposed to meet at 11 and now its 12 and they probably all hate you now. just to give a random example of what could happen.

but the great hall is awesome. not in the way that the french fries i just had were awesome, but breathtaking awe-inspiring beauty awesome. the museum was opened to the public in 1902 and it always amazes me that these guys who did not have power tools, or cranes, or any other modern tools came up with such excellent buildings.

speaking of awesome-but-not-like-french-fries-just-genuinely-awesome, heres uncle jim, one of my favorite people and beautiful auntie cindy. when i grow up i want to be like them: spiritual, fun, loving, great sense of humor and always up for a rum and coke (i have started working on the rum and coke part in the hope that the other bits will automatically follow)

lots of awesome-but-not-like-french-fries-people in our story today: shara. i do believe shara has some secret spiritistic thing that gives her an extra 10 hours every 24 hour period us ordinary people have. how else to explain how she can work full-time, pioneer, take us to the met, travel the world and look good at the same time?

and finally, one of my favorite places in new york (next to the met, both physically and in my affections) is central park. it should be a rule that you are not allowed to start a city until you have a park planned out first.

sandis mom and aunt phoebe check out central park. central park is an 843 acres of beautiful, seemingly natural park. in actual fact it is almost entirely landscaped, back in 1857.

if you are in new york, don't miss the opportunity to walk through the park. preferably on your way to the met.