A Week On The Go In New York City

This week you may have noticed that there wasn't a regular Wednesday post or a Sunday review post. This highly unusual behavior is due to the fact that I went on vacation and hadn't done anything but sightsee. It was wonderful. There was so much to do and so much to see that I was on the go all day every day and returned to the hotel in the evening exhausted and full of impressions. Here are some of the highlights of the trip:

Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum
This is the original library that was part of the Morgan mansion and it was recently restored and made accessible to the public. Photographing of the exhibits was not allowed, even with no flash, so I had to be satisfied with taking pictures of the room. As you see it is amazing and the very informative audio commentary made up for the photography restrictions.

St. The Cloisters Museum of medieval art
Here the only restriction is that flash photography is not allowed and I took advantage of that taking pictures of the beautiful medieval tomes like this one. This is St. Augustine's City of God and it is my favorite of the collection, despite it not being the oldest one, because of the way it is illuminated. I thought it the most beautiful of them all.

New York Public Library, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building branch
This is the DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room, where all the furnishings are original from the day when the library was first opened in 1911.

While visiting the library I saw the Charles Dickens The Key to Character exhibition and later during the guided tour the guide showed us Dickens' original desk, chair and lamp in one of the rooms closed to the public. Fortunately the room has glass doors so I can show you where Dickens worked. The object in question are in the very back corner, partially obstructed by the desk where modern scholars work.

In the Children's Department there is a case with the toys that inspired A.A. Milne in his creation of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. The bear was the toy he bought his son for the boy's first birthday and the collection grew from there.

And last but not least the best souvenir of all for a book nerd: the NYPL library card. It is valid for three months and even though I'm not in New York any more I can use it to check out their digital items. Can't wait to try it!