My trip to New York City (56k beware)

[Dark Flame]

It does? I must admit I'm not sure what you mean by that. Rebecca was dressed for practicality during our vacation, not titillation.

Perhaps the unrevealing nature of practical clothes combined with the revealing sig picture does something.

I actually mentioned the way bus tour people tend to miss out on things, and Crossroads echoed the sentiment.

Yes, I was just adding that in addition to being rushed past potentially entertaining places and having everything planned to the "t", it's quite boring to just look out a window at so much of the city.

I find it hard to imagine spending 4 hours in New York's Chinatown when you can walk through it in ten minutes. Chinatown in NYC was actually rather underwhelming, since we have a Chinatown in Toronto as well, and ours is bigger.

I'd never been to a Chinatown before, and I sure hope I missed out on something because I didn't enjoy it at all.

I can't imagine what kind of poorly organized class trip to NYC would skip both the Met and the Intrepid. Who was running this operation?

It was all set up by Anderson Coach & Travel. I would not recommend them.

[LMSx]

Those are some nice photos, and I'll be sure to keep less-known sites like the Cloisters in mind if I ever reach NYC.

...Kudos, also, on the Asics! They're so comfy I keep a second pair worn-out by running just for daily walking around.

[Dalton]

You were in Manhattan? Fuck, man, I was working in 30 Rock at the time. Serves me right for being out of the loop.

[Darth Wong]

Hey, long time no see! Yeah, we were on the island last month. We might come around the neighbourhood again in future, though. With the recession and all, we've sort of belt-tightened a bit and we're preferring driving trips over flying trips, which means we'll be spending more time around Ontario and the northeastern part of the US.

[Vympel]

Hey, long time no see! Yeah, we were on the island last month. We might come around the neighbourhood again in future, though. With the recession and all, we've sort of belt-tightened a bit and we're preferring driving trips over flying trips, which means we'll be spending more time around Ontario and the northeastern part of the US.

You should take a long plane trip to another continent when the economy gets better. You only live once!

Or you can just wait for those 5th Element sleeper things to be invented, so you won't even feel it.

EDIT: and yeah, that MiG's a MiG-21.

[Dalton]

Hey, long time no see! Yeah, we were on the island last month. We might come around the neighbourhood again in future, though. With the recession and all, we've sort of belt-tightened a bit and we're preferring driving trips over flying trips, which means we'll be spending more time around Ontario and the northeastern part of the US.

Yeah, I've been very busy for the past few months - let me know when you're in Manhattan next and I may be able to get you discount tickets for NBC tours or the Top of the Rock.

[Adrian Laguna]

Some of the artwork on display inside. The more you walk through this building, the more you see the great tragedy of medieval religion: so many gifted artisans worked so hard, and yet, because of the religious domination of culture, all of their art looks the same. It is beautiful because of the incredible craftsmanship, but let's be honest: how many sculptures and paintings of the Virgin Mary do you really want to see? There is an incredibly narrow range of subject matter in European medieval art because of this single-minded focus on religion, and when I look at it, I see wasted potential. All of that ability, funneled into such a narrow range of material. Tragic.

You were visiting a recreation of a monastery, of course all the art was religious. It is not a representative sample of medieval art. There was a considerable body of work done at the behest of medieval nobility which is not at all religious in nature. Somewhat less of it survives because it was often done as tapestries, which are more susceptible to the ravages of time than paintings on wood and stone.

I love the unnecessary ornamentation they often applied to their armour and shields. Look at all of the engraving and the leaf pattern around the central spike.

Unnecessary ornamentation is generally a sign that item was for show, not war. That is also the reason why the items have survived to the present time. Armour and shields that actually went on campaign tended to eventually break or wear out.

The same goes for the later weapons, including this classic Colt. They just don't make guns like this any more. Look at the intricate engraving all over it.

Matthew inspecting a similarly beautiful double-barreled shotgun. You can't see it in this picture, but the hammers are actually sculpted to look like squirrels.

Again, show weapons. The shotgun was probably in some millionaire's hunting lodge before it was donated to or bought by the museum. They don't make them like that any more because rich people these days don't find it fashionable, instead preferring to spend their money on cars and boats.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Damn you son is a TEENAGER!, he's gotten a lot bigger then I recall from the older photos, but then that's time.