A selfish little trip

I'm going to New York City. I've put a sticky note on the calendar, and have started planning. The dates are still not nailed down - but it will be sometime in the fall between the time DJ and Ken leave after their two week rest, and Hannah's birthday. I think I can afford to stay about five days - depending on how much I have to pay for a hotel. I may go alone, but Hannah will likely go along.

The Museums of New York City have been on my short list of things to do for about five years. Last Christmas I was given a 'travel savings account' and for each gift giving occasion since I've asked for money to be deposited. When I received that list I knew that the first expenditures would be New York, or a return to London. This is a totally selfish thing - this trip is all about what I want to do and see. (That's why I considered going alone, but Hannah enjoys most of the things I do, so will put up with my complete and utter selfishness to be part of the adventure.)

The first money has already been spent: $31.00 on two NYC guides, and $79.00 on a lecture series titled "Museum Masterpieces: The New York Metropolitan Museum" Anyone who has traveled with me in the past knows that the first word on pre-travel is not simple planning, but elbow-deep research. No sense spending half an hour trying to figure out where in the vast echoing MoMa the particular works I want to see are housed, when I can simply download the museum map before I leave and already have the lay-out in my head. (Turn left, up escalators to the 5th floor, first gallery on the right: Hello Matisse!)

I'm sure I'll do a few of the most obvious things one must do to say you've been to New York. I'll go up to the observation deck of either the Empire State Building or the one at the top of Rockefeller Center. I'll take a harbor boat cruise to see Lady Liberty, I'll east some, shop a *very* little, and perhaps take in a show - but this trip is about museums, and I'm not going to apologize for that. There are 8 works by Johannes Vermeer in NYC: three in the Frick Collection and five at the Met. I won't miss them by accident like I did the ones in the Louvre. If it takes two days to get my fill of the Met, another for MoMa, and a third for the Cloisters and the Frick - well, it's my trip, isn't it?

this will be very cool. Can't hardly wait!