In a bit of Friday afternoon impulsiveness, I decided that I absolutely *had* to take a day trip up to New York and see The Gates. Especially after all the lively discussion! So I bought an Amtrak ticket for Saturday morning, and arranged to spend the day touring the city with Laura and Scott!

I arrived in the city around noon, and, following a little subway adventure, I met up with them at the Museum of Natural History. We grabbed some food in the cafe and raced upstairs to catch an IMAX movie about the Vikings. Now I want to visit Iceland. I am such a sucker for educational movies like that.

We left the museum and headed into Central Park. And, of course, the gates were everywhere! They really do look stunning with the sun shining on and through them. If you look at Christo's early sketches of the project, you can really tell that he had planned for this effect. When the sun went behind the clouds, the gates suddenly became very dull and lifeless.

Another detail that struck me as we walked was the size and placement of each gate. Each one was slightly different in width depending on the pathway it was situated on. One moment we might be walking through a densely-packed tunnel of orange, and then a few minutes later they'd spread out again. It made me very aware of the conscious planning that went into this: they hadn't just ordered a few thousand gates and haphazardly plonked them down the week before. Each piece was individually tailored to suit the spot it was in, and placed with great care to achieve an overall design.

After taking the requisite pictures and admiring all the cute dogs wandering around with their owners, we ducked into a nearby Krispy Kreme to warm our hands and fill our stomachs. Its very funny that my memory of the delicious hot glazed donut I had is as powerful as the once-in-a-lifetime public art display I had just come from. :) A few more hours of wandering around with Laura and Scott, and I hopped on my train for the (very) long trek back home.