Finally! A decent dilemma.

I'll be in NYC next week on business. The meeting I'm flying out for is in New Jersey and from 9:00 - 10:00 am. (I'd like to take a moment to comment that I never in my life thought I'd ever be flown anywhere for a one hour meeting much less across the country. The meeting is for something I've worked hard on and feel passionately about but, still, it seems silly. I will say the face time can make all the difference in the world.)

Anyway, I'll be back in the city around noon and I'm not flying home until the next morning so I'll have an honest to goodness free (half) day in Manhattan. I've been to NYC about 15 times now but I've never had a solid block of free time. I do fun things but they are always in the evenings. This time I'm having the car drop me at a museum. (Oh yeah, that's another thing. I have a car taking me to and picking me up from the meeting because cabbies don't like to make the one hour drive to New Jersey since nobody will pay them for the ride back. A town car is picking me up? Now that's ridiculous. Who do I think I am?!) My dilemma is which museum should I visit? I've never seen any of them. Here are the museums I'm considering:

The Guggenheim
The Metropolitan/The Cloisters
MOMA
The Frick
The Whitney
Tenement Museum (Cool!)
The Morgan Library

I've also been meaning to roam the New York Public Library. I've walked up those famous steps and even tried to go in but it was closed. I think I got there around 10:00 am and it didn't open until 11:00 or some ridiculous hour. Annoying!

I've asked around and I'm leaning towards MOMA. I'm not necessarily a huge modern art fan but I hear great things about the place. I also learned that I can get in free, with my company ID, which is a plus. I was checking out their site earlier and was very upset to find the following notice:

Salvador Dalì's The Persistence of Memory (1931) is not currently on view at The Museum of Modern Art. The painting will be on display at the Tate Modern, London, from June 1 to September 9, 2007, as part of the exhibition Dalì and Film. What the...?! I wouldn't have missed it if they hadn't mentioned it. Now I'll be wandering around thinking where is the kooky, drippy, clock picture?

But wait.. look what the notice says next:

It will then travel to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (October 14, 2007–January 6, 2008) Yippee!!! I might make a trip to LACMA for that! Wait... January 6, 2008? I missed it? Curse you MOMA!!!!! It's apparently on vacation in St. Petersberg. St. Petersberg Florida, that is. Ha! That's what you get for trying to avoid me Mr. Persistence of Memory.

Of course, I habitually call that painting The Persistence of Time (not that I mention it very often) so maybe I'm not so upset after all.

Do any of you have other ideas of how to spend my big free (half) day in New York? If I'm not too overwhelmed, I may even try to catch a show that night after dinner. It seems I have a lot of home work to do. I need to see what exhibits are showing where and then see if there are any shows I really want to see. I've heard David Mamet's November is fantastic. Shows are so spendy so I'm not sure if I'll do that. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. I promise to report on how it all goes.