I decided to take the trains to the Brooklyn museum. I boarded the train headed in the right direction, but was dismayed to find it went no further than the Brooklyn Bridge - NOT where I needed to go to catch the train I needed. Fortunately I caught a cab that took me the rest of the way. I sat in a shady bench outside the museum and my friends soon found me.

After visiting the Egyptian galleries, we did more sitting and talking than anything. I was glad to rest.

Kneeling Statue of Senenmut Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III Granite, from Armant, ca. 1478-1458 B.C.E. Brooklyn Museum Accession Number: 67.68

The botannical garden is right next to the museum, and their fragrant lovely gardens were a treat. There was a rose garden, a Japanese garden complete with a koi-filled pond and a Shakespeare garden full of flowers and pungent herbs the bard would have known. Sorry I have no photos, I was content just to look and inhale. That kind of beauty refreshes the soul.

Then we ate at a lovely restaurant, outdoors under a canopy. The shade and the breeze were perfect. I had a type of fish that had been cooked on top of salt, which gave it an unusual flavor. Very nice time, good conversations. The rest were going to venture further, but I was tired. I was fortunate to have a cab come by just when I needed one.

And now to relax, watching the same Memorial day concert Julia will be watching a couple of hours later!

Monday, May 28, 2012 A
"Morning Wakefulness"
5:08am

Monday, May 28, 2012 B
"Evening Wakefulness"
10:24pm

After I made the request to the front desk for a wake-up call, I thought I'd be able to relax enough to go to sleep. But that is not the case.

Today was another lovely day exploring the Met with friends. I was so glad to see "Dawn of Egyptian Art" again. The first time I'd completely missed an entire room of it!

I found hitherto unseen treasures in the regular Egyptian galleries, too. One especially cute piece is a charming ivory sculpture of a dog with a moveable mouth. I hope my photos turn out.

Insert from the future, May 31, 2012
They did not:

Mechanical Dog New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III, ca. 1390–1353 B.C.E. MMA #40.2.1

If you want to see the details of this piece, you'll need to go to the museum website!

But I did get good photos of Hatshepsut's sphinx, of which I'd only had a tiny photo from the old camera: