Happy Valentine's Day from New York City!
Everybody was in the spirit of love and romance, including the skating rink at Rockefeller Center.
They'd dyed the ice pink, and put lovey-dovey hearts in it.
Another early morning. Ky comes home from the night shift. I get out of bed, she gets in.
But while Ky sleeps, I hit the road for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
There's so much art there that you just have to pick what you want to see and ignore the rest.
I started off in Egypt.
These are trinkets and sculptures and images of gods found in Egyptian tombs.
This Pharoh was so full of himself that he had himself sculpted with one of his gods. The god is the smaller one.
This was a self-portrait of the sculptor who carved all the statues in that tomb.
(Just thought it looked cool...)
The Met is so big, it actually has an entire Egyptian Tomb inside.
Not a replica. Not a mock-up.
An actual real-life Egyptian Tomb, imported brick-by-brick from actual real-life egypt.
The Art Deco section had this cool rare sculpture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
It's really cool. I wish he did more.
Perseus slays Medusa.
Camel Rider.
Camel Rider on a CRAZY CAMEL LOOK OUT.
Okay, here's where the fun begins...
The Met has one of the world's largest collections of arms and armour.
At first you might think, "How are arms and armour art?"
But look... Closer...
Before modern times and mass manufacture, swords and shields and suits of armer were hand crafted by the finest metalworkers and artisans.
They were meant as much for pageantry as they were for battle.
Each one was crafted with a little bit of love....
...Then sent into battle to KICK SOME ASS.
Some of the detail is just incredible. It's hard to believe someone would wear this into battle.
It's even harder to believe that some were ever worn at all...
I am referring specifically to this helmet, which I call Rooster-Face the Magnificent.
Or Caesar-Hair.
Or Creepy Mustachioed Golf-Ball-Head Man.
This one was actually pretty cool... A Lion Head helmet.
Just try not to get teeth in your eye...
Check THIS one out - King Henry the VIII's armour from the 1500s. It's from the end of his life when he was enormous and crippled with gout.
Even the horses got armour.
And so, apparently, did Rhinos.
The plate on this horse's forehead read "VERPVM DOMINI MANET IN ETERNVM."
"The Word of the Lord endureth forever;" 1 Peter 1:25.
This Turkish armour smacked of Spy vs. Spy...
For some reason the Turkish and Japanese armour was kept in a really dark and spooky room.
They were like ghost soldiers with no faces, just shadows where their heads should be.
This is a Cuirass, a circular breastplate.
The turkish weapons they had vere very ceremonial and beautiful.
Some even had words written on them in jewels.
The Samurai really knew how to wear a helmet.
They went way beyond head protection, into the realm of awesome badassery.
Let's see... We've got the crescent moon...
The roaring flames...
The exclaimation point (with horns)...
...And the conch shell.
There's one with a mustache...
The purple blowfish...
The Usagi Yojimbo...
The "There's a Totally Awesome Out-Of-Control Flying Dragon with Golden Wings on Your Head"...
...And the bunny rabbit.
Here's some helmets that the Orcs wore in Lord of the Rings...
(Tonight you feast on manflesh...)
...And the proud knights that parade down the hall.
Then came the Knights' worst enemy...
Guns.
When guns entered the battlefield, armorers had to prove the strength of their work by actually shooting it. The "stamp" of the projectile was left in the armor to prove how tough it was.
These guns were all hand-crafted.
There were no factory-made spare parts. In the 1500s there weren't even factories.
Replacement parts for guns like this double-barreled wheelock pistol had to be fashioned by hand.
In the early days of firearms, they weren't that reliable.
The solution? The knife-gun.
When you run out of bullets...
...Just start swingin'.
I also saw lots of paintings and art at the Met. But whenever I went to take pictures of those, people looked at me funny. So all you get is a million photos of armour. Good times, good times.
After the Met, I headed to Central Park.
Central Park is like a magical wonderland, with stuff like this ancient egyptian obelisk at every turn.
This is King Jagiello of Poland. Apparently he was "the Victor over the Teutonic Aggressors at Grunwald on July 15th, 1410."
Why does he have a statue in Central Park? Couldn't tell ya.
There's even an actual, honest-to-God castle just sitting on the edge of a lake.
It's called Belvedere Tower, and it's been there since 1869.
Back then it was a lookout tower. As in, looking out for invaders.
Now it's a place for couples to make out on Valentine's Day.
Also, there's a museum inside with birds and stuff...
If you're into that kind of thing.
Keep on Moving to Day Four for Spy Planes, Egg-Shaped Chairs and a Tyrannosaurus Rex!!!