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The National Air and Space Museum is a learning museum located at the National Mall in Washington DC. The museum has 22 galleries and the “Albert Einstein Planetarium”. It presents 2 shows: “The Cosmic Collision” and “The Stars Tonight”. Another Gallery is called “How things fly” and it has a lot of interactive devices for hands-on learning about flying. The Early Flight gallery displays the original 1903 Wright Flyer and 170 other related artifacts. Another gallery named “Exploring the Planets” features the achievements of humankind about planetary explorations, even here on Earth. “Explore the Universe” is a gallery about how humankind observes the starry sky starting with the naked eye, through different primitive telescopes, and then into the digital age full of high powered telescopes. There are still a lot more inside the museum and I recommend this field trip to those who has kids and those who wants to grab some fun with the family.

New York’s got to have the most famous line attached to it, “If you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere.” It’s partly true because NY (as it is widely known across the world) has some parts of the world in it. It’s supposed to be a melting pot of different cultures and nationalities that you can hardly say it’s part of America anymore. So, if want to experience the world in a few days, put New York on top of your list.

Let’s start with one of New York’s most famous landmarks–The Statue of Liberty. Given as a present from the French, it has been welcoming all visitors since 1886. It still stands there today, as a symbol liberty and escape from oppression. Although, the island is open to tourists, the statue itself has been closed off for safety’s sake. Nevertheless, it’s truly awe-inspiring to see the statue in person rather than look at it from a postcard.

We’ll be taking a look at the other New York landmarks in the next post.

After reaching into the past with The Met, we meet the present and future art with the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA. Compared to The Met, MoMA was just recently founded in 1929 by JD Rockefeller’s wife, Abby and her two friends, Lillie Bliss and Cornelius Sullivan.

The focus of the museum is to interconnect between established and experimental art and accessibility to the public. Due to this, MoMA is now regarded as one of the most influential museums today. Listed are just some of the artists whose works are in the museum: Van Gogh, Picasso, Warhol, Dali, Pollock, Basquiat, and other notables. Just from the names above, you know that MoMA is going to stay stronger through the years.

Some people out there might be thinking of bringing their friends and family to a venue where they can experience art and art education. No need to look over yonder, because the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or The Met, is just around the corner.

Opened in 1872, it started with 174 paintings to currently 2 million works of art. These include arts from Africa, Asia, Egypt, Europe, and many more. Most of the world’s greatest artists have their work in the Met as well. These include, Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Botticelli, Rembrandt, and others.

If you think you don’t have to go there because you can see all of these works in the internet, being in the presence of the real thing is a magical feeling like no other.

Located in the center of the hustle and bustle of the New York life, is Central Park. Originally, it was a dismal place: full of swamps, bluffs, and other undesirable things. In the mid 1800s wealthy landowners and merchants decided to mirror the parks that they saw over in Europe to be replicated in New York.

Then in 1853, it was decided that the park be created in the center of Manhattan. However, the question remained, who will design it? The job was given to Fredeick Olmstead and Calvert Vaux. They tried to imitate the English tradition of Rolling Meadows and formal dress grounds. It then opened to the public in 1865 to a rollicking success.

Since then, many great things happen in the park nowadays. It is now the venue of different activities such as Shakespeare in the Park, the Summerstage music program, the annual New York Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra, and many more. For the locals, it’s just a place where one can experience nature within the concrete jungles of New York.

There’s a certain pride within New Yorkers regarding our next go-to destination: The Empire State Building. It’s true that it’s no longer the tallest building in the world today, but it was on top of that list for 41 years and nothing has yet to strike it down. This was proven after a B-25 Bomber crashed into the building in 1945. There were some damage, but the building was back in business the following day.

The skyscraper has now become part of pop culture. The most famous depiction of the building in film was, and always will be, King Kong. When people remember the film, it’s always that moment when the giant ape was on top of the Empire State Building, growling at the planes swirling around him. One of the foremost pop artist of our time, Andy Warhol even paid tribute to the skyscraper in the film, Empire. Let’s not forget all the comic books where the hero stands on top of the antennae to survey New York as well.The world has the Himalayas; New Yorkers have the Empire State Building.

After being welcomed by Lady Liberty, the next place you might want to go to is the Brooklyn Bridge. With its breath-taking lights at night and magnificent architecture during the daytime, it’s such a wonder to know that it’s been serving as the connection between Manhattan and Brooklyn since 1883. It’s an old sturdy bridge, ain’t it?

This is also one famous bridge. It’s been shown in film, television, print, and even video games. One of the more recent famous movies to show the bridge was the first installment of the Fantastic Four movies, where he stops an 18 wheeler truck from killing a man on the road. In the small screen—it’s all over the place: from The Cosby Show to CSI: NY. Most comic book collectors see the Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop for the final fight between good and evil. Avid video gamers may remember this bridge in Project Gotham Racing and others. These are just some of the reasons how a bridge became so famous around the world.

It’s romantic, historical, and famous.

Wouldn’t you want to see it for yourself?

Albany, the remarkable capital city of New York and the county seat of Albany County, is the nation’s second oldest city in regards with the date of its incorporation. It lies on Hudson River’s banks with close ties to nearby cities. Albany, being famous for its historic sites, entertainment centres, family-friendly facilities and marvellous hot spots, has charmed visitors and tourists for centuries. Museums and outstanding galleries are all over this place as well as eye-catching architectural structures, restaurants and hotels. It has an active and dynamic artistic community and culture that is often redeveloped by students at the region’s colleges and universities. It is home to a vast and significant collection of important modern art.