A Private Tour of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

I bumped into a family friend and found out she gives private tours at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Of course, I had to jump at the chance and booked a one-hour tour with her. 

Know anyone who knows exactly where they are in the Met Museum while walking though each room of a gallery? Well, Jennie Kim does and it's quite impressive. I don't, and I've been going to the Met for as long as I can remember. But then again, I'm not an expert like Jennie who has a Ph.D in Art History. So yeah, you can say she knows a thing or two about art and museums.

My friend Alia and I met up with Jennie near the information desk by the main entrance. 

The floral arrangements in the Great Hall are stunning!

Here's Jennie answering a question from Alia. Best part of a private tour, you can ask as many questions without feeling like you're taking over a tour group's time. Our tour covered the Renaissance and Baroque, and Greek and Roman collections. 

Starting on the second floor, we weaved through the rooms where certain paintings were pointed out and explained. At one point, we sat down in front of the Caravaggio paintings and were entertained with a little history and back story on Caravaggio's life and work. (Interesting tidbit: There's question by some art historians as to whether The Lute Player is really a Caravaggio.)

Walking though, we passed an artist recreating a painting.

From the second floor European paintings section, we headed back down the staircase and made our way to the Greek and Roman Art galleries.

The Roman Sculpture Court was built to mimic a lavish Roman courtyard complete with a water fountain in the center.

This sculpture in the Greek and Roman Art gallery blew my mind a bit. Jennie pointed out his teeth, which you can't see unless you're at a certain angle and know to look for them. Something I never would have noticed on my own.

In one hour, we covered A LOT since we there were just the two of us on the tour. We moved at an easy pace and Jennie customized the tour as we were walking through the museum. If something caught our eye, we would walk over and Jennie would give us some information on the work. I loved the experience of having a personal tour guide with me at the Met.

Tours can be customized to suit any interest and sample tours of the Met include:
- Greek and Roman
- Renaissance and Baroque
- Nineteenth Century
- Modern 

INFO: Jennie Kim | Art Education and Advisory | arteducationandadvisory@gmail.com
PRIVATE TOUR: Customized tours starting at $100/hr 

AmorePacific Soho Spa

A little while back, when I stopped in at the AmorePacific Soho shop to pick up their color control cushion compact, I noticed the spa in the back of the shop. Actually, it's more like a spa with a small shop in the front. I made a note to return for a facial, and I did last week.

I happened to be in Soho so I stopped in to see if I could get a facial without an appointment. 

I was greeted right away with a smile as soon as I walked in through the door. It's very serene and calm inside. The front of the space is the shop and the rest is used for the spa.

Yes! They had a facialist available and as a walk-in, I just waited about 10 minutes for them to set up for me. I took a seat in their lounge area and got to enjoy a lovely green tea. (The green tea served is the same tea used in their products.)

After a few sips, they led me to a cozy treatment room. 

The room feels luxurious and everything was laid out neatly. 

Love this little nook where you can get prepared for the facial in the room. 

I went with the Moisture Bound Age Delay Facial ($150 for 45 minutes) and Sylvia, my facialist, went to work on my face. The 45 minutes flew by with me going in and out of sleep. So relaxing and the best part? The facial massage. Sylvia worked her magic hands to give my face a gentle massage and found areas on my face that I didn't even know had tension. It felt amazing. No upsells from Sylvia either, which I was really happy about. I hate upsells. 

After the facial, Sylvia asked if I wanted to put on some of their cushion compact on since I didn't have any makeup on me. I did! She applied the foundation on me and I was good to go.

The customer service here is superb. Everyone, from Jessica at the front desk to Sylvia, made my facial a wonderful one; I felt like they genuinely cared about making sure I had a fantastic spa experience. 

INFO: AmorePacific Soho Spa | 114 Spring Street btw. Mercer St. & Greene St. | 212.966.0400

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Home of The Metropolitan Opera, The New York City Ballet, and the New York Philharmonic, Lincoln Center is made up of multiple performance venues. There are three guided tours offered  and the one I went on was the Daily Tour which covered a few buildings within Lincoln Center. 

Guided Daily Tours are $17 per person and lasts about an hour. Get tickets at the David Rubenstein Atrium which is where the tour starts. Check the Atrium site to get that week's daily tour times. Aside from the Daily Tour, there's also the Art and Architecture tour and the Jazz at Lincoln Center tour.

The day I went, the tour was showing limited venues since certain performances prohibited tours from visiting. 

Our tour group of five each put on a pass to tour the venues.

From the Atrium, we walked across the street to Avery Fisher Hall. It was nice to see the place so empty inside. 

The fountain? It was designed by the same folks who made the Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas. If you're there at the right time, the fountain will dance to music and put on a water show, just like the Bellagio fountain.

The best part of the tour was being able to sit in on a rehearsal of the New York Philharmonic in a practically empty theater. It was fascinating.

Interesting fact: The Avery Fisher Hall is built right over a subway line, but you won't hear a single rumble of the subway running underneath since the building was built on rubber pads to muffle the noise. Apparently, the MTA runs the subway at a slower speed when it goes under the building.

Inside the Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theatre. A theatre with over 500 seats is considered a Broadway theatre even if it's not on Broadway. It was an empty space with a bright light in the middle of the stage, called a ghost light. A ghost light is said to be left on an empty theatre to ward off unfriendly spirits and to illuminate friendly ones. 

The room was pretty dark, hence my blurry photo.

The hour went by really quick and I was sad to see it come to an end. I'll have to go back for the other tours soon, maybe for another Daily Tour to see the venues I missed out on this time around.

INFO: Lincoln Center | Tour tickets at David Rubenstein Atrium | 61 West 62nd Street on Broadway btw. 62nd St. & 63rd St. | New York, NY 10023 | 212.875.5350
TOUR: $17 for the Daily Tour

Eve Lom Facial at Space NK SoHo

So, let me you about my latest discovery. Actually, there are two discoveries. One, is Eve Lom. Two, is that you can get free hour-long facials at Space NK in SoHo with a purchase of three skincare products.

I recently tried out a sample of Eve Lom's cleanser and by the third day, when the sample ran out, I was desperate for more. My skin just LOVED it. It evened out my skin tone and even better, no need to slather on moisturizer after washing my face at night. It feels that good. 

The cleanser comes with a muslin cloth, but I got additional cloths, which comes in a three-pack so I can throw them in the wash after using each one just a couple of times. The cleanser comes with instructions on how to use the product. It's a multi-step process (it's fairly quick) and it feels like you're giving yourself a mini facial every night. It's so nice. 

For my third product purchase at Space NK, I got Eve Lom's moisturizer with SPF 15, which feels so great to put on after washing my face in the morning with a Mario Badescu cleanser. I only use the Eve Lom cleanser in the evening since I don't have the time to properly go through the steps in the morning.

On a stroll through Soho, I stopped in at the Space NK shop to get a couple of Eve Lom products after my samples ran out. That's when I was told about the facials they offer. I made an appointment on the spot and went back a couple of days later for my facial. You purchase your products at the end of your facial, not before. Since I was getting all Eve Lom products, I asked for an Eve Lom facial.

In the back of the store, there's a room all set up for facials. It's a nice space with plenty of room. (Much nicer than what you see in the grainy photo above!) One thing I wish they had was a chair where I could put my clothes. I was given a shopping bag to put my clothes into, which I thought was a bit odd.

When I got in the room, Gina, the facialist, had a bath wrap towel ready for me.

The facial lasted an hour and every product used was an Eve Lom product. 

Gina has a VERY soft and delicate touch, so the hand and arm massages were more like gentle caresses. I usually like a little bit of a firmer touch, but the whole experience was so relaxing, I didn't have too much time to linger on that thought.

Once my Eve Lom products run out, I'll definitely be back for more (for both the facial and the products)!

INFO: Space NK | 99 Greene Street btw. Prince St. & Spring St. | New York, NY 10012 | 212.941.4200

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History is a place where you can go every day for a week and find something new each time. Which also translates to me spending about 20 minutes trying to find an exit every. single. time. I can't grasp the layout of the place. A Museum Highlights Public Tour is the perfect way to get introduced, or get reoriented to the museum no matter how often you've visited before.

Right across from Central Park, walk up the steps to the main entrance. They'll check your bag when you go through the doors so have them ready to be inspected.

The free public Highlights Tour meets on the first floor by the entrance to the North American Mammals every hour from 10:15AM - 3:15PM.

Every tour guide gives a slightly different tour. Ours started with the dioramas of the North American Mammals. 

The animals displayed were all real animals, not reproductions. The only parts that were not original to the animal are the eyes, nose, and mouth since they're made up of soft tissue. 

I looked for small doors to the sides of the dioramas and couldn't find one. Turns out they remove the entire glass partition if they need to get inside. They do this for any light vacuuming (!), or for any work that needs to be done. 

We looked at a total of four dioramas then moved to the Hall of Ocean Life.

Spotted on the way to The Blue Whale.

The Blue Whale is HUGE and quite a sight. It's impressive each time I see it. Definitely a highlight.

Then up to the fourth floor to see the dinosaurs. I think most of what I know about dinosaurs came from watching Jurassic Park. I'm not proud of that fact. 

At the main entrance is a dinosaur but that's all made from casts of bones, due to security issues, but on the fourth floor, about 85% of the dinosaurs are made up of real fossils. 

The tour lasts about an hour and we ended ours with the dinosaurs. From there, I headed to the Our Global Kitchen exhibition. (Get tickets at the admission desk since it's an extra cost.) 

The birds led the way to the exit. Would it kill them to put up some more signs? 

Next, at Our Global Kitchen. I did not love this exhibition. The best part though was the interactive cooking table where you can watch international recipes being made. That was nicely done. 

Here's a close-up of the cooking table screen.

There's a small kitchen inside the exhibit and I was really looking forward to trying out interesting food, but it was a total bust. I got a Dixie cup sized portion of green tea and a tiny piece of fig on a toothpick. Thanks, but no thanks. (Confession: I drank the tea and ate the fig.)

Bottom line? Our Global Kitchen was a disappointment and underwhelming.

Once again, as I spent 20 minutes trying to leave, I encountered these animals, who I would never win a staring contest with.

INFO: American Museum of Natural History | Central Park West at 79th Street | New York, NY 10024 | 212.769.5100
ADMISSION: $19 (General), $12.50 (Our Global Kitchen)
TOUR: Public Highlights Tour is free with admission. There are additional tours for an extra charge.