CRISTINA BEAN & THE MET: THE ROMANIC CLOISTERS

The Beans arriving to the Metropolitan Museum

When Jordi Bean chose The USA to go at Christmas holiday, The Grandma asked for every member of the family about their preferences in this journey.  

Cristina Bean confessed she wanted to visit the Metropolitan Museum in New York City and today, her dream has come true. The Grandma is also very happy with this visit because she was very interested, as a good Andorran woman, in the MET Romanic cloisters. She also wanted to see some Salvador Dalí's works which are exposed in this magnificent museum.

More information: The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York

The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, colloquially the Met, is the largest art museum in the United States. With 7.06 million visitors in 2016, it was the second most visited art museum in the world, and the fifth most visited museum of any kind. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is by area one of the world's largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from Medieval Europe. 

Cristina Bean in front of The Temple of Dendur

On March 18, 2016, the museum opened the Met Breuer museum at Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side; it extends the museum's modern and contemporary art program.

The permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. 

The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.

Download The MET Guide by The Grandma

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 for the purposes of opening a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on February 20, 1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue.

A great day in New York would be to wake up, get a cup of coffee and head up to Central Park for a nice walk. 

Then I'd go down to the East Village and stroll around. 

After that, maybe I'd go check out a museum or catch an indie film at the Angelika. 

Emmanuelle Chriqui

CAROL BEAN: A HEART IN NY, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK

Barefoot in the park poster with Carol Bean

Carol Bean had a dream. She wanted to visit Central Park and today her dream has come true. Carol has visited this wonderful place accompanied by her family. All together have spent a nice day in the park visiting the real places where Robert Redford and Jane Fonda filmed Barefoot in the park in 1967 and have assisted to the Simon & Garfunkel Concert.

Central Park is an urban park in Manhattan, New York City. It comprises 341 ha between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side, roughly bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, Central Park West (Eighth Avenue) on the west, Central Park South (59th Street) on the south, and Central Park North (110th Street) on the north. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States, with 40 million visitors in 2013, and one of the most filmed locations in the world.

More information: Central Park Conservancy

The park was established in 1857 on 315 ha of land acquired by the city. In 1858, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and architect/landscape designer Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they titled the Greensward Plan. 

The Beans in Central Park, New York City

Construction began the same year, and the park's first area was opened to the public in the winter of 1858. Construction north of the park continued during the American Civil War in the 1860s, and the park was expanded to its current size in 1873. 

After a period of decline in the early 20th century, Robert Moses started a program to clean up Central Park. Another decline in the late 20th century spurred the creation of the Central Park Conservancy in 1980, which refurbished many parts of the park during the 1980s and 1990s.

Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1962, which in April 2017 placed it on the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

More information: Central Park

The park, managed for decades by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, is currently managed by the Central Park Conservancy under contract with the municipal government in a public-private partnership. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization that contributes 75 percent of Central Park's $65 million annual budget and is responsible for all basic care of the 341 ha park.

New York, lookin' down on Central Park
Where they say you should not wander after dark.

New York, like a scene from all those movies

but you're real enough to me, but there's a heart,

a heart that lives in New York.

Simon & Garfunkel

SAINT STEPHEN IN LITTLE ITALY: CANNELLONI & MUSIC

The Beans arriving to Little Italy.

Today is December, 26 Saint Stephen in The USA and Sant Esteve in Andorra where The Grandma was born. It's an ancient Andorran tradition eating cannelloni in this date. Cannelloni, like pizza in Italian cuisine, migas in Andalusian or Carn d'Olla in Catalan one is a dish that has its origins in the poverty.

The Grandma is a great fan of keeping traditions and although The Beans are in NYC enjoying the city, she has invited all the family to have dinner in Little Italy, one of the most popular neighbourhoods in Lower Manhattan, where they will find a mixture of Mediterranean tradition and American one, feeling closer to home although they're not near because an enormous deep ocean separates the two continents.

The Grandma has choosen one of the best restaurants in the area, Pizzeria Napoli, where they will taste the best Neapolitan dishes and The Grandma will be able to evocate her memories about Naples, the beautiful unforgettable capital of the Campania Region. She will take profit of the situation and will try to play a little with numbers and probabilities doing the impossible, possible, meeting with one of the most superstitious communities around the world: The American Neapolitan People.

Download The Numbers

 And wouldn't it follow that everything made from those things is ruled by numbers, too? Genes, chromosomes, us, the Universe.

Monica Reyes, Improbable, The X Files

THE BEANS IN NEW YORK CITY: A STATE OF MIND

The Beans arriving to the Bryant Park Hotel

After a long transoceanic flight, The Beans arrived to New York City with time enough to celebrate Christmas in the capital of the world.

They went to check in their hotel, The Bryant Park Hotel and they started to enjoy their suites. The Bryant Hotel is a very comfortable modern New Yorker-style hotel located in Manhattan near the business district and the most important sights of the city.

More information: The Bryant Park Hotel

During these days, The Beans are going to enjoy the city. Their agendas are full of proposals and activities and they're going to spend some unforgettable days in the city of the skyscrapers.

The Grandma watching Star Trek in her suite

The Grandma has her own agenda and she wants to watch a New York Knicks match and the Barbra Streisand's concert on New Eve's Day in the Madison Square Garden. 

She also wants to visit an exposition about Salvador Dalí in the Metropolitan Museum and have a meeting with old friends like Richard Castle and the members of the CSI team in New York City.

Download A New York City Guide by The Grandma

Come on Beans, enjoy one of the most beautiful cities around the world, and the most important, enjoy its people and its culture and remember that New York is a state of mind.

It comes down to reality, and it's fine with me cause I've let it slide
I don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside
I don't have any reasons I left them all behind
I'm in a New York state of mind
 

Billy Joel

THE SONG OF THE SYBIL: JUDICII SIGNUM & A NEW HOPE

The Sibyl

Last Friday, 22, The Beans reviewed some grammar about Prepositions of place and There is-There are while they welcame another new member of the family: Natalia Bean.

More information: There is/are

The family was excited about the next travel to The USA and they were preparing the travel and searching information about flights and hotels.

The Grandma talked about her personal point of view about Christmas and she remembered the Song of Sibyl, one of her favourite songs, a song full of history and trascendental events.

More information: Prepositions of place

The sun will lose its lightness showing itself dark and veiled, the moon will give no light and the whole world will be sorrow.
 

The Song of the Sibyl

EXPRESSING ORDERS AND ADVICE: MUST & SHOULD

Manuel & Cristina Bean

Last Thursday, 21, The Beans continued with their English classes. The class started a bit late because The Grandma had been attending some important business in Barcelona. She must vote.

That day, they talked about modal verbs: Must and Should. They also discussed about So and Such.

More information: So & Such

It's important to know when you have to choose one kind of verb or another because it demonstrates the power of the emitter over the receiver.

The Beans prepared the last details to travel to The USA at Christmas and thought about which places they wanted to visit and they were discussing about their new home. The Grandma accepted all their proposals and now they have an enormous work to refurbish all of them.

More information: Must & Should

To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain. 

Louis L'Amour

HOW TO CREATE A TIÓ BY THE BEANS FAMILY

The Grandma & The Tió

Last Wednesday, 20, The Beans continued with their English classes and they reviewed some grammar like the Prepositions of Time and The Articles, paying especial attention to the rules of the The article.

More information: A/An Articles

It was an interesting day, The Beans worked hard as always and they could make a Tió, a typical Catalan Christmas figure composed by a trunk and a blanket in its old version and the same elements, with a red hat and a painted-face in its modern one. 

More information: The Article

It was a good chance to use the Imperative to create a little manual about how to create a Tió.

More information: Prepositions of time 

Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling. 

Edna Ferber