{nobody will love this except me}McQueen Beats Van Gogh as Frockmeister’s Met Fans Top 354,000

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It looked like the food lines in my old hometown of Leningrad.

That’s how long the queue is to get into the hit show at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.”

The waiting time to see the late designer’s outlandish creations is displayed on a stand by the ticket counters. It was 30 minutes when I visited on a rainy Wednesday and can be more than twice that.

Since the show’s opening on May 4, 354,684 people have seen it through Sunday, surpassing the attendance of the 2005 Van Gogh drawing exhibition during its first seven weeks.

“It’s certainly going to be among the most popular shows ever,” said Harold Holzer, the museum’s senior vice president for external affairs. “In terms of running at maximum capacity, it’s right up there with all the biggest hits at the Met.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-28/mcqueen-beats-van-gogh-as-late-frockmeister-s-met-attendance-tops-354-000.html

[Rhiannon12866]

1. I've been to Leningrad (now back to being called St. Petersburg)

I expected to see the lines that we'd all heard about, but the only line I saw there was to get into a museum. I've always thought that Leningrad has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. :hi:

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2. i want to see st petersburg SO bad.

i'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. It's just beautiful!

At least I thought so. It was designed by Peter the Great, who tried to westernize Russia. The buildings are lovely, bright colors, like blue and yellow. It's a port, right on the water and it's called "Venice of the North" because of all the canals. We got stuck on the wrong side of a drawbridge and didn't get into town until after four in the morning... I visited just before the USSR fell, with my grandmother, as part of a peace group. :)

It's also full of museums and collections of art. One of the most impressive things about Leningrad and a lot of European cities is just how old they are... Peter the Great lived in the 1600s, and so much of his world is still standing and still in use...

This was his "Summer Palace," Petrodvorets. It has an incredible number of rooms and staircases, not to mention art from all over the world. They make you wear these scuffs on your shoes, so you won't damage the beautiful parquet floors. And Peter was quite the inventor. There are fountains and a pathway where, if you step on the right stone, a fountain springs to life, LOL. I highly recommend Leningrad... :hi:



Edit: typo

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4. france, italy, russia -- really have

some of my favorite architecture.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. I haven't been to France yet, almost went to Italy, LOL.

But I have also been to Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, incredibly old buildings there, as well. It's incredible that people are still living in houses that were built long before the U.S. was even a country! The Kremlin was built in 1492, if that date sounds familiar, LOL. And the artisans were from Italy. :)

I was also fortunate enough to visit what was then Soviet Georgia, an entirely different culture, more Middle Eastern. The buildings are particularly ancient there. You'd see a centuries old building right next to a modern nightclub... And we visited a 9th-century church! The roof was gone and there were dirt floors, but the age if it just boggles the mind. I once saw a Billy Joel special where he visited that church, apparently it has wonderful acoustics. Like you, I love the buildings. :D :hi:

And I was also fortunate to see a performance at the Kirov, also in Leningrad, magnificent inside and out. :bounce: