Byzantium

I'm a day behind in these entries, it seems.  Writing today about yesterday.  I suppose that's okay.

Kenny and I had yet another lovely evening together.  And again, he was the one who arranged it all.  All this joking about his being my social director is beginning to hew too close to the truth, as it were.

Anyway, we'd both talked about wanting to see the Byzantium exhibit at the Met, and he was able to get us free admission with his Lehman work I.D., so we decided to go after work on Friday.  Yes, we're dateless museum geeks.  Get over it.

Here's a funny thing about the Met:  The security people at the door insisted that I check my backpack, 'cuz they said I wouldn't be allowed to take it into the museum with me.  So I did, and while I was checking it, the attendant asked me if I had any phones or cameras in my bag.  I told him that I did, and he asked me to take it with me.  Now I was getting annoyed.  What was the point of checking my bag if I was required to carry my camera with me, when I'm not supposed to be taking pictures in the damn museum?

"Oh," says he, "you can take photos, but you can't use a flash."

Alright, I think, I'll take it with me and maybe snap some photos of Kenny enjoying the art.  Whatever.

So, after wading through the crowds, we finally make it to the galleries containing the Byzantium exhibit, and what's the first thing I see?

Brilliant, no?  I was in a snarky mood by the point, so I figured, "Screw you guys, I'm snapping away."  Not an easy thing, since there were untold numbers of brooding security people lurking about the galleries, making sure we didn't break the rules.  I had to be surreptitious in my photo snapping.

The resultant photos kinda suck, actually, but I love them for the subversive nature.  Enjoy the photos, but go see the damn exhibit.  It's worth the effort.  Some of the icons and works of art are simply stunning.  The highlight (or more appropriately, the lowlight) for me was a huge reliquary with beautiful paintings on the outside that hold (literally) a hundred or so relics of saints.  And yes, I'm talking about a cabinet with a hundred or so pieces of humans stashed away in it.  Bones, mostly, and other things, I'm sure, that I don't want to contemplate.