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The main reason we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art was to see the Egyptian Art exhibit, as we were headed to Egypt the next day. At the time, the exhibit seemed spectacular, with so many items, but after seeing the Cairo Museum a few days later, it seems like such a small collection. I am glad that I saw this exhibit before seeing the one in Cairo, as I would not have appreciated it as much. One thing that is on display here that I felt was better than the similar art in Egypt was the wall paintings from the tomb of Perneb. Seeing wonderful tomb paintings in an air-conditioned room could not be topped by the stifling hot tombs of the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

I also enjoyed the Temple of Dendur. It was saved from being submerged underwater when the Aswan High Dam was built. This temple is not as great as the enormous temples that remain in Egypt, but it is quite amazing to be able to see such an old building just as it stood in Egypt. I am still amazed that our technology can move buildings that are thousands of years old halfway around the world without entirely destroying it.

I found the Egyptian exhibit a great introduction to what we were to see in Egypt, and I feel that I was able to better appreciate the items in Egypt because I had seen less spectacular things here. Although the items here are still spectacular, I am sure most can agree that seeing the items in a museum far from their origins is not as worthwhile as visiting the items in the same place as where they are originally from.

While at the museum, we also checked out the American Wing. For me, it was a wonderful moment to see the original "Washington Crossing the Delaware" painting. Even though, as a historian, I should not love the painting as much as I do, as it has many inaccuracies, but I still enjoy it from the perspective of an artist's representation of a important moment in our country's history

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