A Little Culture in Manchester

Ryan and I were at a wedding recently and sat next to a policeman of a neighboring town to Manchester (where we live). We asked him what he thought of our little city?
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His reply was, "Honestly, it's a bit of a cess pool."

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Ohhhhh-kay. It's not that we didn't know there is some unseemly activity going on, especially since we used to live downtown where we personally witnessed many "victimless" crimes in the parking lot of our old apartment building. Those of you who live in or near bigger cities may think I am crazy - just a cute little city in New England, right? Well, we lived only a few short blocks from where a police officer was shot and killed and this year a 17 year old opened fire on a crowd at the July 4th Fireworks..... So, I suppose the officer had a point.

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So, anyhoo, we don't tend to venture out after dark too often. (But, great job planting all those trees and otherwise "beautifying" Manchester, Mayor! How about the crime?)

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I digress. This post is actually about the good things in our city. I have now lived here for 7 years and have never visited our local art museum. I'm not sure why.... I love art museums and have visited MOMA and the Met several times. This past weekend Ryan suggested we head over to the Currier Museum of Art... just 5 minutes away from where we live. I thought it was a fantastic idea!

This is the central lobby area with a beautiful mosaic floor. We were not allowed to use the flash so please forgive any blurriness.

Here is a close up of the mosaic floor.

A Picasso.We love this...can you see the "K" for Kendra and the "R" for Ryan? This is at the entrance to the museum.

There were many more pieces of furniture, paintings, sculptures, etc. that we did not show here. We especially enjoyed the paintings of local areas in NH dating back to the 1700's.

We also learned that the museum offers tours of a local home called the "Zimmerman House". This house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is currently the only home in New England he designed that is open to the public. Apparently, Dr. Zimmerman was a local looking for a unique abode and the acclaimed architect designed this "Usopian" home for he and his wife. They lived there for 36 years, had no children and bequeathed the home to the museum upon Mrs. Zimmerman's passing. That is our next adventure...I am very excited to see the home and certainly have a renewed sense of our community!