VAN GOGH ALERT! Throngs of museumgoers stood in the rain to see Vincent van Gogh: The Drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Thursday. Expect more of the same (with or without rain) until the show closes on Saturday.

The longest line seemed to be the one north of the main entrance. At around 11:00 am, the wait on that line was perhaps 35 minutes.




















The shortest line seemed to be the one in the (better sheltered) Uris Center for Education. It's just south of the main entrance. Give it a try if you want to expedite your entry into the museum.

First you find this.




















Then you follow the person with the bright umbrella inside (figuratively speaking, of course...)




















Within the museum, there were more lines of people. There were lines for the "check rooms," lines for admission (you can always "pay what you wish"), and a line to get into the van Gogh exhibition.

Or so an inside source told me. I gave up and learned about Slavery in New York at the New York Historical Society, which wasn't nearly as crowded. If you go and you have a MetroCard, see if you can get a discount with it.

Photos: David Marc Fischer