When I was a senior in high school I took a college prep English class. One of the assignments in the class was to write a term paper about any author. I chose Jonathan Swift. He wrote Gulliver’s Travels. I don’t know that I ever read the actual book, but I was fascinated by the idea of Lilliput, the country in Gulliver’s Travels of the tiny people. I guess I’m not the only one, because while I was in New York City with my husband, Bobby, sister, Randi and brother-in-law, Shaun this summer, we stumbled upon a new attraction, called Gulliver’s Gate.
Gulliver’s Gate is a world of tiny cities created by artists and engineers from around the world. A world that highlights the wonders of the world and incredible architecture that is found in various countries. It is amazing the intricacy that abounds through each city you view as you travel around the exhibits. There are times when the artists took some liberty with the cities they created, like when they added their faces to the Stock Exchange building in the New York City portion of the exhibit.
When you first enter, you are given a key that unlocks various animated scenes throughout the displays. What is cool, even if there weren’t moving pieces, comes alive when the train rolls by or the drawbridge raises or the cruise ship travels through the Panama Canal. There are helicopters that fly and cranes that move things around. There was a parade with floats that went through the streets of New York. You could even watch a bit of a concert at a replica of what Bobby thinks is Glastonbury in London.
But the most amazing thing that I found was the details in the people that are placed within the exhibit. They don’t just have little people standing around, but they have created this whole world of people interacting with each other. The slogan or phrase that I kept hearing was “the closer you look, the more you see.”
My one regret, is that we didn’t spend as much time there as we could. We had decided to go in the evening. The attraction was open until 10 p.m. We had had a long day of site-seeing, so we were pretty tired. But the times that I did stop to look closely, it was amazing the things I did see. There was one scene that had what looked like a car accident, with a car flipped over in a tree.
And I’m not really sure what this couple is supposed to be doing — but who thinks to create something like that?! How creative can you be?
Even all these months later, looking at the photos really intrigues me. By going to this exhibit, we got to see parts of the world that we never will see in real life. The diversity of Gulliver’s Gate and the people portrayed in it, are just a reflection of the people of the world we live in. This exhibit opens your eyes to see it all in one place and one time and allows you to marvel at it all. I’m sure this post doesn’t do it justice. This is just something you’ll have to see for yourself. (Or if you can’t get to the Big Apple, at least spend some time looking at the photo slideshow below. You might get a sense of what I’m talking about. Or you can see Bobby’s album in Google Photos here.)
Oh, by the way, I did really bad on the term paper. Worst grade I ever got. I guess I didn’t understand the satire of Jonathan Swift. But I did like the gumption of the little people he created!
Press Play to begin video
Press Play to watch slideshow
