I had a rare chance to tour the Metropolitan Museum of Art without anyone else around, and it was surreal

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is one of the biggest and most beautiful places to see art in America. It's also insanely popular; tens of thousands of people visit it each day and over 5 million people go to the Met each year.

So when a former editor of mine emailed me a few weeks ago asking if I wanted to go on a private tour of the Met, how could I say no?

After some research, I learned that this was a small program the Met has been doing. You can actually go on social media and see others also alone in the met using the hashtag #EmptyMet. Sounded great to me.

So, early Wednesday morning, I made my way over to the Upper East Side and took in some of the most cherished and well-known art in the world, virtually alone.

Here are some of the highlights of what it's like to see a usually-packed museum with scant a person in sight.