Day 3: A Day at the Museum

Today I travelled uptown to the American Museum of Natural History – the one with the dinosaurs and where Night at the Museum was set (Ross also worked here). I caught the open-topped sightseeing bus up there so also received a running commentary on the sights to be seen along the way (mostly homes of the rich and famous – Denzel Washington, Sting, Catherine Zeta Jones, Yoko Ono, Madonna etc). The plan was to visit the Natural History Museum and then continue on to the MET and the Guggenheim but what I hadn’t counted on was the sheer size of the Natural History Museum… I was there for 3 hours which meant that I didn’t have time for the others and still get back to the hotel in time for the Spring Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall (more on that later).

While I was there for 3 hours I mostly just wandered and looked – the amount of info they provide is overwhelming and trying to read it all (let alone take any of it in) would take weeks.* I did look specifically for characters from the movie but was mostly disappointed

*Apologies to my quiz friends – I read very little and can remember nothing.

Day 2 – Madame Tussaud’s

Another relatively quiet day due to the need to switch hotels. Still in NYC but slightly further west (about 1.2km from Times Square). Started the day Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum and then some people watching in Times Square. Checked into new hotel mid-afternoon and stayed in to do some trip planning.

Madame Tussaud’s was better than I expected – some of the wax figures are very realistic (although some not so much…).There are a few that are quite creepy – it’s in the eyes! Someone thought it would be fun to pose as part of *NSync and then jump out and scare the bejesus out of me as I walked around a corner. I was not amused!

On a related “famous” person topic…I forgot to mention celeb spotting at Los Angeles Airport.  John Farnham! Ahead of me in the customs queue so I assume we were on the same flight.

Best of NYC Cruise

 

Day One

Weather: ☀️ 29

Started today with a bit of a surprise… Good “real” coffee in the building! Everyone warned me that the coffee here was rubbish so I ordered expecting it to bad. It turned out to be quite good – no sugar required – better than some that I’ve had back home (I’m looking at you Lazenby’s). Unfortunately I’m only staying here until tomorrow but at least I know where to find it.

I wasn’t sure how tired I would feel today so I kept the schedule fairly light:

Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise – Best of NY

2.5 hour guided cruise around the island of Manhattan.  Sit back and listen – good relaxing start to the holiday. I’ll put up some photos.

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

A decommissioned aircraft carrier (USS Intrepid) saved from the scrapyard, moored on the Hudson River and restored as a naval museum.  I like the idea and it looks well-executed but…the content was wasted on me. Other people seemed excited so I assume if you’re interested in military history or engineering then it’s perfect for you. When they have planes that can travel at Mach 3 and my favourite display was the 1:40 scale replica made of Lego then I think it’s safe to say I missed the point. It’s located next door to the Circle Line cruise terminal and the entry fee is included in the New York Pass (which I’d already purchased) so no harm done.

Discovery Times Square

This is located near my hotel (I can actually see if from my window) and is an interactive exhibition space. There are two exhibitions currently running and I chose to see Body Worlds: Pulse. The guy behind the exhibition is Gunther von Hagen whose documentary was on SBS a little while ago – basically people donate their bodies to him after they die and he dissects them to show how the body works. Fascinating topic but I found the documentary too confronting to watch – I was fine with everything but watching him cut into people made me feel ill. Bonus with the exhibition was all the cutting had already been done!

P.S The 2nd exhibition is Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk etc) it’s a little sad how much of me wanted to see this. So frivolous!!

Arrived Safe

Hi Everyone! just a quick note to say that I’ve arrived and checked into the hotel. Flights were good but I’ve slept about 20mins since 6.30am Sunday (Aus time) so super tired. xx