Today we are going indoors, to the American Museum of Natural History, made popular with young people through the Ben Stiller movie "Night at the Museum". Thunderstorms and rain were predicted after lunch so doing a museum seemed appropriate (weather forecast turned out later to be spot on).
First some washing - a weekly task but not too difficult with our friendly O'Henry laundromat across the road.
We reach the Natural History Museum around 11.45am. It's located in some lovely old buildings on Central Park West (very expensive address) and was established in 1869 with one of the founders being Theodore Roosevelt Snr (Teddy's father). This photo is taken from 77th Street.
From the subway, and the museum has its own subway stop, you can walk directly into the lower level of the museum, and we did just that but it was a joke. Just two counters to handle all the people and enquiries, and the lines were moving at snail's pace. We used the main entrance instead. There are some peculiarities with the entrance fee which may explain it but more on that later.
Far grander way to enter... The man on the horse is Theodore Roosevelt Jnr (ie: Teddy) as he is celebrated in this museum for his contribution to nature preservation, both during his time as Governor of New York and then as a US President and beyond.
Now, admission to the American Museum of Natural History is a bit silly. It's free - sort of... They suggest you pay admission of $19 each but our faithful walking tour guide John had told us only duped tourists pay that. New Yorkers pay nothing or very little. However, you must have a ticket to enter so you still have to queue to get one.
We got to the counter, said New Yorkers don't pay and we don't want to pay suggested admission. The lady said OK, you pay what you want. We donated $20 for the two of us, we were issued with tickets and in we went, BUT without maps. We assume that we were not given maps because we didn't pay the suggested admission. Anyway, maps could be picked up inside at information counters, which we did.
In keeping with the movie "Night at the Museum" we wanted to track down some of the key characters featured. T-Rex was first. No, no, the skeleton at the back.
As you might imagine the dinosaur room with T-Rex was full of loud student groups so we moved on quickly. The other dinosaur rooms were interesting and much quieter.
We loved the giant turtle suspended like he was still swimming...
This is the reconstructed skeleton of the biggest deer ever to have lived (pre mankind).
Anything that was a true, precious fossil was stored behind glass. Including this amazing fossil slab of mixed bones from about 20 million years ago, found in Nebraska. You can see some jaw bones in this part. And the photo only shows a small part of the slab.
Finishing off the 4th floor we went to the Astor Turret, which is a quiet space with views back to Manhattan and Central Park. A sort of a parents' or oldie's retreat away from the noise.
We stopped for a cuppa before contemplating our next moves. We went down a level to try and track down the Easter Island Head, who in the movie kept calling Ben Stiller "Dumb Dumb" .
On the way this sight made us giggle...was the alligator planning an escape? Did he really need 4 security guards standing around him?
It took quite a bit of zigging and zagging but we eventually found the Easter Island head, which is clearly very popular with a small group of people waiting to take photos one after another and everyone kept quoting from the movie "Night at the Museum". Us too.
Who's the Dumb-Dumb?
Then the highlight of the American Museum of Natural History, the Hall of African Mammals, also featured in the movie "Night at the Museum".
The elephants take centre stage.
The landscape paintings in the display are also amazing quality. This Hunting Dog Pack are looking off to zebras in the distance. The background is painted, yet all the dogs are "real".
Are you looking at me? I got the feeling... somebody's watching me...
This hall recounts his life and highlights his efforts in preserving nature from future generations. If you were going to have a role model we figure he's a good one to have - but you don't necessarily have to sit like him... But it makes for good photography (Hans remark)
You could spend all day at the American Museum of Natural History, but if you have been to other natural history museums you can skip quite a few areas, which we did. We already know about fish, birds, reptiles etc. Well, enough anyway.
Around 2.30pm and time for lunch. We head west one block to corner of Columbus Avenue and 77th Street and come across Shake Shack, which we've passed before with a queue out the door. Still popular today with burgers, hot dogs and of course shakes on the menu.
We order 2 burgers, which are cooked fresh while we wait. Quality over quantity here - they certainly are tasty burgers but not very big. We make plans to go out to dinner tonight.
As predicted the skies opened up and the rain came down. It does not appear to gently sprinkle in NYC very often, more like a waterfall, so we head home. With just 10 minutes to walk from Grand Street subway station and with jacket and umbrella we are still quite wet on arrival. We settled in for a quiet afternoon.
Around 7pm we head to Little Italy for dinner. There were a few drops of rain but we dodged any major downpour.
On the way we had a funny moment... A large Department of Corrections bus came with sirens around the corner, we think heading for the court house. There were prisoners inside behind grated windows who were standing up and jeering and yelling through the windows - we think at the women standing on the corner waiting to cross the road (including Di). We figure they may be returning to court for some appeal case and had not seen women for a while...we laughed.
The well rated place where we wanted to eat at was called Benito One and had good Kharma but full and no tables "anytime soon". Damn. We head up the street a bit more and spot this place - Grotto Azzura.
As you can see this restaurant Grotto Azzura was busy, which we thought was a good sign. However, very soon we realised that the corner location accounts for quite a few passing customers and that it was a tourist trap. We possibly had our worst meal in years there!
The best service we got all night...look closely...he's a cardboard cutout!
- Hans' penne with garlic oil appetizer turned up as a rigatoni in cheesy tomato sauce. Not quite the same.
- We sent it back and then waited and waited for his appetizer. Then it arrived - at the same time as his fish main course!
- Then the garlic on the pasta was burned, you could smell it as soon as it arrived. We complained and said take it away, which they did and said they would remove it from our bill.
- Hans fish was an overcooked frozen fillet with some basic potatoes and broccoli. Hans described it as a "canteen meal", you know, the kind you can eat but you pay $5 for it
- Di ordered the cannelloni and got 2 tubes, one of which was undercooked and tough, the other barely any better.
Onto something more positive.... We had been hearing a band during "dinner" and there seemed to be a party happening across the street. We went to investigate and found out it is for the Feast of St Anthony.
Lots of stalls and many selling food, which was good news for Di, as she needed something to supplement the small portion she ate. A $3 BBQ corn cob helped.
The altar to St Anthony.
The great dessert helped clear our taste buds of the awful meal we had. Better way to finish the night. Good night.
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