Dumb Dumbs Night at the Museum!

Spent a day at the famous museum founded in 1869 which was a short walk from our apartment and opposite Central Park.  You could spend a week here and not see everything so we didn't do it justice just whizzing through the extensive exhibits.  Loved the intricate dioramas that showed human and animal life in realistic settings. The Dinosaur Hall was fantastic housing a huge collection of fossils, the Meteorite and Mineral Halls also appealed to my kids all those rocks, gems and gargantuan rocks from outer space!

The American Museum of Natural History.

The museum's dioramas are amazing!

Miniature Tikal - Guatemala
 - mummy went there and climbed the real temple when I was 25yrs old.

Huge meteorite - solid iron

This tree was 1400 years old

The Ocean Life Hall 

Here's Dumb Dumb - made famous by the  movie 'Night at the Museum'.

The very grand entrance to the museum.

Meet me at the Empire!

The Empire is an example of classic Art Deco architecture completed in 1931 it was the worlds tallest building for 40 years at 103 stories with a 62m tower on top which was designed to dock giant airships (this only happened once).  The building has been made famous in a number of movies King Kong in 1933 and my favourite Cary Grant An Affair to Remember in 1957. 

We went up to the 86th floor observatory deck  on a very cold day which was great because the usual throng of tourists weren't there (the attendants warned us that it would be 5 degrees colder up there because of the wind that day).  However we walked straight through the extensive roped corrals (which we were told in summer can take a few hours to pass through) to the lifts. 

The lobby

The Empire minus King Kong from the Hudson

Love the Chrysler and its glowing crown at night.

Trying to keep warm.

Looking towards Liberty Island in the distance.

The Flat Iron building

The Lion on the Ruby Stairs

Times Square is the hub of theatres, tourists and bright lights.  In fact buildings are required to attach neon lights, news ticker, and flashing logos which bedazzle the senses of the 2000 people that pass through here every 15 mins.

Time Square New York - trying the tripod on the Ruby Steps.

The Ruby Red Glass Steps in Times Square - the bill board above it randomly projects footage of
people on the steps.

The TKTS discount theatre ticket booth is under the steps on 47th St.

The Times Square ball on top of One Times Square building that has dropped each New Years Eve since 1907 (originated by NY Times Newspaper which was based in the building)

We booked tickets on line in Australia - the puppetry and music was amazing.

Central Park is freezing over!

The cold front moved in as promised and at its worst for us was minus 12 Celsius.  Awful when you're not used to it - purple numb noses and frozen fingers.

Feathery snow flakes floated down Broadway, the street gutters formed ice and the lakes in Central park were fringed with ice blankets.   Very tempting for my kids to crack!

Loved Central Park it felt so familiar! probably because it has been featured as the backdrop in so many movies.  In winter it has an eerie quiet barren feel to it so I will have to come back to see what its like in the green summer.

The San Remo apartment building with its twin towers 1929.

The Bow Bridge 1862 - one of the most filmed sites.

Keeping warm!

The famous Loeb Boat House, it has a very nice restaurant and a punters section (icy blanket forming).

Hot chocolates next to the fire in the Loeb Boat House - in the punters section!

A nook in the Ramble Central Park.

Strawberry Fields Central Park - John Lennon lived opposite this memorial in the famous Dakota building where he was assassinated in 1980.

The empty Bethesda Fountain for winters freeze over.

Gospel buskers in the Bethesda Terrace.

Lots of squirrels 

The expensive carriage rides in Central Park.

Their first wieners - hot dogs

Belvedere Castle - observatory/folly

On top of the Castle

Ground Zero

On September 11  2001 nineteen al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four US planes, crashing two into the Nth and Sth towers of the World Trade Centre.  The third was crashed into the Pentagon and the forth crashed into a field after crew and passengers tried to regain control.

I think everyone who had a tv still has flash backs to that day, I was shocked by the incredulous events of 9/11 - reinforced by the repeated reporting of graphic images. Going to Ground Zero to pay homage was something we felt compelled to do.

Nearly 3000 people died that day so a visit to the memorial is a quiet and respectful one.  Walls of waterfalls and the names of the victims surround the foot prints of both buildings.  We didn't realise that there was a timed reservation system so thought we were going to miss out on entering the site until we lined up for same day passes 'first in first served'. 

It was one of the coldest days so it was really hard removing jackets, scarves and shoes for security but we completely respected it too.  The gravitas of the situation warranted it in order to enter this memorial surrounded by the ongoing construction of 'The Freedom Tower'.