I visited the American Natural History Museum today and it was a grand time.
The museum was at 77 and Central Park West which is the continuation of 8th ave.
The walk took about 40 minutes from Times Square.
My ticket and a map of the museum can be found at the very bottom of this post. I wish I had planned my trip a bit better as I was bouncing around the entire building as there were things I wanted to see but also ticketed events that I had to get to. The museum was also extremely busy.
The first thing is to reserve tickets in advance. I did this and I scheduled a few extras as well. I did have an issue where I bought the tickets but I didn't recieve them in my mailbox. I had to talk to a supervisor at the museum which was a bit of a pain. They quickly got me my tickets but it did take awhile. The line was also long and went all the way to the end of the block.
I didn't realize I started the tour on the 2nd floor and so I had went to the African Mammals exibit first. It was great, I think the african animals were gorgeous and the settings were all so cool. The elephants in the center of the room were magnificent. This is definitely a cool way to see animals up close and personal without any danger.
One thought I had as visited each of the scenes was that there seem to be quicte the number of deer like animals. There were so many that had horns and the basic shape of a deer.
Gorillas were smaller than I had expected.
I spent some time walking around and then I walked into the big bang video. This was a video narrated by Liam Neeson and it was interesting. It takes us back to the very big bang and then lets you out of the video where you walk down a ramp that shows what formed at each time. It was cool but not awe-inspiring. The space and Earth area was lacking. It was however very cool for children. They seemed to have a great time here.
My favourite part here was being able to touch a hunk of iron that was a meteorite. It was insane to think that this was hurtling through space at one point.
I then wandered around and eventually got to the Serengeti experience. This was the first paid experience I added on. This was also the best. It was a huge video of the Serengeti and it looked at wildebeasts, lions and a variety of other animals. The core of it was the wildebeasts and it was interesting. The migrations they take and the fact that they have such a huge impact on the entire ecosystem was unexpected. I would love to vist the Serengeti some day and see the scenes I saw in real life. They looked absolutely stunning.
I then went into the Native American exhibits and my favourte part was about the Makah tribe. They were whalers and then men did the whaling. When the men went whaling though the wives had an important role. They had to lie down and stay still because they were mystically tied to the whales. If they were moving around, the men would not catch the whale because it too would be moving around. If they were still, the whale would also be still and be easy to catch.
There was also a fear that the women could turn into whales. It was a very cool story and I loved the idea behind it.
I loved the Hall of Human Origins and this was probably my favourite exhibit out of the entire place and I think the kids also loved this place. Here I saw skeletons of all our ancestors and saw a map of how humans evolved. It was quite cool.
They found footprints and then recreated what humans may have made them. This was quite cool.
I went through the 3rd floor African animals, reptiles and birds area on my way to the shark exhibit. This was also an addon and one that was half worth it. I was expecting a movie but really it was just an exhibit. It was alirhgt and seeing a megalodon was insane. They were huge.
I loved seeing the minatures of native homes and events. They were very much one of my favourite things to look at. I didn't realize how much minatures really captivate things. Seeing it in real sizes is neat but not as intense. I think its because minatures let you see everything all at once while a regular scene forces you to focus on certain things.
There was an interesting bit here about a Native messiage prohpecy. They had a believed that one of them would rise up and overthrow the Europeans and bring the world they once knew back. They also believed in fasting and going on journeys into the deep nature to learn things about the world and the supernatural. This is what Jesus did as well and I imagine many religions have this. It was an interesting parallel.
They also had dances they did to get into trances and this reminded me of the Hindu religious events where dancing and having godly trances is the point. Across time and space we are all the same.
I went to the first floor and looked at the North American animals area and it wasn't as good as the African one. The bears however were cool and worth looking at.
I then went to the planetarium where I watched a 30 minute video about the solar system. I thought it was going to be about the stars and creation but it was just about the different planets. It was cool but not worth it. This would have been such a great experience but it was more of a illustrated guide to the solar system. The people next to me were complaining about the same thing so I felt validated in my disappointment.
Now that all my ticketed experiences were done, I went to the fourth floor to look at the dinosaurs. This area definitely lived up to the hype I had and I loved it. Seeing the Apotosauraus and how big it was was insane. It filled a whole room.
The big thing I learned was that dinosaurs evolved once they had a hole in their hip joint that let them stand upright. This was so interesting because one of the reasons why humans dominate is because we stand upright. It's interesting to see 2 kinds of species developing the ability to be upright and then going on to dominate the planet. I wonder if there is a reason there.
They also showed a fossil in the outline of a possible body. They didn't have any other bones so they didn't know how it would look like. They say that the current version is unlikely because the head doesn't reach the water. This was a fun way of showing what we don't know.
Some very big anteaters and armadillos.
The T Rex.
The triceratops.
The biodiversity area was overwhelming in a good way. They had so many animals mounted everywhere and this is just a fraction of the life on Earth. This was beyond humbling.
The final room I visited and relaxed in was the ocean life area. Here I camped out under huge whale the size of a room and stared up at it for awhile imagining what it would be like to swim with one of them.
The last thing I saw was a scene of the formation of New York with the Dutch and the Natives. The scene itself was something I had seen many versions of before but the commentary on the wall is what was amazing. They highlight how the scene had been created and how biased it really was. The Natives would been dressed up in finery and furs and they would have looked important. The women were involved in the negotiantion process and would not just be naked workers.
It was cool to see that the museum was evolving and changing but not hiding the things they had done before.
With that I left the Museum of Natural History and began my trek to the hotel.
Some extra notes that I had made while in the museum:
Cute kid wxplaining meteorites to his brother
Serengeti movie was great wildebeests lions elephants hippos crocodiles vultures the migration is sick flamingos
The perfect spot for the ac in the americas
The Makah tribe and wife of a whaler
The hall of human origins is sick
Kids love it
People on dates here cute
Native American exhibits are dope
The plains had fasting like Jesus and wandering the dessert. They try to induce trances like Hindus. They developed their own messiah prophecies.
I love the miniatures they have
They’re so many deer like animals in both Africa and North America. I wonder why.
Planetarium was a disappointment because it just showed the planets. It wasn’t an experience I was hoping for a o tour of the stars the closest I got was the Saturn ring stuff but besides that one moment it was a bore. The people next to me get the same way and the lady kept apologizing to her friend saying this was so bad and boring. She had done it before and it was so good.
Dinosaurs got a hip hole thst allowed them to stand up this is when their domination began. This is also how humans did it. We got upright and won. Is there something special about being upright ba on all 4s. Lizards and rodents then us and dinosaurs.
The orientation is quite good. I wish I started there but I started from the other side.
Liam Neeson was the voice in the Big Bang Experience.Lupita Nyong'o PplanetariumMeryl Streep did the orientation video for the Dinosaurs Exhibit
The ocean room with the whale is amazing and a restful spot though busy and noisy.
Nothing in here is calm or quiet.
The last thing for this day was I went to Tacuba, on 53rd and 9th. It was ridiculously good. Definitely my favourite mexican spot now. I had the cheese and torilla started and then birria tacos. The cheese starter came with a green sauce and it was surprisingly spicy and refreshing. The churros were lacking and I should have skipped them but the food I got was delicious.
This wraps up my 3rd day in New York. The next couple of days will be work so I don't expect to be out too much now.
