M and S's Excellent Adventure, Day 4

S and I woke up on Tuesday morning to find that we had been again re-booked on the noon flight....on Wednesday. So, trying to make the best of our extra day in New York, we headed out for breakfast at H&H Bagels and World Coffee, then back towards Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History. Like the Met, this museum is way more than a person can absorb in one go. I had actually been to the AMNH once before, when J took me to New York for my birthday a few years ago. He and I were a bit rushed, though, because we got there fairly close to closing time, so it was nice to be able to take a more leisurely look at some of the exhibits.

One of the first things we saw, though, was not one of the old classic exhibits (we'll get to those - don't fret), but rather a great series of photographs called "On Feathered Wings: Birds in Flight." It was exactly what the title says it was, and it was great. I took a few snapshots, but they're not great. The hall was very dark so I had to use a flash, but that required that I stand off to the side of the picture so as to avoid massive reflection in the glass. Anyway, here's a sampling; there are some more on the website above:

Atlantic Puffin
Apparently the Atlantic Puffin is very hard to capture in photographs, since they typically average 300-400 wing beats per minute. This one was slowing down, coming in for a landing.

Double-crested Cormorant
Cormorants have webbed feet, and dive underwater to catch fish

Bald Eagles
These eagles were fighting over food, which apparently happens with some regularity in the eagle community. In this picture, the lower eagle had just attacked the upper eagle, causing the upper eagle to drop the fish he had snagged. The lower one waits to catch it.

Snowy Owl
Sorry, I know this picture is fuzzy, but I loved how the photographer captured the owl coming right at him. Intense.

Peregrine Falcon
Who doesn't know the total awesomeness of the peregrine falcon. It watches for prey from high above, then swoops down from up to 1 km above said prey at speeds of 320 km/h. It hits the unsuspecting bird victim (usually a pigeon, dove, or songbird) with its feet, then kills the bird by biting its neck. Ouch.

Great Gray Owl
This owl locates mice and other rodents under snow using its incredible hearing, then plunges through the snow to grab its unsuspecting victim.

We also spent time in some of the more traditional (read: permanent) exhibits while we were there. We spent lots of time with the African mammals:

From there we ventured into the world of humans of many stripes - African Peoples, Asian Peoples, and a few others. No pictures of that though. Apparently people are just less interesting than animals! We also saw the Asian Mammals exhibit, and I only have two pictures from it. This, which I thought was cool for some reason (maybe just because it's old):
and a pair of water buffalo. Can't tell you exactly what was going on with those choices.

From there we headed up to see the dinos and other long-extinct creatures, exhibits collectively known as the Fossil Halls. I especially liked this weird dude that looked like a lizard the size of a 12-year-old child:
and this guy, a saber-toothed cat called a Smilodon:
Just for emphasis, let me show you those enormous teeth again:
Whoa. Also, I like that his name sounds like "smile." That seems cruelly ironic.

After looking at old animals for an hour or so, we decided we needed to see more old people. And we're talking really old, not just culture that is a few hundred years old. This is the skeleton of Turkana Boy (so named because he was found near Lake Turkana, Kenya), which is estimated to be 1.6 million years old. Like I said: really old.

But by then, we were pretty much bored with science and just wanted to look at shiny things. We set off in search of said shiny things, and found some:
The second photo is the museum's collection of tourmalines. For some reason, I'm totally into pink tourmaline right now. The tourmaline group is actually comprised of a number of different types of stones, but it got its start as a group because scientists didn't know what else to call things, so they all got tossed together in the big "I-don't-know-what-this-is-so-I'll-call-it-a-tourmaline" pot. And it stuck. That last picture is of the Star of India, the world's largest blue star sapphire. This particular gem was found in Sri Lanka and donated to the museum by J.P. Morgan in 1901.

That, folks, was a long, long day at the museum. (Not to be confused with Night at the Museum. Quite different.) Unfortunately, the minerals and gems are way back at the back of the museum, so we had to walk through some other exhibits on the way out. Which didn't turn out to be all bad, because we saw some cool random things:

"Hm, that looks like it was once a pretty enormous tree," you say.

"Indeed it was," says I. "And old, too."

I don't know why I like the fact that there were fake fish swimming above my head, but I did. I also very much liked the information I learned about polar bears. Did you know that they will wait for hours next to a hole in the ice, waiting for a seal to surface so they can snatch it up and eat it for dinner? And they swim a long damn way if they have to. How cool are they? I think I would like a pet polar bear. Does anyone know where I can buy seals in bulk?

This is not a polar bear. It is, in fact, a blue whale, or was at one time. It now lives in a literal and figurative state of suspended animation in the Hall of Ocean Life (where they also talk about the aforementioned polar bears).

Whew, that's it for that museum. If any of you are planning on going there, I'd recommend the gems, the Hall of Ocean Life, and some of the mammals. And the bird photos, if they're still there, but they're not a permanent exhibition. We didn't even make it to any of the super-special exhibits, like the one on the brain, so I have no review for you.

Believe it or not, after all that the day was not over. It was probably 3:00 in the afternoon or so by the time we left the museum, and a gray day it was. But there was still much of NYC that we hadn't explored, so we decided to continue our adventure.

First things first, I had to have the black and white cookie I promised E I would have on her behalf. It was accompanied by a hot chocolate the size of my head. Once sated, we headed south towards Lincoln Center, which I had only ever seen in movies and on TV! There is a lot of very expensive entertainment that happens at Lincoln Center. Ballet, opera, events and concerts of all types, on every night of the week. Quite a place.

Gray day indeed.

Ice on the fountain

Me in front of the Metropolitan Opera

It was still fairly early when we were finished there, maybe 6:00 or so. Feeling brave, we picked out another museum - but a small one this time, and with totally different subject matter.


That's right, ladies and gents, we went to the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. But let's back up for a minute and ask this question: why is there a Fashion Institute of Technology anyway? What is so technological about it? Anyone have any thoughts, because I sure don't know.

The museum itself gets mixed reviews. There was one exhibit of his and hers clothing through the last 250 years or so, and that was pretty interesting. There was also an exhibit of Japanese fashion, and that was, well, it was as crazy and Japanese as you would expect. I'm even having a hard time calling it fashion, but I guess that's not for me to judge. Or is it?

We were walking back in the general direction of our hotel, a walk which took us through Times Square. We were stopped by a guy selling tickets to a comedy club. I do not stop to talk to these people. Not that they're bad people, but (1) whatever they're selling probably isn't worth the price of admission, (2) I don't like comedy clubs, and (3) it just seems like a bad idea.

S, on the other hand, likes comedy clubs, and had been wanting to go to one. We went. Reasons (1) through (3) all hold true. And as a further point of argument, what kind of sales pitch is it when the dude selling tickets says, "there's a two drink minimum, and by the time you've finished your second drink, it will be funny"? Doesn't it just seem like there's something wrong with that?

In fairness, I did get a few decent chuckles from some of the comedians, but seriously, there were eight people in the audience. I am not exaggerating. Eight. It was sad. The funniest part of the whole night was seeing how tipsy S got on her two drinks! And because of that fact alone, we called it a night.