Was at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) on 79th St.

I arrived via subway at aroun 12pm. For those visiting, it’s good to have a watch. My ever reliable handphone that I use for telling the time was left at home as I haven’t charged it in a while and the battery was flat. The watch is required to tell time so you can arrive at the certain shows they have throughout the day. I just used the inbuilt clock of my camera. Heh.

You get to see things from the giant heavenly masses of stars and planets, to the tiny micro organisms and everything in between. I heard that the Smithsonian Museums in Washington DC are much more massive and at 5 floors, there’s plenty to see at this museum right here.

Like the zoo, I walked until my feet were sore. There is a vast collection of items at the AMNH, and it has a long history dating back more than a hundred years. Heh, it’s probably a different atmosphere from the zoo, and while it’s quite impressive seeing stuffed life size animals on displays, it’s just not as great as seeing a real, life animal.

Saw so many things, but the highlights included a space show where the projection was on a large dome. The last time I recalled seeing something like that was when I went to Singapore when I was 12 and visited the planeterium there (if memory serves me correctly). The short fim was narrated by Robert Redford, and it was about cosmic collisions. Then there’s the IMAX Dinosaurs Alive! show. The screen was massive, but didn’t capture the IMAX experience. Heh, it’s interesting that even in the early 1930s, people were already pioneering the trail to the Ghobi desert in Mongolia to look for dinosaur fossils.

Just wandered around and you could see dinosaur bones. I still recall the first time I saw them as a kid in Malaysia, as the bones were touring the country then. They are massive, these dinosaurs, and I wonder how much they consumed before this to reach these sizes. Earth must have been more tropical back then, with more oxygen/carbon dioxide, for things to grow to such immense sizes.

Heh, after wandering around more, there was a special exhibit for butterflies. These were real butterflies, not the kind tacked onto a board and encased behind glass. Yes, the room was warmed up and humidified just to keep the butterflies, and they were fluttering all over the place. One even landed on my cap (apparently) as the other museum patrons told me. It’s quite amazing, these tiny creatures, they just look so dazzling in their various colours.

Wandered around a little more and after 4 hours at the museum, I was just glossing over things. The dinosaur displays are all on the top floor, and you can recognise their distinct shapes like the T-Rex, Brontosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus etc. Heh, as a kid I was a big fan of dinosaurs and I could name you the various types way back then, and even the three periods and their durations (Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous eras, all under the Mesozoic era).

You can also see the various tools, clothing of the different peoples from around the world from different time periods. There are also land animals, sea animals, plants etc. The wealth of information is just astounding. The last exhibit I went to see before leaving was the minerals section. All your precious stones and jewels and minerals were all gleaming in the dark, and you have no idea how many types of minerals there are on the planet.

Will just leave you with some pictures from the trip.

*roar*

the butterflies were so desensitised to humans they just posed for me.

this was one massive tree, and it grew around 550AD before being chopped down in 1891.

doesn’t this remind you of Kryptonite? heh.

yes, plenty of 300 odd carot jewels on display here.