A morning jaunt out to the American Museum of Natural History with Allen. We fronted up too early, so took a stroll around The Ramble in Central Park.

We got to see the pond, again, but this time from the other side:

I was amazed when Allen pointed out turtles basking by the water's edge:

Back to the museum itself:

The stuffed animals reminded me of the Tring Museum, though the dioramas were somewhat more inventive. I questioned how and why people came, or chose to live in such a harsh environment as depicted by "Mammoth Bone Hut":

Allen patiently explained how even if they were aware there was a different life to be had, living in a climate where it never got below 90+° might seem like hell to some people..

The Rose Space Centre was quite spectacular:

The Big Bang exhibition in the bottom half of the planetarium sphere had portentous but fun narration by Maya Angelou which led on to the Cosmic Pathway.

I find the whole experience of being dwarfed by cosmic scale pleasantly reassuring - no matter how we stuff up the planet, we're just a short and tiny blip in the grand context of things.

I initially though the indented (13) was a fixed typographical error, but i guess it's just for effect:

Earth sciences were a definite high point, gems and jewels aren't usually my thing, but the displays here are good enough to be worth a single visit in their own right. There were some very large meteorites, like this 34 ton monster discovered in the arctic, the supports go two floors down into the bedrock beneath the museum:

Allen recognised this lump of iron as coming from Oregon from its name 'Willamette':

But dinosaurs are the thing here, made famous by Ross from Friends, i guess:

i liked the flying turtle:

and the Megaloceros:

and, of course, the T-Rex: