New York City, Day Two

Wednesday ended up being the busiest day of the entire trip. I do not know that we planned it that way, but one event followed another and another.  We woke at 9:30am, bundled up, ate breakfast at a small diner on 9th, and made our way to Fifth Avenue. Our plan was to stroll through Central Park and end up at the American Museum of Natural History.

We thought that walking along Fifth Avenue would allow us to glance in all the windows of the fancy stores, but what we did not expect to find was Saint Patrick’s Cathedral standing side-by-side with Tiffany, Cartier, Burberry, and Gucci, etc. Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is absolutely stunning both inside and out. The craftsmanship is impeccable. This turned out to be a nice surprise. By the way, on the way to Fifth Avenue we came across the Perfect Pint and made note of its location, seemed like our kind of place for an early dinner.

Once we were done touring Saint Patrick’s we again walked towards Central Park.  When you see the park on a map you don’t get the true sense of just how big this park is. But, standing on its edge with the buildings surrounding it and looking off into the distance as the park fades away, you realize. The only thing Geri and I knew was that the museum was on the other side from where we were standing.  We set out through the park and after about 10 minutes we were able to feel separated from the city. The natural stones, trees, plants, and grass areas of the park are amazing and well taken care of. There didn’t seem to be many people in the park, although that could have been from it’s sheer size. We came upon courtyards, fountains, ice skating rinks, lakes, and ponds as we continued to make our way across the park. We turned left and right, went up and down and after an hour, miraculously, we came out exactly at the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History.

The American Museum of Natural History is immense. It was great to walk in a see the Barosaurus exhibit in person, I can’t count the number of times I have seen a picture of that Barosaurus as a kid. It would easily take three or more days to do a preliminary review of what the museum had to offer, but unfortunately we only had a short time to visit. Geri and I concentrated on the North American Mammal exhibit, the Hall of Human Origins and the Rose Center for Earth and Space. All were great. It was hard to be at the museum without the boys as we have always visited museums with them. The museum is definitely world class and warrants another trip to New York.

As the sunlight faded Geri and I walked to the Perfect Pint for a very lite dinner.  A few drinks and bangers and mash were just what we need to give us energy for the rest of the day.

After dinner we walked back along Fifth Avenue towards Grand Central Station. It is tucked deep into the city so we had walked right up to it without realizing.  Once again the architecture was great.   On the high domed ceilings of the main hall were painted star patterns and the objects of the zodiac, a very nice touch.  Geri and I walked explored for a bit and found the Oyster Bar, we planned to have dinner there later in the week.

Next on our agenda was the Museum of Sex to watch the final presidential debate.  You can’t have a more surreal setting than the Museum of Sex for watching a presidential debate.  The museum was having a party for a new exhibit, Politics.  Throughout the museum they had artistic interpretations of sexuality along with displays of sexual ‘firsts’ in movies, print and television.  They also had histories of pornography.  They displayed the information in very creative ways; through peeps shows, kiosks, sculpture, and video projected onto the floor.  The place filled up quickly and soon it was standing room only.  The museum showed the debate on each kiosk screen, in each peep show room and projected it onto the floor.  The group was very lively and erupted into laughter at the mention of ‘Joe the plumber.’  The irony of where we were at and the mention of Joe was perfect.  We couldn’t have asked for a better venue for the debate.

After the debate we hailed a cab and headed to Peasant, a simple rustic restaurant.  Geri had their gnocchi con funghi stagione and I had the suckling pig.  Both were very good.  Peasant’s comfortable down to earth atmosphere and honest food provided a nice change of pace from our busy day and proved to be a perfect ending.

Click here for pictures of that busy day…