Tuesday, May 05, 2009

May 5, New York City (Day 2): Escape from Pteranodon Island

We were in the Natural History Museum, and this person is apparently scuttling across the frame trying to stay out of my photo. The result? Kind of funny and surreal. Escape from Pteranodon Island?

I really love how they filled in the rest of the indricotherium with wire. Also called baluchitherium or "beast of Baluchistan," this extinct giant of the rhino family has always been one of my favorites. Here's an idea of how big the real ones were. I'm sorry that my best photo of it has a narwhal or some early version of it diving through the animal's heart. I really enjoyed the museum. It has to be one of the best Natural History museums in the world, although it's clearly lacking in tapir material! I'll post more on the tapirs later on the tapir blog. Even with several hours, there were many rooms we never got to see, so it's possible we'll go back since we have the visitor pass. We spent the rest of the day walking toward the bus route in the drizzle, seeing one small bit of Penn Station, riding the bus up to the museum, seeing lots of animal-related displays and also the planetarium, having carrot cake in one of the museum cafes (yumm!), discovering a market packed with delectible goodies (thanks to Stephen), eating, and taking the bus back down to our hotel. It felt like a big day. Central Park was absolutely gorgeous and green in the spring foliage and spring rain, but we only hovered on the edge because our goals were elsewhere today. Tomorrow I hope to see a lot more of it. It was a wonderful day, and we're truly loving it here! It feels soooooo different than when I was here in the late 1960s, and I like the changes.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I kind of like the narwhal, I think it adds a weird poetic vibe to it all. Glad you're having fun!

tapirgal said...

Hyrax, you made me laugh. I like it, too. I guess I was trying to be too rational. Keep me sane, please!

Bubblewench said...

Pretty neat photos though.

I do love that museum. I take the train up there about 1x a month (if I can!) and just walk around, meet up w/friends and 'visit'.

Heading up May 30th, thinking about going to the Frick Museum, I love that place!

I lived there for about 6 years in the late 80's in Mid-town down by Times Square.

I hope you are loving the NYC of today! It really has changed.