The narrow path past the greenhouse and the Alpine garden opened into the glorious botanical mall in front of the
Grande Galerie de l'Evolution (aka the Natural History Museum). It was after hours, and we couldn't visit the museum, unfortunately. But it was simply delightful to be here. I'd seen the museum in 2002, and it would have been fun to see it again with Lee. It's a several-hour project, though, as are the other attractions in the garden. The museum was newly renovated with an all-new cutting-edge central display around the turn of the 21st Century. It sounds strange, doesn't it? Why not just say around 2000? I suppose we should get used to it. Anyway, the museum is outstanding.
The rows of flowers go on and on.
Here we're part way through the garden, looking back at the Grande Galerie. It wasn't really this dark out. I wanted to expose for the dramatic sky.
I don't know that much about flowers except that I enjoy looking at them.
It was interesting to see so much color in the flowers contrasted with the fall season and the changing leaves.
I'm using this post for Floral Friday on October 2, 2009.
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.
