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Published: July 21st 2007
Today was another late start with a lot to do in only little amount time. We finally got our stuff together, grabbed some brunch and headed to the sight seeing bus (double decker with an open top). Our plan for today was to tour the city on the bus, dropping off at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), Central Park and the Frick Collection, finishing up the day with a Night Tour of New York on the sight seeing bus.
The sight seeing bus is an excellent way to check out the city. The only issues are the long line ups (about 45mins) and the fact that only half the bus is open air, the other half - inside - has limited views. We lucked out and got a seat on the lower level. After a few stops some people got off and we upgraded to the top level - definitely a lot better! The bus also has a tour guide on each of the three standard tour loops (with multiple get on/off stops). The tour guides are well educated with plenty of interesting facts.
We soon arrived at the American Museum of Natural History. The museum
has four levels and covers various periods in history from Prehistoric (dinosaurs and the origin of man) to more recent exhibits, with native Americans, fauna and mineral collections. The museum also contained some impressive models of early human life. We managed to wander around for a good two - three hours.
After the AMNH we jumped back on the sight seeing bus and headed uptown through the more 'residential area' of Manhattan. When I say residential, I don’t mean houses, I mean studio apartments, 10's of stories high with rent well over the price of a nice four bedroom home (with a backyard and pool) back home. Again, plenty of interesting facts on the tour. On the way back downtown, we passed down Museum Mile, an area on 5th Ave with several different... you guessed it, Museums. We got off the bus and walked through the edge of Central Park. While Central Park is a beautiful picturesque park, it is terribley under signed. We finally managed to find what we were looking for, Strawberry Fields. This is where John Lennon got the inspiration for his song, Imagine. A huge mural is located in the pavement, with plenty of tourists
taking photos of the historic landmark.
Central Park also had a budding musician playing to a fairly sizeable crowd seated on the grass on the bank of the conservatory pond, one of six man-made bodies of water in the 'man-made' Central Park. Apparently, the park area was created in the early 1900's, and used to be a swamp area, but some people were still displaced. As we were running out of day time, we headed to our next stop a few blocks down, the Frick Collection.
The Frick Collection is a collection of artwork donated by Henry Clay Frick in the early 1900's. The collection is stored in his old mansion on 5th Ave. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take any photo's (you will have to go there yourself). As you can imagine the mansion is lavishly detailed, each room filled with exquisite artwork... and a security guard.
We finished off the day with a night tour on the sight seeing bus. Our tour route took us over the Brooklyn Bridge, through Manhattan, and Times Square. The lights at night were stunning and our tour guide Naia, was great! Tomorrow we check out the Metropolitan Museum of
Art and the Sex Museum - sounds like fun!
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Mum Hall
non-member comment
Hi, Just touching base. I'm really enjoying your descriptions and information. This will make a lovely personal history book for your future generations to read. Amber has to move house this weekend. What a lot of work and I've got the flu - not a good combination. Hope you are both keeping well. Up the Vitamin C. England is completely under water. Take your snorkels with you. Love Mum