New York - Nature and Commerce

Sun out and warmer. Early start to get to the AMNH - American Museum of Natural History. This huge museum got an addition recently: The Gilder Center. Spectacular architecture, which reminds of Spanish architect Gaudi -  with new exhibition galleries, an "Invisible World Immersive Experience" and an insectarium, butterfly vivarium, and floor-to-ceiling collections displays on four floors. Also, we re-visited some of the old exhibition halls: the new Halls of Gems and Fossils as well as the Dinosaurs Halls.

New Gilder Center

Tyrannosaurus rex

Northwest Pacific Indian Exhibition

Gilder Center exhibitions

"Vivarium" (Butterflies)

Invisible World

Dakota Building

After the AMNH which is located directly at Central Park, we went for a stroll through this huge park. View from The Lake towards the skyline was with its stick-like skyscrapers, and, below, the Dakota Building where John Lennon and many other stars live(d). Closeby, in Central Park John Lennon got a memorial, which is always crowded.

 

 

Next stop: Times Square, always busy, always crazy, always packed with people from all over the world. Lots of traffic and the impersonators (gone during Covid) are back, too.

The Museum of Broadway celebrates Broadway's  history with hundreds of rare costumes, props and artifacts. We were sceptic at the beginning, but it was a nicely presented exhibition, as a timeline, highlighing one or two musicals of every period. On several levels it gave a good overview over NYC Broadway's theater history in general, about famous musicals and how people work to get a musical on stage.

"Wicked"

"Hair"

Last stop: Moynihan Train Hall - opposite the existing Penn Station (underneith Madison Square Garden), in the "courtyard" of the Post Office Building, serving Amtrak and LIRR. From there we took the subway back to Sugar Hill/Harlem to get ready for dinner at Rua (Thai Food) in Smith Street in the Brooklyn's Cobble Hill neighborhood. Long time on the train, but food was worth the effort!