The Bub in the Belly

On Friday, 6 May 2011, we went to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). We didn't visit the museum itself, we just went to the gift shop. Bought a ton of stuff there, including some building blocks for Ryan, a reading light for Richard and a wall clock for our home. After that, we went to the MoMA bookstore and bought some books. We bought so much stuff that we had to make a trip back to our hotel to deposit our shopping bags before continuing our day.

We wandered around, just looking at the buildings that we know from books/music/TV/movies. This is Radio City Music Hall. Its interior was declared a city landmark in 1978. Aah.. wish that I could have seen all the beautiful showgirls. Radio City Music Hall is actually part of Rockefeller Centre - more on Rockefeller Centre in the next instalment.

Stopped for lunch at Trump Tower - the 9th tallest building in New York. The decor of the building is golden, glitzy and shiny. Here's Ryan drinking from a bottle with Donald Trump's face. Gotta admire a man who can sell mineral water on the strength of his face!




Tiffany & Co is next door. We went in, walked one round, and walked out. I like this photo - if you think that we're grinning like maniacs, you should have seen Richard's happy face when I decided I didn't want anything from the store! Hahaha, joking, joking. My darling hubby will happily buy the world for me if I asked - yes?


This is the entrance to the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. The store is actually underground, accessed through stairs or an elevator in this glass box. Apple received architectural awards for this particular store.

Image from Wikipedia

We wandered along Fifth Avenue, looking at the various shops, popping into a few. There was a very long queue to get into the Abercrombie & Fitch Store so we skipped that. Walked on some more then decided to make our way to Grand Central Terminal.

Grand Central Terminal (also known as Grand Central Station) is another national historic landmark. Built in the heyday of American long-distance passenger trains, it is the largest train station in the world by number of platforms - 44 platforms with 67 tracks along them across two underground levels.

The main concourse is truly majestic and it was amazing to stand there right in the centre, feeling as though I was a character in the many movies that Grand Central Terminal has featured in.

That's me carrying Ryan in the centre of the crowd

There is a mural of the constellations on the ceiling, which is painted on backwards. Some say it was a mistake, others say it was meant to depict God's view from above.


Besides platforms, Grand Central has restaurants, such as the Oyster Bar, and various fast food outlets surrounding the Dining Concourse on the level below the Main Concourse, as well as delis, bakeries, newsstands, a gourmet and fresh food market, an annex of the New York Transit Museum, and more than forty retail stores.


Standing on the steps looking down at the main concourse, I could imagine the station a century ago, with just as many people bustling about, some arriving in New York for the first time, seeking fame and fortune and ready to start the next phase of their lives. The feeling was exactly as I'd heard it described: "Arriving in New York via Grand Central, you know that you've come to a city worth coming to".


Outside, we kept walking and just wandering about. Here, Richard and Ryan are standing with the Chrysler building in the background. It was the tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building. It is a classic Art Deco skyscraper. Gorgeous.
We came across a children's bookstore (Scholastic) and managed to pick up some books for Ryan. From there, we walked back over to Rockefeller Centre.

This patch of tulips was just outside the American Museum of Natural History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hotdog stand just outside the Met - had to have one!

The Guggenheim Museum (it was closed the day we were there) so we just visited the gift shop and picked up some books

After a tiring but happy day, we stopped at an eatery near our hotel for dinner and some New York (strawberry) cheesecake

Went back to the hotel, I soaked my aching feet in the bathtub and we all melted into bed.

I'd always thought that hanging stuff was a natural "skill".
Actually, it's not. It needs to be learnt.
Once Ryan got the loop onto the point, he needed to understand
that he could just let go and let gravity take over.
Of course, it's not a difficult lesson, he caught on pretty quickly.

Click here for our first Eggs on a tree post.

[This post also appears in our Learning at Home section.]

My favourite part of our trip was our day in Central Park.

We entered through Merchant's Gate, which you can see in this photo. In the background is the USS Maine National Monument built in 1913.

Central Park, as its name suggests, is located in the centre of the city, between Fifth and Eight Avenues and between West 110th and West 59th Streets. From inside the park, you can see the buildings of the city.



Central Park has been a National Historic Landmark since 1963. It covers 843 acres (341 ha). According to Wikipedia, "While foliage in much of the park appears natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped. The park contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds that have been created artificially, extensive walking tracks, bridle paths, two ice-skating rinks (one of which is a swimming pool in July and August), the Central Park Zoo, the Central Park Conservatory Garden, a wildlife sanctuary, a large area of natural woods, a 106-acre (43 ha) billion-gallon reservoir with an encircling running track, and an outdoor amphitheater, called the Delacorte Theater, which hosts the "Shakespeare in the Park" summer festivals. Indoor attractions include Belvedere Castle with its nature centre, the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, and the historic Carousel. In addition, there are numerous major and minor grassy areas, some of which are used for informal or team sports, some are set aside as quiet areas, and there are a number of enclosed playgrounds for children."

This is Strawberry Fields, a 2.5 acre site within Central Park, dedicated to the memory of John Lennon who was killed outside his apartment building which is next to Central Park. Countries from all around the world contributed trees and Italy donated this iconic mosaic.
We popped out of the park to see John Lennon's apartment building and then popped back in again. We walked through the park to get to the American Museum of Natural History, and after our visit there, came back to the park. We popped out again to visit the museums on the opposite side of the park - the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim - and popped back in after that. Yes, we did a LOT of walking that day!


What I especially loved about Central Park was its natural organic feel. In Singapore, I love going to the Botanic Gardens, but that is completely different. The Singapore Botanic Gardens is literally a garden - everything is manicured, trimmed and pruned to perfection, each tree even has its own name plate. Central Park, although almost completely landscaped, feels like a natural wonder.


Most of the benches in the park have a metal plate with a dedication. I loved going around reading them.

Here Richard is standing with Belvedere Castle in the background.

This is the Conservatory Water, which is a pond for model boats. You can rent a remote-controlled boat or put your own in the water.

There are a total of 29 sculptures in the park. This is Alice in Wonderland. Ryan climbed right up.


Hans Christian Andersen.

The park has so many different "feels" as you walk through it. Every couple hundred metres, it will turn into something completely different. The landscape is so interesting. It's also very lively, with lots of people going about their day.

This is Bethesda Fountain. Behind it, you can see the lake where people go boating or kayaking.

This is Literary Walk. There are lots of statues of notable people along the path.


Horse-drawn carriage. We didn't go on any rides though.



We walked until we could not walk anymore. After trekking up and down and across the park and back again, plus exploring the museums, we were puffed. I had huge blisters on both feet, thanks to my brilliant move of wearing my brand-new shoes, bought just the day before at the outlets. I had been feeling the pain for several hours already, but just wanted to keep on going so as not to waste the perfect day we were having. Richard was wearing his new shoes too, but his were sneakers.


Anyway, it was actually quite late in the evening already so it was time to go so we went off. We had to give the Central Park Zoo a miss, as it was almost closing time. The Zoo is home to an indoor rainforest, a leafcutter ant colony, a chilled penguin house and a Polar Bear pool.

Here's a map of Central Park. We started at the south, at 59th Street, walked up to the north end, where the American Museum of Natural History was. After our trip to the Museum it was back into the park to see what we could see and then over to the other side, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim, then back into the park again to see the rest of the park, then back to 59th Street to our hotel. The park is 4 km long and 0.8 km wide.

Image from Wikipedia

On Thursday, 5 May 2011, we visited the American Museum of Natural History. It is located just outside Central Park, on Central Park West. Founded in 1869, it is one of the largest museums in the world, with 25 interconnected buildings and 46 permanent exhibition halls, research laboratories and its renowned library. The collections contain over 32 million specimens, of which only a fraction can be displayed at a time.

Some of the more well-known exhibits include Ahnighito which is the largest meteorite on display at any museum in the world. Weighing 34 tons, it requires support by columns that extend through the floor and into the bedrock below the Museum. There is the Patricia Emerald, a 632 carat (126 g), 12-sided emerald discovered during the 1920s, one of the few large gem-quality emeralds that remains uncut. You can see the 563 carat (113 g) Star of India, the largest, and most famous, star sapphire in the world. The museum is also famous for its habitat dioramas of African, Asian and North American mammals.

The Museum is made even more famous by popular culture - it is the setting for the Night at the Museum movies, and scenes from Splash (Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah), The Nanny Diaries and The Day After Tomorrow were shot here. It is where Ross Geller (of Friends) used to work. It is mentioned in literature such as The Catcher in the Rye and it is even featured in video games such as Grand Theft Auto IV.

We did not intend to cover all the exhibits - our main purpose was to see the dinosaurs! The Museum houses the largest collection of fossil mammals and dinosaurs in the world and we thought that Ryan would get a huge kick out of it after having watched Walking With Dinosaurs -The Arena Spectacular in Singapore.

This is a T-Rex!

Woolly Mammoths!

Ryan had a fabulous time marvelling at the dinosaurs! He was running up and down the place, going "Wow!" at everything. It was a great experience for him.

Here we are having lunch at one of the cafes before continuing our exploration of the Museum.



We wandered through some of the other halls, lots of interesting stuff to see.


A section of a very very very very very big tree trunk.

This the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life, where there are more dioramas plus this 29-m model of a blue whale suspended from the ceiling.

This photo was taken outside after we finished our visit. The spherical structure inside the glass cube is the Space Theater. Actually, this was where we began our day at the museum - the Hayden Planetarium in the Rose Center for Earth and Space. It is connected to the Museum. We didn't spend a lot of time there, we just watched the planetarium show in the Space Theater, which explained the scientific theory of the universe and how stars and planets are formed. The voiceover was done by Whoopi Goldberg. The closest thing I can use to describe the show is iMax, but a hundred times better.

Side shot of the glass cube from Richard's iPhone. I like this.

The museum is situated in a 17-acre (69,000 m²) park known as "Theodore Roosevelt Park". We rested there a while before continuing on our walking tour. We had a fantastic time at the Museum - don't miss it if you're in Manhattan!