American Museum of Natural History
Mar. 15th, 2006 03:55 amYa'll know I'm like a bio major, right? So today was an incredible treat for me. I went up to 81st, further up than I had ever gone uptown and I visited the American Museum of Natural History. And it was absolutely brilliant!!! I couldn't get through all the exhibits, of which, makes me incredibly sad. But it was really my fault seeing as I intended on going around noon (getting there around 12:30 PM) but I couldn't wake up and slept until 12:30... So I ended up arriving there around 1:30 but I got a lot done.
Everyone, if you ever go and you have an entire day to spend there, get the Museum Supersaver -- it's so totally worth it, totally. I saw every special attraction there for only $23 (with student discount). That was two space shows (though I only went to one of them because I wanted to go through the North American Mammals exhibit halls and the Asian People exhibit halls), an IMAX film, the butterflies exhibit and the special Darwin exhibit.
I went into cuteness overload -- the mammals totally killed me. God, I want to jump into all the cases and just hug the life out of all those animals. Well, technically, they're all already dead but you know what I mean. I got to the bear one and I was like "Bear-chan!!!" ^^
And I got to see dinosaurs! Oh my god, the apatosaurus was so cool. It's my favorite dinosaur and I was much happier seeing that one than any of the other dinosaurs, even the T-Rex. I really wished I had my sister there and that we could have taken pictures of us with them and that would have been like the best thing ever.
Going through the North American Mammals and the Northwest Indian exhibits really made me homesick because it was like being at home. Sure, I might have never seen any of those animals before in real life in Oregon, but still... And the totem poles just reminded me of how we used to go to see them on field trips in elementary school.
Anyway, the first thing I saw when I got there was the North American Mammals. Then I went over to the Rose Gallery to see the space show. The one I went to was called Passport to the Universe and it was narrated by Tom Hanks and let me tell you, it was freaking amazing. Soooo cool!!! And god, I would be happy listening to Tom Hanks voice no matter what the situation. That man has a voice to die for and the visuals of the whole thing were just amazing. I would totally recommend everyone taking in a space show while you're at the AMNH -- totally worth it. And it's so much better than the IMAX film, which even though was on the Galapagos, bored the hell out of me and made me wish I had not gone to it and went and visited the mineral and gem exhibit instead.
Anyway, I went through the space exhibits, even though I probably shouldn't have because I was pinched for time and I have no interest in space at all. I'm a biology major and not an astronomy one! But I did get to see this huge meteorite called the "Willamette Meteorite" and it turns out it had fallen in the Willamette Valley! They said it was found in what is now known as West Linn! I was happy to see something like that from my neck of the woods. :)
Anyway, after that I went up to the second floor, and went through the hall of African Mammals (much squealage there as well) and then saw the Asian mammals... The panda totally made me to "Kya!" and *_* What can I say? I adore pandas. ^^ I also saw the bongo, the animal that Merrie had worked on like forever and I couldn't help but think of my old animal loving friend. Ah, it was nice to reminisce a bit. :)
After that it was the hall of Asian Peoples and I stalked two Japanese boys through the Japan exhibit. They were like WTF through the whole thing but they had a whole exhibit of inside the Imperial Palace and they had GO!!! I know, I'm so gay to be happy about that, but it was still really cool.
But even though I laughed at the Japanese guys, when we got to the Chinese People exhibit, I was like WTF too. It was like a mix between Mulan and those old ancient TVB dramas... They even had the flower carriage thing that they take brides to see their husbands on! o.O
Next has got to be one of the coolest exhibits ever -- the Butterfly Conservatory! It's actually one of those timed special exhibits so they cost extra so like I said, do the Supersaver and get it all! Space shows, the butterflies (well, they're only there until the end of July), all the other cool attractions...
Anyway, you'd think the butterfly conservatory is actually a collection of dead butterflies but no! They're real butterflies in this build in enclosure! It was sooo cool! So many butterflies, so many different colors and you just walk around as they fly around you! I so wanted one to land on me but they seemed to like old women heads more than young Chinese heads... :( She freaked but I would have been soooo cool about it! It was seriously one of the coolest things ever. I mean they even had tropical plants (god, it was soooo humid and hot in there...) and there were these tiny pineapple plants and I had such a laugh looking at them. Seriously, wonderful exhibit.
After the butterflies, it was seriously a rush. I went through a blur of exhibits on the second and third floors until it was time for the Darwin exhibition. Darwin is like my God so it was fun. I got to see tortoises, lizards and some frogs and I learnt about his life... If I had no idea about him aside from a passing familiarity with what he's famous for, I think I would have liked it a bit more. But as it was, it was a bit simple and a lot of it was stuff I already knew (since Darwin is like my God and I know my God well, you know?). A lot about his life, the reasons why he didn't publish until 20 years after the Beagle journey, the fact that he studied to be a doctor and then to be clergyman -- I had already known. And especially how he came to the idea of Natural Selection and his book Origin of Species -- it was all stuff I knew already so it wasn't as enjoyable as I thought it would be. :(
After that I had an hour to kill before the IMAX film so I spent it on the fourth floor visiting the dinosaurs. They were pretty cool but I expected more of them and for them to larger too...Not that they weren't huge but I expect them to be extra extra large, you know? And I bought some souvenirs for my brother and sister. Diana said she wanted a dinosaur model so that's what I bought her. And I wanted to buy something for my brother too because it would have been cruel... So I ended up buying him some freeze-dried ice cream (astronaut food) and an InsectNside lollypop. For those who don't know, it's basically a candy lollypop with a cricket in it. And for some reason, some grass (and if you squint, you can see the stray leg of another cricket as well).
My brother is probably the biggest baby when it comes to insects. He absolutely hates them. So as the wonderful and cruel sister I am, I bought him insect candy. I want to see him scream. *veg* It's going to be very nice.
Then I went to the IMAX film, which was on the Galapagos and it bored to me death. It seriously isn't mean to be watched by bio majors... ^^;;; I felt too smart for it but I did like seeing the new species that they found when deep sea diving in the waters of the Galapagos.
Well, that's about it... I did find another group of Japanese guys on the third floor in my last couple of exhibits. I stalked them through the Primates exhibition, through the Standford Hall of North American Birds and into the Akeley Hall of African Mammals... So yeah, I stalked them through three exhibits. ^^;;; But it was still very cool because one of them was actually wearing the black coat of their uniform (the aura one) but normal clothes under it and another one of the guys had one of those school bags that you always see in dramas and animes... But it was cool stalking them and listening to them speak Japanese. I know, that's totally stupid but hey, I can't help myself when I see cute young Japanese guys.
After that, there was really not much time left until the museum closed so I had to leave. It was a long day but it was fun and I liked it a lot so I'm happy. ^^ I loved the butterflies, was wowed by Tom Hanks and the space show and I got to see dinosaurs! I feel like such a kid! (And I do sincerely feel that had I been younger, I would have been dazzled more by this whole thing.) And now I'm absolutely exhausted because it was a full day for me.
Everyone, if you ever go and you have an entire day to spend there, get the Museum Supersaver -- it's so totally worth it, totally. I saw every special attraction there for only $23 (with student discount). That was two space shows (though I only went to one of them because I wanted to go through the North American Mammals exhibit halls and the Asian People exhibit halls), an IMAX film, the butterflies exhibit and the special Darwin exhibit.
I went into cuteness overload -- the mammals totally killed me. God, I want to jump into all the cases and just hug the life out of all those animals. Well, technically, they're all already dead but you know what I mean. I got to the bear one and I was like "Bear-chan!!!" ^^
And I got to see dinosaurs! Oh my god, the apatosaurus was so cool. It's my favorite dinosaur and I was much happier seeing that one than any of the other dinosaurs, even the T-Rex. I really wished I had my sister there and that we could have taken pictures of us with them and that would have been like the best thing ever.
Going through the North American Mammals and the Northwest Indian exhibits really made me homesick because it was like being at home. Sure, I might have never seen any of those animals before in real life in Oregon, but still... And the totem poles just reminded me of how we used to go to see them on field trips in elementary school.
Anyway, the first thing I saw when I got there was the North American Mammals. Then I went over to the Rose Gallery to see the space show. The one I went to was called Passport to the Universe and it was narrated by Tom Hanks and let me tell you, it was freaking amazing. Soooo cool!!! And god, I would be happy listening to Tom Hanks voice no matter what the situation. That man has a voice to die for and the visuals of the whole thing were just amazing. I would totally recommend everyone taking in a space show while you're at the AMNH -- totally worth it. And it's so much better than the IMAX film, which even though was on the Galapagos, bored the hell out of me and made me wish I had not gone to it and went and visited the mineral and gem exhibit instead.
Anyway, I went through the space exhibits, even though I probably shouldn't have because I was pinched for time and I have no interest in space at all. I'm a biology major and not an astronomy one! But I did get to see this huge meteorite called the "Willamette Meteorite" and it turns out it had fallen in the Willamette Valley! They said it was found in what is now known as West Linn! I was happy to see something like that from my neck of the woods. :)
Anyway, after that I went up to the second floor, and went through the hall of African Mammals (much squealage there as well) and then saw the Asian mammals... The panda totally made me to "Kya!" and *_* What can I say? I adore pandas. ^^ I also saw the bongo, the animal that Merrie had worked on like forever and I couldn't help but think of my old animal loving friend. Ah, it was nice to reminisce a bit. :)
After that it was the hall of Asian Peoples and I stalked two Japanese boys through the Japan exhibit. They were like WTF through the whole thing but they had a whole exhibit of inside the Imperial Palace and they had GO!!! I know, I'm so gay to be happy about that, but it was still really cool.
But even though I laughed at the Japanese guys, when we got to the Chinese People exhibit, I was like WTF too. It was like a mix between Mulan and those old ancient TVB dramas... They even had the flower carriage thing that they take brides to see their husbands on! o.O
Next has got to be one of the coolest exhibits ever -- the Butterfly Conservatory! It's actually one of those timed special exhibits so they cost extra so like I said, do the Supersaver and get it all! Space shows, the butterflies (well, they're only there until the end of July), all the other cool attractions...
Anyway, you'd think the butterfly conservatory is actually a collection of dead butterflies but no! They're real butterflies in this build in enclosure! It was sooo cool! So many butterflies, so many different colors and you just walk around as they fly around you! I so wanted one to land on me but they seemed to like old women heads more than young Chinese heads... :( She freaked but I would have been soooo cool about it! It was seriously one of the coolest things ever. I mean they even had tropical plants (god, it was soooo humid and hot in there...) and there were these tiny pineapple plants and I had such a laugh looking at them. Seriously, wonderful exhibit.
After the butterflies, it was seriously a rush. I went through a blur of exhibits on the second and third floors until it was time for the Darwin exhibition. Darwin is like my God so it was fun. I got to see tortoises, lizards and some frogs and I learnt about his life... If I had no idea about him aside from a passing familiarity with what he's famous for, I think I would have liked it a bit more. But as it was, it was a bit simple and a lot of it was stuff I already knew (since Darwin is like my God and I know my God well, you know?). A lot about his life, the reasons why he didn't publish until 20 years after the Beagle journey, the fact that he studied to be a doctor and then to be clergyman -- I had already known. And especially how he came to the idea of Natural Selection and his book Origin of Species -- it was all stuff I knew already so it wasn't as enjoyable as I thought it would be. :(
After that I had an hour to kill before the IMAX film so I spent it on the fourth floor visiting the dinosaurs. They were pretty cool but I expected more of them and for them to larger too...Not that they weren't huge but I expect them to be extra extra large, you know? And I bought some souvenirs for my brother and sister. Diana said she wanted a dinosaur model so that's what I bought her. And I wanted to buy something for my brother too because it would have been cruel... So I ended up buying him some freeze-dried ice cream (astronaut food) and an InsectNside lollypop. For those who don't know, it's basically a candy lollypop with a cricket in it. And for some reason, some grass (and if you squint, you can see the stray leg of another cricket as well).
My brother is probably the biggest baby when it comes to insects. He absolutely hates them. So as the wonderful and cruel sister I am, I bought him insect candy. I want to see him scream. *veg* It's going to be very nice.
Then I went to the IMAX film, which was on the Galapagos and it bored to me death. It seriously isn't mean to be watched by bio majors... ^^;;; I felt too smart for it but I did like seeing the new species that they found when deep sea diving in the waters of the Galapagos.
Well, that's about it... I did find another group of Japanese guys on the third floor in my last couple of exhibits. I stalked them through the Primates exhibition, through the Standford Hall of North American Birds and into the Akeley Hall of African Mammals... So yeah, I stalked them through three exhibits. ^^;;; But it was still very cool because one of them was actually wearing the black coat of their uniform (the aura one) but normal clothes under it and another one of the guys had one of those school bags that you always see in dramas and animes... But it was cool stalking them and listening to them speak Japanese. I know, that's totally stupid but hey, I can't help myself when I see cute young Japanese guys.
After that, there was really not much time left until the museum closed so I had to leave. It was a long day but it was fun and I liked it a lot so I'm happy. ^^ I loved the butterflies, was wowed by Tom Hanks and the space show and I got to see dinosaurs! I feel like such a kid! (And I do sincerely feel that had I been younger, I would have been dazzled more by this whole thing.) And now I'm absolutely exhausted because it was a full day for me.