Day 35: Natural History Museum and Guggenheim

MY POOR FEET, OH, THE PAIN.

But one of the museums was totally worth it :D
I apologise for spelling errors-- my spell check isn't working atm :/

I'm going to be upfront: I'm tired. Today was long. I woke up at 5, and caught a bus at 7am. I spent the whole day travelling from Upper West to Upper East, and bumped into Char on the way home. It was a loooot of walking. Enjoy the photos and videos :D

9am- Oops, I was an hour early for the museum. They let us in at 9:30, but only let us see the African mammals. I wasn't disappointed; my fave animal is the elephant (or dolphin), and I'm reaaaally keen to visit Africa one day, bc I love so many of the animals from there. I was one of the first people into the museum, which was cool. It got crowded really quickly though. That wasn't pleasant. It was a beaaautiful day in the city! About 16ºC... That was boiling. But it was fun to walk around in less layers (I was tired of being a marshmallow) woohoo.

I visited every room at the Natural History museum. Within 4 hours. That has to be some kind of record... I didn't have a guide, but I found a top ten list for things I must see. Tbh it didn't really help bc I didn't know what they were talking about, but if I came across them, then I'd remember and tick it off. My main concern was to see stuff from Night at the Museum (which I realllllly wanna watch, as well as Mr Poppin's Penguins). The service was really friendly which was nice :)

I spent ages in the space section. I don't have much to say bc I can't really grasp any concept from physics, but I enjoyed it anyways :D It was funny to go into a couple of theatres (with mini documentaries about black holes and the big bang) and realise Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, and a team of Australian's narrated the series. That's probably why I don't remember much...

I breezed by the Native American and Mexican stuff a lot, there was so much but for me it all looked the same, I haven't really been taught anything about it... It was pleasant to walk through, however, because they had beautiful melodies from their traditional instruments playing around the displays.

I saw a couple of Australian things woohoo-- btw, I'm officially homesick. 2 tween boys went by the Australian bird exhibit (I was next to them), and in their southern accents, attempted to say "kookaburra". I burst out laughing. I think they realised I was from Australia bc they then turned to me and kept saying "Ggggg'daAAy MEAT" (yes, meat, not mate). They were amusing.

Dinosaurs were cool. But I wanted my shot w the T Rex. I got it. After that, I wasn't too fussed. I dropped out of bio before I could probably learn that stuff ahahah. I accidentally went the opposite way the museum had set out. So they did this cool thing where the building had the exhibits wrapped in a spiral, ascending through the evolutionary chain. I started from where humans were. Ooooops. Still, it was cool.

The reptile and amphibians displays were alright I guess. But I feel like I see most of it at home quite regularly. Not the crocs, but y'know, I'm not going to line up for 2 hrs to take a pic with a plastic replica, either.

The food court was freaky and completely like one of those daunting moments in a cliche coming of age movie, where the new kid is completely overwhelmed by the cafeteria and doesn't know where to go. That was meeee. But I didn't even know how to get food. The museum is also a high school (for the hoity toity rich) and so most people knew how to use them, since many would have gone to schools where there were American cafeterias, but I was like "aaahhhhhhhhh get me out pls and ty, all I wanted was some food and I can't even see it in here".

After that, I caught the M79 to the other side of Central Park, aka Upper East Side. I saw the lineup for Gug, which wrapped around the corner of the building, ugh. Ohhhh well. I had nothing better to do (I gave up on my plans to also visit the MoMa, which was in Midtown, way to far to get to before closing, plus my feet wanted to be cut off). I had a hilarious dad and his two bitchy teen daughters behind me, they liked to talk to me (and vice versa). They're from around UES, and it was fascinating to listen to them. The dad was really funny-- reminded me of the dad from 10 Things I Hate About You, but looked like Conan's Jordan Schlansky:

Liiiiiike, exactly the same

I stayed in Gug for just over an hour.

The first floor was filled with blank canvases.

There was a line up that lasted 30mins to use the 18 karat gold toilet (but you had a 3 minute limit to use it).

The rest of the displays were slightly patterned, pastel paintings.

I don't even want to think about it anymore;

The Guggenheim Museum was the most pretentious place I've been in my entire life. 

And this is coming from the girl who was regularly taken during her childhood to hotels like Versace that had pools with swans to swim in at the front desk. 

I'm not uncultured, I swear. But these paintings sucked. Yes, I read the artist's story. It's the only reason her paintings were bought in the first place: woman from the 60s is jaded after her husband cheats on here, then develops schizophrenia, almost cuts her freaking ear (yes, you read me correctly) off, and then dies in her retirement home in 2004. Tbh I was extremely disappointed and wouldn't recommend her artwork. ALSO: I lost my ring :( I can't really blame her, but it just adds to the experience.

I had a rude bus lady on the way back to Port Authority. Whatever, it was only 5 stops.

I'm a pro at the subways now. I was navigating with full confidence while getting back to the bus terminal. GUYS!!! I FINALLY WITNESSED A PERFORMER ON THE SUBWAY! HE WAS FABULOUS! He sung The Lady Is A Tramp for 2 stops, before hopping off with his speaker and mic lol.

While strolling back to my bus gate (I wasn't too fussed with the buses, during the 5th hour they come every 10 mins or so, and one was about to arrive and I didn't wanna be at the back of the line), I SAW CHAR AT THE FRONT OF THE LINE! WOOHOO!!!!!! How funny that we saw each other again!

Once we returned, I cleaned up all my Christmas mayhem (phew, I can see the floor again!!), then had my slice of pizza (oh I want proper food again, from Australia!!). Char and I watched one of my fave episodes from Gossip Girl, and she ate her macaroons that she bought today from the exact store Blair bought hers from (our guide said they're $8 each but Char got a good deal of $2.50).

Since then, I've been typing up my blog post! I really, reaaally wanna read 25 books in the next 3 days, so wish me luck. I don't think I can do it, just with all my touristy stuff. If I was just chilling at home; then sure!! :/ What a shame, I may fail my reading challenge for 2016!!

Pictures: 

Special sale of Cadbury in America????

How cool!!

SO MANY ANTELOPE OMFG YOU WILL SEE AS YOU SCROLL THROUGH

corn corn corn yum yum

hehe

I'm inspired

(this relates to the pic before the prev)

Cool Indonesian masks

HEEEEEY!!!!!!!!!!!

<3

New purse?

Adore turtles wow wow

THIS IS COOL

There was a skeleton under us and nobody was noticing it

Next to my fave

SUCH A NICE DAY IN NYC

I'm considering buying some bc wow pretty. Mum has versions from other places she's visited, all around the house (now I want some),

WORK OF ART

This was cool, indeed.

!!!

First time she ever made something without a single line

lost my ring :(

I don't handle this stuff well but I actually teared up reading about some of it; the pictures were horrific

LIKE THIS

*intense flashbacks to year 9 music*

Cuuuute <3

Part of the Gothic Christian display (right next to the massive Islam display..... very interesting)

The Chinese wedding chair oooooh !

these monsters

Actually found in NYC omg

I can't believe this is real!??!

Rabbit?

Bear

I WANT ONE AS A PET LOOK HOW LITTLE THEY ARE

All I could think about was the bloody Eng Paper 1

How lucky you'd be to use this??

Ice Age

I'm not as scared as I used to be about black holes now :) :) 

@ the Gug (sorry for the order-- idk why Blogspot does this?!)

HEY THAT'S FAMOUS

In the gold jacket

On the way home :)

:/

How interesting!!! One side is Africa, the other is South America...

I followed down and it's just toilets was that a pun they did or

Neat!

Inspired again

WOOOOOO O OOO OOW

THESE ARE FOUND IN NYC LOOK HOW HUGE OMFG

odd ducks

I would actually puke if I saw a beaver then 

Angry turtle-rex

Mammoth to.... scale? Idk if it is bc holy crap they'd be huge look at the elephant

A LOT OF GUESSWORK??

I thought they only exist in Animal Crossing

Meteorite

All day, everyday

I feel this pose spiritually 

WOAH

Bizarre? 

I followed this down to the food court haah

Theatre for black hole

I didn't see it actually do anything but mop up the pain on the floor 

Time to test blood pressure @ the top of the Gug???/

THS IS A SCHOOL???????/ (UES)

Charlotte???!!!

Videos:

Part I

Part II

From Calypso.