Day 7: Monday

Day 7: Monday

I was excited to go to the world renowned Natural History and Science Museum, where the movie Night at the Museum was filmed. I wanted to go because of all the science stuff. We were both underwhelmed and really disappointed. We paid extra to see a bioluminescence exhibit that talked about glowing fungi, bugs, and jellyfish. We thought we were going to see live creatures, but it turned out that everything was just models with lights that glowed. That put a real damper on the rest of the visit. The planetarium and astronomy portion was nice, and in reality, it is a great museum with all sorts of great skeletons and cool dioramas. If alone, I could have stayed all day. Here's a picture of me in front of a giant sloth skeleton.

The best part was the biodiversity and diorama section of the museum. Below is a picture of the huge blue whale suspended from the ceiling in the great hall.It is over 60 feet long!

A quick respite at Central Park, and back to Rockefeller Center we went. When we got there another big thunderstorm came by. After it cleared, Michelle was to go to the Top of the Rock (top of the Rockefeller Center). However, lightning had struck the top floor during the storm, so she could only go the floor about 20’ lower, still some 69 stories high. See below.

While up there, another storm came in and they were forced to leave. She snapped the following picture of the approaching storm. You can see the Empire State Building in the middle and the new World Trade Building in the far distance with its unfinished black top in the rain storm.

While she was high in the sky, I went to St Patrick’s Cathedral and got there just as mass was starting, so I stayed for mass and a special service afterwards. Nice old cathedral like the ones you see in Europe; lots of history in that cathedral as well. 

Tired and well humidified by the storms, we headed back to the subways for our long journey back to Newark, NJ.