Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History

I saved our last full day in NYC to tour Central Park and all the wonderful museums that are scattered around the Park. 

It was a fantastic day and I wish we had more time to spend there.

We loved Central Park.

We started in the southwestern corner at Columbus Circle and made our way up the Upper West Side of Manhattan to the American Museum of Natural History and then across to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim over on the Upper East Side. 

The Columbus Circle entrance

Central Park is absolutely beautiful.

So many families and individuals out enjoying the beautiful summer day. 

We stopped at Tavern on the Green.

At Tavern on the Green there was a Pop Up Piano that Brennan thoroughly enjoyed playing after the previous guest was done.

These pianos are set up in various locations in the city and anyone can sit down and play.

Heading to Strawberry Fields 

This is the Dakota where John Lennon was shot 30 years ago.  It is directly across from the Park.

The 2 acre landscaped area in Central Park was dedicated to John Lennon's memory in 1985 on his 45th birthday.  It's a beautiful wooded portion of the Park and is directly across from the Dakota.  Because of my Beatles and John Lennon love, I was so glad we had a chance to stop by.

Beautiful lakes, reservoirs, and ponds in Central Park.

See the artist set up under the pavillion?

Turtle Pond

Belvedere Castle



While I thought this beautiful bridge might have been the one in the movie "Enchanted" where the prince is knocked over by the bicyclists (my boys' favorite scene in the movie), alas it was not.  But beautiful nonetheless!

I thought of the song-and-dance number from "Enchanted" that took place in various parts of Central Park.

And of course, Harry and Sally's beautiful fall stroll as well! 

Thumbs up for Central Park!

When I was reseraching things to do in NYC, the American Museum of Natural History showed up repeatedly as the #1 museum.  We're a museum kind of family, so we were excited to get to go.

It wasn't until that morning that I remembered this was the museum from "Night at the Museum!"

I mean, who could forget this guy from the movie?

And a bunch of his friends?

The museum is undergoing a restoration right now but that didn't stop us from spending 3+ hours there and we could have spent a lot more. 

The museum is a memorial to Teddy Roosevelt (hence the statue at the Central Park entrance). 

It is enormous and has dinosaurs, mammals from across the world, a huge ocean life area, a Hall of Meteorites, a Hall of Human Origins, the Guggenheim gem collection, and a Planetarium.  We barely scratched the surface. 

A huge hit with our boys!