On our third day in New York City, we woke extremely early to maximize our time at the American Museum of Natural History before strolling through Central Park! It was a long, exhausting day full of interesting sights and bookended with tasty food!

📸Picture-Heavy Post
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Before we get started, I am 5'9", typically wear a 18/20, wear a 40B bra, a size 11 wide shoe, and my measurements are 46/49/55.
New York City:
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I was so happy to find a souvenir hat that matched my new sneakers! Found some very soft and comfortable compression socks. |
Our third day in NYC was one of our earliest starts to see as much as possible in the museum. Sean ran out to Dunkies for little avocado toasts and coffees, and we blearily readied ourselves for the day. To save time, we ordered a car instead of taking the subway as planned. While the car was more expensive, I'm glad we were able to do it so we could see more of the city as we traveled from one point to another. Especially for this being our first time in the city, I'm happy to have seen more that way.
Our first stop was
Modern Bread and Bagel just two short blocks from the museum. We ordered online and popped in to pick up our selection before eating breakfast in Theodore Roosevelt Park at the museum's steps.
Modern Bread and Bagel has all gluten-free and kosher products. We try to stay as gluten-free and dairy-free with our meals as possible, but I also love a good bagel and didn't want to miss out. It also worked out a lot better for us if we ate small bites throughout the day, versus having two or three main meals. We definitely didn't plan snacks ahead of time this day and became quite HANGRY later on, but more on that later...
We ordered the Sweet Billy to share, a hot breakfast bagel sandwich with scrambled eggs, goat cheese, and homemade chili jam. Even the animals in the park knew how delicious it was because we had squirrel and bird friends immediately! The Sweet Billy is tangy, sweet, and fluffy, and the bagel's texture is wonderful. It was DELICIOUS! It was so tasty, combined with the fact it is all GF, I want to try everything on the menu. Truly, it was a delight. I'm sad we weren't staying closer to one of the Modern Bread and Bagels in the city because I would have happily had those every day. They also have a sister gastropub,
Thyme & Tonic, next door, which offers mostly plant-based fare while being gluten-free and kosher.
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Our tasty Sweet Billy bagel sandwich from Modern Bread & Bagel |
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Our friends at Teddy Roosevelt Park |
We cleaned up from our very messy and absolutely scrumptious bagel sandwich and moved on to our timed entry at the
American Museum of Natural History. Be mindful of your times when planning your visit, because your entry is timed along with any exhibits you would like to see. While I would normally use a CityPass or the like to save some money on tourist attractions, we just didn't have the time to fit enough in that would make the CityPass worth the price. We also needed more flexibility this trip due to other people's schedules and my own personal limits.
While at the museum, we chose to see a Hayden Planetarium show and the butterfly exhibit. Getting in line and waiting for these specific things eats into your time at the museum. Honestly, you could be there from open to close and still not see everything, depending on how you take in a museum. We aren't the type to read every single thing and we get pretty impatient with people in general, so some things we fly through while others we take more time with the information. Also, as someone who loves dioramas, I was actually surprised they got old kinda fast. (I say fast, but we were there for five hours.)
Anyway, as big fans of Neil deGrasse Tyson, we were most excited about being at the Hayden Planetarium. It did not disappoint! The seats were comfy and the show was interesting and cool. We both teared up at the experience. I highly recommend the planetarium!
But save your money on the butterfly exhibit. It is small, they let in way too many people, and nobody was really watching out for the safety of the butterflies. Children were running amok without being reprimanded. We tried to enjoy it. We saw pretty butterflies. But
the butterfly exhibit at the
Pacific Science Center in Seattle is way, way better.
Again, the museum is MASSIVE, so I recommend picking the top three exhibitions you really want to see and anything else after is a bonus. We started with the Gems and Minerals exhibit and began meandering around from there, but soon realized how long it would take us to work our way up to the fourth floor. We had to start to pick and choose from there. Add in any timed exhibits you want to take in and time gets a little more limited. We actually loved the Gems and Minerals exhibit so much, we went back through it a second time.
After the planetarium show and butterfly exhibit, I really wanted to make sure to see the dinosaurs. By hour four of our five-hour visit, we both began to get pretty irritable. I would have preferred an adventurous night at the museum instead of dealing with the general public, methinks. Granted we should have had a snack at this point, but we just wanted to see as much as possible. Somewhere amongst the bones of the ancient ones, I knew my time amongst people had reached an end. And once Sean gets snappy, I know we need to call it quits (because he's actually one of the nicest, most patient people I know).
We flew through some mammal exhibits before releasing ourselves back onto the streets of New York. We gasped at the fresh, cool air and made a beeline to Central Park to cleanse our systems of rude people and loud children.
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The atrium reminded me of Star Wars |
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The rainbow of colors and the absolute sparkle was something to behold! |
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The pink tower is Elbaite |
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My very real reaction when I saw this tall, sparkling amethyst geode! |
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Never met a shiny I didn't want to wear! |
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This wood is also kinda shaped like the Millennium Falcon. |
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Glowing rocks! |
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Meteorite time! |
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The lighting at the Atrium is very nice! |
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Happy to see belly rolls at the museum! |
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Turtle, turtle, minion of Gozar |
Central Park was wonderful. It was lovely, even with leafless trees. That time in nature helped balance our moods and calm us down. In fact, I think we visited every park we came near on this trip. I spoke to many a squirrel and bird, including the Squirrel King and the Little Chocolate Prince. When planning our stroll through the park, I highlighted a few main sights to see starting from our entrance across from the museum and on to the exit nearest 7th Avenue. I made sure I had a downloaded map in the event we felt lost, but mostly we just took our time walking around and taking photos. Near Bow Bridge, we bought a water and pretzel. (
Skip the pretzel. It's hard and dry.) However, the pretzel boost gave us the energy to walk those two miles in the park and another five blocks on to our hotel.
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Central Park is right across the street from the museum. We were happy to be amongst the foliage. |
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The Squirrel King |
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Overlooking Oak Bridge from a trail in The Ramble |
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The Little Chocolate Prince!! |
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Oak Bridge |
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Bow Bridge |
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Bow Bridge |
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Looking towards Cherry Hill |
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Bethesda Terrace |
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The tiled ceiling inside Bethesda Terrace |
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The columns at Bethesda Terrace had these cool reliefs carved into them. |
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Benches along The Mall |
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A bronze bust of Ludwig van Beethoven & the city |
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Stopped to sit for a few minutes and drink some water at the Carousel |
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All the squirrels stood to greet me, which told me my reputation as a friend to animals preceded me. |
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Sheep Meadow |
We were absolutely knackered after such a long day. Museum Day was one of our biggest walking days at roughly seven miles, so don't forget comfy shoes. We ordered pasta and salad from
Angelo's and got to bed as soon as we could.
The next day would be another heavy walking day,
but I was excited to hang out with a dear friend of mine too!! Until next time!
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