American Museum of Natural History

On a rainy Sunday morning we went to the American Museum of Natural History (setting for the movie A Night at the Museum).

They have a brilliant guide to the museum iPhone app. There are wireless access points all around the museum that determine your location and you can use the app to take a highlights tour, find out more about popular exhibits, or just navigate the museum with the map.

Most exhibits at the museum are reproductions, I guess so kids can touch and play, but that does make it a bit less interesting.

A few pics:

Baseball

We went to Yankee Stadium to watch a game of baseball, the Yankees v the Seattle Mariners - the Yankees won quite convincingly.

I'm not very familiar with baseball, so like the basketball the game itself wasn't that entertaining, but all the crowd interaction and the action between the pitches were the highlights!

We picked up tickets via StubHub an online marketplace for ticket holders to sell their unwanted tickets - it's like coordinated scalping! StubHub is owned by ebay so we figured it should be ok!

Daniel

The highlight of the trip was dinner at Daniel. Daniel has three Michelin Hats, four stars from the New York Times, and ranked number 8 in the 2010 S.Pellegrino worlds 50 best restaurants.

The entire experience was amazing!! From the street there is little sign of what's inside, but once you enter through the revolving door you are transported into another world!

We started with cocktails in the bar. I had the New York Sling - served in a martini glass with an ice ball with a rose petal frozen in the center. The rest of the drink was delivered in a mini carafe. Reid had the Revolutionary, also with large ice ball and a dash of Absinthe!

Then we moved through into the most elegant dining room. The staff were fantastic, so friendly and helpful, and the service was perfect.

We had the three course prix fix

I had the Gorgonzola Fedelino and Mesclun Tortelloni, followed by the Elysian Fields Farm Lamb Loin
Reid had the Trio of Mackerel (including caviar) and the Duo of Beef

The food was spectacular! I have never had anything like it!

The wine list was massive - with over 1600 selections the list is actually a huge book!

We also had the a little tasting dish at the beginning and finished with a chocolate!

Before dinner:


Sneaky iPhone pic at our table - I wish we had asked the waiter to take a proper photo, but it just seemed a bit tacky

Metropolitan Museum of Art

We spent a morning blitzing around the Met. I mostly wanted to go to get one of their carry bags, but in the end I thought they were too expensive and didn't buy one!

This type of museum is interesting enough, but since they don't really specialise in anything they don't necessarily have the coolest stuff.

They had a photographic exhibition by Leon Levinstein - Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players, known for his "candid and unsentimental" shots of New Yorkers. To me they all seemed a bit storker-ish and grim. The subjects in most photos didn't seem to know they were being photographed.

The really old Egyptian stuff always pretty amazing, although I'm sure some of the necklaces are from the $2 shop!

The highlight was by far the rooftop garden, we sat up there and had lunch and admired the view of midtown.







Fancy armour


Armour for a fat bloke (Henry VIII)


Guns by Tiffany (really just the handles)


Reid amongst the Doug + Mike Starn on the Roof: Big Bambú exhibit on the rooftop




Views from the rooftop

Radio City Music Hall

We went to a concert at Radio City Music Hall - MGMT. The venue was amazing, although MGMT were pretty average. The lighting, I presume on purpose, did not light up the band so you couldn't really see them, and I think the band were oblivious to the fact they were in front of an audience - I could have just sat at home and listened to the CD!! They played a few songs from their first album which were good, but most songs were off their second album . . . . . . which were pretty mediocre!! I guess it's their thing, but I wouldn't say the show was entertaining. Most of the crowd were sitting down through the crappy songs, and heaps of people left before they came back out for the encore!

Some pics:



The ladies lounge






Can you spot the singer?

Brooklyn Street Art

Twinkie

Reid had been on the hunt for a Twinkie the whole time we were in New York, and finally found one!

I guess that box can be ticked!