Up-Town girl!

Tuesday was up-town day in Manhattan. Dave felt he could brave the subway and get us to near central park and spend most of the day in that area - and he managed it so well!
First Up -
Lower Central Park walk and discovered John Lennon's memorial (a mosaic circle in the pathway with Imagine on it). A guy was sitting nearby playing Beatle songs on his guitar. Where John Lennon got shot (outside the Dakota) was nearby so we saw that as well. Lovely buildings

2nd up
Museum of Natural History
this is the lovely old building mentioned in the movies of Night at the Museum series. there was huge queue upon opening but it moved quite quickly. The museum is huge and 4 floors.

We saw lots of stuffed animals which made me very sad -
dinosaur bones (quite cool)
Maori food house (from Rotorua - carved in 1900)
the exhibits from the movies were there - just like in the movie - except Theo. Roosevelt on the horse is actually outside!
I found it was quite interesting that they had a huge modern conservation area, focused on endangered species, with stuffed tigers, pandas, turtle shown as examples!

3rd up
Central Park - what a lovely peaceful place. Right in the middle of chaos! We walked through it and across to the other side. Trees, squirrels, lakes, buskers, bands, bikers, runners, dog walkers, - just pleasant to be in. I didn't think it was that big, until Dave told me we had walked only a small part.of it. At the end was a zoo (I refused to go in as I could see a very small seal pool and I had had enough sadness at the museum), and then horse pulled carriages. (very expensive) and sad-looking horses. Richie had told us that the city had tried to sort out the caring of the horses and their well-being.

4th Up
St. Patricks Church
We walked down 5th Avenue and gooed and gaaed at all the exclusive shops (I kept bumping into people cause I was staring at them so much!)

this was the Home Alone 2 hotel that the boy stayed at in New York - by Central Park.
Then it  was a visit to the well-known and gorgeous church right in the middle of 5th Avenue. Very peaceful haven away from the mad rush.

5th Up
Rockefeller Centre
This was opp. the church and down a little walkway. Yes there really is a skating rink and it was operating. Also the NZ flag waving hello! This is where they have a huge Christmas tree at Christmas.

Then it was walk, and walk and walk all the way back to our hotel for a rest. I am sure I did my 30,000 steps so far.
6th Up
Broadway Show - Book of Mormon
but wait - there's more!
We walked (again) to Broadway and saw our amazing show. It was a musical about 2 Mormons who are sent to the Congo for their 2 years missionary work. Talk about funny, rude, swearing, dancing and singing and just plain hilarious! Dave swears it was the best show he has seen - probably because we didn't know the story line and it was all surprising as to what happens. Laugh a minute! Anyway it was in an old art-deco type theatre (built in the 1930's) and quite small and lovely. Reminded me of the theatres we went to at the westend. However ...... you had to line up behind barriers before they opened the doors half and hour before the show started and then full security check with security men in suits at all parts of the theartre(app. normal these days). At half-time the women's toilets were down stairs and there were barriers to line up behind and weave through while a woman directed you to which toilet was avaliable! Never had that before!
Anyway - after the show we walked to Times Square (5 mins away) and experienced that glitz at nighttime again and had a meal. (once again chaos reigned!) Then another walk back to our hotel.

So big day for little me - but boy did we see some amazingly different things. Well done New York!