We got to start a bit later today as the American Museum of Natural History doesn’t even open till 10am. We walked a few blocks to the subway only to find weekend track maintenance had closed the access to that line at our station. Oops – we had to detour via another train down to 14th then back up to 81st to get to the museum. Subway stations are hot and humid in August, even at 930am. It was a slow and hot start to the day but we did eventually get there.

We started in the planetarium with the movie “Dark Universe”. Cool show and set to be consumable by many levels of knowledge.

We spent some time in the space area and touched lots of pieces of meteorites. Saw how the earth was formed. All of it very well done. We then headed up to the fourth floor to see these guys.

Once we were dinosaured out we went down a level to the Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples. Had we been here at night we would have had to have gum. Not quite the same location as the movie (Night at the Museum for those that don’t know).

We ducked into the Mexican room to see the giant Olmec Head.

 Then off to see an old old friend of Kris’ from her university anthropology days. “Lucy” is the link from tree dwelling beings to land dwelling beings that we all come from.

This representation is an Australopithecus couple out for a stroll.

Our last stop was the blue whale. Dave would love to swim with such a majestic creature and experience them up close in the wild.

We could spend days in this museum but had only allowed the morning on this trip. After 3 hours, we walked a couple long blocks to Café Eighty Two with a huge gluten free menu (including french onion soup and mozzarella sticks, two things which Eric and Dave have not had in a long time). It is very much the New York Jewish Deli experience. We ate with many locals who all knew the staff. Once nice old lady was showing a photo of her grandchild to the very patient hostess. I guess the poor girl said something to this lady about being a Mom at one point. Bet she regrets that now… The food however was awesome. We all left very very stuffed. Thankfully the next part of the day was a walk.

We headed back into Central Park and spent some time wandering in The Ramble. The set of winding paths is very complicated, but we did find our way to the Ramble Arch.

We then meandered our way down to the iconic Bow Bridge where no less than 5 wedding photo sessions were happening. We must admit it is a very photogenic place to get your shots done. We did ours in Stanley Park 25 years ago so we can’t say much!

Here is the twin-towered San Remo apartment block on Central Park West. Can’t imagine the cost per square foot to live there.

Another scene from Ghostbusters was close by so we headed to the Tavern on the Green. Seems they’ve made a patio eating area in the last 30 years since the movie was shot. Not much of a view to see. You can barely see the white windows where Rick Moranis pleaded to be let in while being chased by the gargoyle minion of Zul.

At this point Ryan headed back to the Met museum to try and see the rest of it. He stayed until closing and met us at Times Square some 40 blocks away. He walked it then said his feet were sore. Umm yeah!

Kris, Dave and Eric went back to the brownstone to rest before the Lion King musical. We had incredible authentic Neapolitan gluten free pizza at Don Antonio. We couldn’t even get that in Naples a few years ago when we were there. Score another win for Kris’ planning.

The show itself is incredible. Well worth the price of admission.

We managed seats in the 6th row and could see the makeup, costumes and even the dancers sweat.