As the long, lazy days of summer slowly peel away into crisp autumn weekends, there is still a way to tranquilly unwind after Labor Day. Understandably, it may be October and any thought of an enjoyable, relaxing day might have escape you in anticipation of the bitter dawn of winter hibernation. It is often at this juncture of the year that New Yorkers most often choose to begin bundling themselves into fleece sweatshirts and heavy winter wear, deferring to mope in their self-inflicted isolation.
Though, beautiful natural scenery and outdoor activity is all too accessible within the New York City boroughs, and may be entering its peak exquisiteness. Like anything New York metropolitan, a trip anywhere always finds within it a tinge of urban city dwelling lifestyles and a little culture.
This past Sunday I took a visit to the American Museum of Natural History. The museum is centrally located along the west bank of Central Park, inside the heart of New York’s famed Upper West Side neighborhood. Founded in 1869, the museum is literally blocks away from some of New York’s most noted and lauded cultural attractions. The Lincoln Center for the Performing Art is but a handful of city blocks away, notwithstanding its cultural counterpart; the Juilliard School.
High-end fashion and boutique stores line the streets adjacent to the Museum, as well as coffee houses and cafés. The neighborhood is often described as somewhat residential, and notoriously caters to upper-class tastes. Many luxury apartments are prominently displayed in full gala along the busy streets, attracting high society and cultured individuals to indulge in all that the neighborhood has to offer.
The Museum itself is a labyrinth of exhibits, interactive monitors, and visual projections covering all of the natural history of both our world and the greater universe around us. Admission into the Museum is a suggested $19.00 for an adult and $10.50 for a child, though no actual admission fee is required. The Museum is open everyday from 10:00AM to 5:45PM, except on national holidays. Entrance to the Museum is available at five different points, though the runaway favorite is the 79th St. and Central Park West entrance. With its Greco-Roman styled columns, archways and stairways, it’s a most appropriately grandiose entranceway to an exceptionally grandiose Museum.
Tourists come from all lengths of the world to visit the comprehensive exhibits on display at the Museum. Jan Weber, a Germany business from Berlin, opted to visit with his partner Leon Becker, while on vacation in New York. “The Museum itself is quite a creative and visual feat of the human imagination,” he said. Adding Leon, an insurance salesman, “It’s quite interesting how so many people from different scientific professional backgrounds can come together to create something so spectacular and real.” The Museum is truly a feast for the eyes and the mind.
Most visitors tend to tour the displays from the top floor to the bottom. The museum is arranged in rough natural chronological order with the oldest naturally existing things featured in exhibits on the top floor and the newest on the bottom.
The basic layout of each floor in the Museum consists of four great rooms each interconnected into the other, forming a circular or specifically square pattern. The middle of the massive floors are usually reserved for special events or shows case-studying a phenomena in the natural world. Though this design is not always the case, nevertheless it’s a rough draft of the monumental scope of the Museum itself.
I began my visit on the top floor at the infamous “Dinosaur Exhibits”. There, I beheld at the mammoth beasts, which had once roamed this Earth. The skeletal remains of the Dinosaurs are artfully arranged around the great halls. Mounted onto the floor and held up by cords connected to the ceiling, the Dinosaurs (especially the carnivorous ones) are given a disturbingly animated disposition sure to scare young ones. Dinosaurs, meaning Terrible Lizard in Greek, are some of the Museum’s most notorious attractions, wildly responsible for its worldwide acclaim and attention.
By the time I made my way through every dinosaur exhibit and display I then realized how much time had been spent gawking at the behemoths, and hurriedly made my way to the nearest elevator. Not quite finding one, I descended through the stairway to proceed to the next level of the Museum. There I came across other beauties of the natural world.
The next several exhibits tend to stray from the pre-historical context, shifting to modern day themes. Modern-day Reptiles, Amphibians, Mammals, and plant life are illustriously represented through series’ of three-dimensional stuffed replications of the different flora and fauna. The scenes are painted with an artist’s rendering of their natural environment in the backdrop. All of these depictions are well organized behind neat rows of glass paneling.
Some of the more interesting exhibits to venue at the Museum are the human history expositions. From Khazars to Armenians, the Museum catalogs wide swaths of ethnic groups and cultures. Anything from Bedouin tribal warfare and the Japanese musical instrument called a Koto are apt to be discussed and reviewed in the illustrations on the exhibits.
Upon exiting the Museum, a spontaneous impulse lured me into the pastoral surroundings of Central Park. Conveniently located next to the Museum of Natural History, Central Park encompasses the blocks running northward and southward from 110th St. to 59th Street. It is a designated National Historic Landmark and encompasses 843 acres of land. Designed by the famed landscape architect Frederick Olmsted (also designer of the Great Chicago World’s Fair of 1893), the park sees roughly 25 million visitors annually.
Strolling along the cobblestone embankments of Central Park, a gentle breeze picked up swaying the Elms positioned beside me gently. The glistening sheen of color reverberates from tree to tree revealing a subtle vibrancy of life and natural beauty within the park. Late October to early November is a perfect time to see exquisite leaf color and foliage. It is often one of the most overlooked but equally stunning time to visit the park, when leaf color change is most rapid.
Trotting deeper into Central Park, I came across one of its historically significant assets; Belvedere Castle. According to the Central Park website, Belvedere Castle was constructed by “Calvert Vaux… as one of its many whimsical structures intended as a lookout to the reservoir to the north (now the Great Lawn) and the Ramble to the south.” Interesting enough, this is actually where the official Central Park meteorological weather data is recorded. So now when you here: “temperature from central park is,” you will know exactly where it is referring.
Belvedere Castle is another tourist hotbed, as many flock here to observe the beautiful panoramic vistas and overlooks from atop the castle. Perched above the serene Turtle Pond, the castle is located adjacent to the Shakespeare Garden; a beautiful four-acre landscape dedicated to the famed English playwright. In addition, it is conveniently located near the Delacorte Theatre; an open-air venue which plays host to the perennial Shakespeare in the Park performances.
Many come to take in the catharsis-inducing sites and sounds, which is Central Park. Adriana Fradique, a Uruguayan-born resident of Rio de Janeiro, also mother of four, enjoyed the tranquility presented in the park. “It is such as paradoxical contrast,” she noted. “Such a beautiful, peaceful park within one of the busiest, noisiest, crowded urban sprawl in the world. I don’t understand it, but I love it.” Adriana was right.
We New Yorkers may take advantage of the close proximity we are afforded to both stunning natural beauty and art and culture. But, it is most important not to forget nor squander these ample opportunities. Some food for thought as you decide next how to occupy your Sunday afternoon.
Facade of the Museum of Natural HistorySkeletal Remains of a Tyrannosaurus RexScenic Walkway of Central ParkBelvedere Castle
