What to do at New York City 3

Natural History Museum 
The American Museum of Natural History is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world and my favorite. The Museum comprises 25 interconnected buildings that house 46 permanent exhibition halls, research laboratories, and its renowned library. The collections contain over 150 million specimens, of which only a small fraction can be displayed at any given time. The Museum has a scientific staff of more than 200, and sponsors over 100 special field expeditions each year.

Most of the Museum's collections of dinosaur fossils remain hidden from public view. They are kept in numerous storage areas located deep within the Museum complex. Among these, the most significant storage facility is the ten story Childs Frick Building which stands within an inner courtyard of the Museum. The predicted great weight of the fossil bones led designers to add special steel reinforcement to the building's framework, as it now houses the largest collection of fossil mammals and dinosaurs in the world. The great fossil collections that are open to public view occupy the entire fourth floor of the Museum as well as a separate exhibit that is on permanent display in the Theodore Roosevelt Hall.

The Museum boasts habitat dioramas of African, Asian and North American mammals, a full-size model of a Blue Whale suspended in the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life, a 62 foot Haida carved and painted war canoe from the Pacific Northwest, a massive 31 ton piece of the Cape York meteorite, and the "Star of India", the largest star sapphire in the world. The circuit of an entire floor is devoted to vertebrate evolution.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Hall of Minerals houses hundreds of unusual geological specimens. It adjoins the Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems showcasing many rare, and valuable gemstones. On display are many renowned samples that are chosen from among the Museum's more than 100,000 pieces. Included among these are the Patricia Emerald, a 632 carat, 12 sided stone that is considered to be one of the world's most fabulous emeralds. It was discovered during the 1920s in a mine high in the Colombian Andes and was named for the mine-owner's daughter.

The Museum has extensive anthropological collections: Asian Peoples, Pacific Peoples, Man in Africa, American Indian collections, general Native American collections, and collections from Mexico and Central America.

The Hayden Planetarium, connected to the Museum, is now part of the Rose Center for Earth and Space, housed in a glass cube containing the spherical Space Theater, designed by James Stewart Polshek. The Heilbrun Cosmic Pathway is one of the more popular exhibits in the Rose Center. The new building consists of a six-story high glass cube enclosing a 87-foot illuminated sphere that appears to float — although it is actually supported by truss work. James Polshek has referred to his work as a "cosmic cathedral". The Rose center and its adjacent plaza, both located on the north facade of the Museum, are regarded as some of Manhattan's most outstanding recent architectural additions. The facility encloses 333,500 square feet of research, education, and exhibition space as well as the Hayden planetarium.

The gift/book shop is just incredible; a fabulous place to get a gift for anyone. The cafeteria in the basement caters to most with a grill, sushi bar, pasta station, salad bar, and entrees. There are smaller gift shops & cafe's throughout the museum



United Nations
The complex includes a number of major buildings. While the Secretariat Tower is most predominantly featured in depictions of the headquarters, it also includes the domed General Assembly Hall, the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, as well as the Conference and Visitors Center, which is situated between the General Assembly and Secretariat buildings, and can be seen only from FDR Drive or the East River. Just inside the perimeter fence of the complex stands a line of flagpoles where the flags of all 192 UN member states, plus the UN flag, are flown in English alphabetical order.

It is located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood, on the east side of Midtown Manhattan, on spacious grounds overlooking the East River. Though it is in New York City, the land occupied by the United Nations Headquarters is considered international territory [1], and its borders are First Avenue west, East 42nd Street south, East 48th Street north and the East River east. FDR Drive passes underneath the Conference Building of the complex.

Guided tours of the United Nations operate daily from the General Assembly Public Lobby. An international staff explains the work of the United Nations and its related organizations, while taking visitors to some of the main Council Chambers and the General Assembly Hall. The tour also features art and other objects of interest donated by Member States. At the Public Inquiries Unit, located in the public concourse, visitors can obtain additional information materials relating to the United Nations and its agencies. The United Nations postal counter - where visitors can buy UN stamps - a UN book store, gift shops, and a coffee shop are also located in the public concourse.



Guggenheim Museum
There are buildings, which attract thousands of visitors not merely by their values which can be found in them, but rather because of their astonishing, amazing exterior.

One of them is the most special building of New York, the building of the Guggenheim Museum looking out on Central Park.
The American master, Frank Lloyd Wright gives the visitors not a daily architectural experience.
Curved lines border it, inside a spiral ramp curling around the central atrium defines the route of the visit. Entering the seashell we may be ready for a journey moving downwards.
The museum lacks the traditional exhibitor walls, they are replaced by a single continuous curved wall.
The building also has a huge glass dome, which is pouring plenty of light into this round museum, which hosts a very beautiful, modern artistic collection.


Coney Island
The New York Aquarium first opened on December 10, 1896, making it the oldest continually operating aquarium in the United States. The Aquarium currently occupies 14 acres by the sea in Coney Island, and boasts over 350 species of aquatic wildlife. We enjoy the beluga whales, the shark tanks and the interactive shows with seals and sealions.

Between about 1880 and World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement area in the United States, attracting several million visitors per year. At its height it contained three competing major amusement parks, Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park, as well as many independent amusements. Today it looks a bit sad and rundown, but we still had a lot of fun. The Wonder Wheel was built in 1918 and opened in 1920, this steel Ferris wheel has both stationary cars and rocking cars that slide along a track. It holds 144 riders, stands 150 feet tall, and weighs over 2,000 tons. At night the Wonder Wheel's steel frame is outlined and illuminated by neon tubes. The Cyclone roller coaster, built in 1927, is one of the nation's oldest wooden coasters still in operation. The Cyclone includes an 85-foot, 60 degree drop. The Parachute Jump, originally the Life Savers Parachute Jump at the 1939 New York World's Fair still stands.

Coney Island still maintains a broad sandy beach that is served for its entire length by the broad Riegelmann boardwalk. A number of amusements are directly accessible from the land side of the boardwalk, as is the New York Aquarium and a variety of food shops and arcades. The position of the beach and lack of significant obstructions means virtually the entire beach is in sunlight all day. The beach is open to all without restriction and there is no charge for use. The beach area is divided into "bays", areas of beach delineated by rock jetties, which moderate erosion and the force of ocean waves. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club is a group of people who swim at Coney Island throughout the winter months, most notably on New Year's Day when additional participants join them to swim in the frigid.