New York: Cycling in Central Park & the National History Museum

When planning our trip to New York we each had certain attractions or landmarks we were desperate to see and Gaz’s was very much The National History Museum. As a big fan of the Night at the Museum films, a real favourite with our children too, we made sure to add it to our itinerary for our second day in the city. The National History museum is directly opposite Central Park and we walked from Times Square in around twenty minutes.

Although you can of course take cabs and the subway in New York, the best way to see the city is on foot and so we tried to walk as much as possible. On our first day we totted up fifteen miles and after that we stopped counting!

The National History Museum is impossible to miss and instantly recognisable from films, TV shows and the media. Throughout our stay we found ourselves pointing out famous buildings from our favourite movies and it’s a very surreal feeling!

As with all attractions within New York we had to first go through security which took just a few minutes. Out of all of the attractions we visited during our stay The National History Museum was actually the busiest one and we queued for around ten minutes to exchange our New York passes for entry tickets.

The main thing you need to know about the National History Museum is that it is huge!! As one of the largest Natural History museums in the world you could spend an entire day in there and still not see everything, so to fit it into a short trip to New York, with an already tight itinerary, is really quite difficult.

If you don’t have a lot of time it’s worth planning your visit before hand, working out which exhibits you’d like to prioritise and allocate a designated amount of time for each. I’ll be honest, I had no idea it was so large and as we wandered around the first floor I felt as though we really should have made some kind of plan!

I’m not sure if it was due to the size of the museum, the fact it was very busy, or just that we’d had very high expectations of the museum itself, but as we walked around all three of us admitted that we found it all a little underwhelming. Although it was impressive as a large scale museum, I felt it lacked anything new or distinctive and I no longer felt that I was in New York, or even America, at all.

I think with us being fans of the films, Night at the Museum, we had perhaps imagined it to be very different too which is a great lesson in not believing everything you see on the big screen! Obviously we weren’t expecting animals to come to life and battles to re-enact before us, but we were hoping to at least recognise the museum and other than a handful of spots, it really wasn’t familiar at all.

Obviously everyone is very different and for those with a strong interest in Natural History I’m sure that the museum exceeded their expectations. I also think on a rainy day with the children we would love to wander such a museum at home but I think it’s very different when your time is so precious in an exciting city such as New York and you’re aware of just how much is waiting for you outside.

We also found parts of the museum extremely dark and, although this was lovely and relaxing, when you’re suffering with jet lag and your body clock had you up  at 4am, it’s not the greatest way to feel energised! Lewis and I spent the entire time yawning and had to keep nudging each other to stay awake!

That  said, there. were parts of the museum we enjoyed and it was interesting to read some of the information points and explore the exhibitions from across the ages. There’s no denying there is a lot to see and, without even trying we easily passed a couple of hours.

For us, the best part was undoubtedly the dinosaurs, and not just because of Night at the Museum and the references there too. I know the children would have absolutely loved this part and felt very home sick thinking of how much Harry would have adored all of the different dinosaurs, but we took lots of photos to send home to him at the grandparents.

Alongside the dinosaurs you can find ancient animals, many of which I had never heard of before, and this was really interesting too. We saw several tours of the museum on this particular floor which you can pay extra to join.

We spent the majority of our time in the dinosaur exhibit proving that no matter how old you get, dinosaurs will always be exciting! With hindsight I think we would have skipped several of the floors and visited the dinosaur exhibit primarily just to make sure we prioritised our time in the areas we enjoyed the most.

With our tickets being included within our New York passes, we were happy we had visited purely to see it for ourselves and tick off another famous New York landmark off our list. Should we have paid full entry price I think I would have left a little disappointed as although we did enjoy parts, it definitely didn’t live up to our expectations.

As we left the museum we discovered several food carts up and down the street which had good quality food at reasonable prices. Being gluten free was difficult at times and I was constantly jealous of Gaz and Lewis having giros for lunch, but fries and cheese is never a bad thing and we did find several jacket potato carts on the go too.

From the National History museum we headed over to Central Park where we collected our bikes which again, were included in our New York passes. As you can imagine, Central Park is absolutely enormous and cycling is such a fun and easy way to take it all in.

For those who prefer a more relaxing experience you can hire private tours of Central Park via pedicabs or horse and cart, either pre-booked on line or on the day. Be warned, without prebooking these can be very expensive and even booking in advance will cost you around $100 for a one hour tour. That said, for your very own private tour guide, all of which have expansive knowledge of the park, it’s all relative on the trip of a lifetime.

Personally I can’t put into words just how much fun it was to cycle around Central Park, somewhere we have waited such a long time to visit, with Gaz and Lewis beside me (or in front of me up the hills!). Several times I had to stop and pinch myself that we were right there, in amongst all of the craziness that New York has to offer, zooming downhill with the wind in our hair and not a care in the world. When people say that Central Park is like a whole different world, I know exactly what they mean!

I imagine that Central Park is even more beautiful with the seasons and, although it was lovely in the Winter, I’d love to return in the Spring when everything is in full bloom, the Summer when the park is full of people basking in the sun, or the Autumn when the colours must be just incredible! Hopefully one day we will be lucky enough to have visited in all four seasons.

My favourite part was stopping to discover all of the spots we recognise from movies. – Home Alone 2 and Elf being the main ones! We were so excited every time  we spotted a familiar scene, scrambling up rocks to get photos with the city backdrop behind us, and making memories that even now, two months later, bring a lump to my throat to remember.

We had the best time in Central Park and my own regret is that we couldn’t spent longer exploring. That said, we were able to cover the entire park via bike which I’m really not sure could have managed on foot. If you’re considering hiring bikes I can’t recommend it enough and Gaz, Lewis and I all agreed that it was a real highlight of our trip.