The American Museum of Natural History in NYC

Don't tell anyone but I love museums. In college, we had this tiny art gallery that no one ever went to because, uhm, everyone was busy studying, partying, dating, you know, getting a life. I never pretended to be the coolest person then, given the hours I spent in the library. But other than the library, one of my favorite places in school was that tiny gallery that contained some of the best artworks by my favorite Filipino artists. There was this one painting by Ang Kiukok that showed a modern take on Jesus Christ. It was done in silver, whites and black and in rectangles and triangles. There was also an impressionist take on the streets of Manila showing hundreds of jeepneys bumper to bumper.

After college, I remember going through a bad boy phase. This is embarrassing, but this was the time when I had my eyebrows pierced and I was out clubbing every weekend.I think it was all part of my quarter life crisis. In any case, bad boy or not, I don't think I've ever been able to shake off my love of museums.

Thus, when I came to New York, I almost died with excitement. The Museum of Modern Art was 6 floors of heaven, where Van Goh and Monet rested on the topmost floor. Then there was the Metropolitan Museum of Art that is overflowing with the most important works of art in the last few centuries. A day is never enough to completely see and appreciate each of these museums.

However, there is one museum I neglected to visit, the American Museum of Natural History. This is not just because graduate school can be a vicious monster that will suck the life out of you, but mostly because, as much as I love museums, I was never that interested in natural history.  Thankfully a friend came to visit New York from the Philippines and I was duty bound to take him to some of the museums around.

And let me tell you, I was a fool for not going to this museum before. It's awesome and impressive in ways that museums should be.  They have an entire floor of dinosaurs which brought back memories of me as a child, sitting in a corner and playing with plastic dinosaurs.

(Here's part two of this post )
Words are not enough to describe how amazing this museum is so here are the pictures:

This will greet you at the entrance..

We now have something similar in the Philippines care of the brilliant Mind Museum.

Hey niks!




They remind me of the Igorots in the Philippines.

Did I tell you that I also love turtles? Look at how huge this one is!!




I could totally ride on its back!

I look exhausted but happy!