Today's Forecast: Flurries with Dinosaurs

New York - Day 2

We awoke early and hopeful about the hot water situation. No luck. Lukewarm showers for all. I had goosebumps throughout the shower and was thankful I had the foresight to pack my knitted poncho.

I had emailed the rental services the night before about the hot water situation and also asked for a frying pan. We realized that, although our one "magical" pot was multi-functional, a frying pan would be nice if we wanted to cook breakfast (or anything else while boiling water for a bath).

It was American Museum of Natural History day. We headed out to face the flurries, taking the wrong train and/or heading the wrong direction more than once on the subway system and picking up some sustenance at Starbucks along the way. More time was wasted in the line up at the basement entrance of AMNH, which is connected to the subway station (convenient). When we got to the cashier we realized that we couldn't buy our City Passes here and they only took cash. Back outside we trekked and thankful that we did as we skipped across the street to truly marvel at the great building we were about to enter. We took some photos in the snow, then made our way in.

I think if I lived in New York, I'd visit the AMNH fairly often. The beautiful lobby with its tyrannosaurus and brontosaurus - sorry, apatosaurus - skeletons is free to loiter in. The people watching alone is simply amazing.

After a few hours of exploring the African and Asian wings, we made our way to the planetarium for our scheduled viewing. The waiting was long and tiring. Before entering the theatre, we were informed that "all seats provide equal viewing of the universe." This statement is quite mind-blowing really.

Although the planetarium show is quite astounding, I'm afraid I fell asleep for a few minutes. Sitting in a comfortable chair with head tilted back in a dark room... this situation has 'nap time' written all over it.

In the gift shop after the show, I found the tiniest plastic animals I'd ever laid eyes on. I had to buy the tyrannosaurus. It was 75 cents and begging me to take it home. (When we got back to the apartment, I decided to name him Elton. Why? I've no clue. He just felt like an 'Elton' to me.)

After our gift shop foray (one of many), we needed food badly and made our way into the cafeteria where Sue found chicken "strips/nuggets" shaped like dinosaurs: t-rex and stegosaurus to be exact. As expected, the food was overpriced and not particularly spectacular.

We had tried to purchase tickets to see Wicked, the musical, for this night at 7pm, and were awaiting an email confirmation. (We'd talked about it before leaving for New York but still managed to forget to buy tickets beforehand.) Getting back to the apartment before 6pm was crucial. Sadly, we did not get to see the entire museum, but we did see the major dinosaur exhibits and (probably) wasted too much time in the gift shops. The AMNH, like the Met, is not meant to be a one day trip.

Silly us. We thought we could walk back to the apartment from 53rd. On a nice day, yes, but not on a flurry-filled day after we'd already been walking for hours in a museum. We were pretty tired, cold and grumpy by the time we climbed up the flights of stairs to our apartment. The icing on the cake was realizing we didn't get the tickets to see Wicked.

We had the whole night ahead of us but we were too tired to think of how to fill it. While watching more mind-numbing television, we realized we were hungry. I had been searching for some nearby restaurants the night before and looking at our choices again, saw that Jackson Hole Burgers had some raving reviews.

Tucked away on E 64th St with an unassuming exterior, as with most older buildings in New York, you had to descend a small flight of steps before entering. We were immediately greeted warmly and shown to some seats in a second room. It was quite late for dinner (at least 8 or 9pm I think) so the restaurant was quite empty.

Having looked at the menu before leaving the apartment, we knew what we wanted. I ordered a veggie burger with cheese and mushrooms and added bacon - something I always do as I do not eat red meat, but I love bacon - with a root beer float because I'd noticed they brew their own sodas ('pop' in Canadian speak). While we waited for our food to arrive, we were given some cornichons (I'm not sure why New Yorkers don't call them pickles... maybe because they are only lightly pickled cucumbers?) to munch on. I'd brought Elton along for the meal, so took copious photos of him whilst enjoying my root beer float.

The veggie burger was amazing. The patty was house-made with black beans and not the least bit dry or bland as some veggie patties are apt to be. I'm sad to report that the fries, in comparison with the burgers, are really not up to snuff. But perhaps it's a personal preference? I've never been partial to steak fries.

Stuffed to the brim, we dragged ourselves back to our humble (temporary) abode, and winded down the night with some more mindless television. (I'm truly disgusted that TLC - The Learning Channel!!!! - has become a reality television network.)