Central Park has many playgrounds dotted around so we chucked E in the pram and wandered off in search of some pint sized entertainment. I was intrigued to see the Diana Ross playground, but it was closed for maintenance so we went a few minutes further to the mariner’s playground, a vaguely nautically themed set of slides and swings. 

 E had enormous fun racing around and climbing the structures, which played perfectly into our plans: after all the excitement he crashed asleep and we headed to the nearby American Natural History Museum.

There were so many great exhibits here it’s hard to know where to begin. The space displays were great, with lots of interactive things for (older) kids to do. E was still out to it at this stage. 

 The hall of African animals was well presented but I found myself rather sad looking at stuffed white rhinos and other critically endangered species, thinking that these specimens were probably shot and brought back here by nineteenth century “conservationists”

Along with the huge numbers of animals there were hordes of school children and it was quite a noisy experience.

We had tickets to the “Life at the Limits” special display, which was all about life thriving at extremes of temperature, pressure, etc. Again, it was a really well presented exhibition and would be great for kids. One scary moment was the corpse flower exhibit, which they had a special device you could sniff to experience the rotting meat smell. I was worried that some kid had left it open as the smell was quite overpowering, then I realised it was actually the man standing next to me… I know it’s hot and humid here but man, that was rugged.

E chose this time to wake up and it coincided with our arrival at the best part of the whole museum – the dinosaurs! Seriously, the collection of dinosaurs and the presentation of vertebrate evolution was worth the price of entry on its own. There was a full t-Rex skeleton, triceratops, and more dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes that I could have imagined. E was rapt, he kept calling out “roar” and “hooray” – a budding palaeontologist perhaps? 

    

 After all the excitement we grabbed some pizza for lunch. Deb grabbed me a can of Dr Pepper which I haven’t had in a very long time. Pleasingly it tasted much less terrible than I remembered.

We met back up with Leanne, who had been exploring the highline and the 9/11 memorial. The girls were keen to check out Bloomingdales so it was a quick subway ride to Canal Street and Soho (South of Houston of course!) I was reminded distinctly of Bridge Road in Melbourne, lots of people, lots of clothes shops but nothing really that inspiring. E and I left Deb and Leanne to the shopping and took a walk to nearby Greenwich Village. On the way, E fell asleep so I took the opportunity to grab a cold beer and put my feet up. That’s how holidays should be, right?

A beer or two An hour or two later we were reunited with the shoppers and strolled up the road to a Cuban restaurant called, inventively enough, Cuba.

Great service, amazing food and a potent sangria. E enjoyed the rice and beans, and replete we returned home to crash. Another great day.