New York the fifth

Day at the museum - the Museum of Natural History. It's a cool place, with a mix of super-modern interactive exhibits and more traditional museum fare, like native costumes pinned to dummies with horrifyingly rendered faces and those retro educational filmstrips they always make fun of on The Simpsons.

This is the planetarium-side entrance, around the corner from the more famous Ben Stiller entrance. And that is a huge ball.

You can go inside the ball, where Liam Neeson will tell you all about the origins of the universe. You then walk down a ramp that outlines the major milestones in the 13 billion years since the Big Bang - although all dates and timespans are inserted into the displays on dials or buttons that can be pulled out and replaced, I guess in case of new science just to hand.

There be some freaky stuff going in the history of human development exhibits.

Yep, some freaky, freaky stuff. If that just looks like a black square, tilt your screen or adjust the brightness until you pee your pants.

But there's also penguins...

...and tigers...

...and DUGONGS! Oh my!

And what the crap?! looming dinosaur skellingtons.

LOOOOOM!

I also figured out enough of the subway to catch the C train to the museum and back. And took a terrible photo of same like a big tourist dork. Although...if I just...

Nope, still terrible.