It was a good place to visit on a rainy day. The place is clean and a good healthy walk around many…read moredifferent exhibits. There are buildings to shelter in if it's raining hard and they are packed cool things to see if you're interested in the past. The animals are very beautiful and seem healthy. Children will love running and playing in the many playgrounds too.

So well kept. Friendly staff. Even friendlier animals. The grounds are clean. The animals well…read morecared for. It is such a wonderful, self guided experience.

714/24 (Visit): Sterling Hill Mining Museum had been a working zinc mine up until '86…read more On the outside of the museum, there's several impressive statues of miners and of the brothers Richard and Robert Hauck who opened the museum. The tour is approx. 2 hours. Gerrard was our guide. He was extremely knowledgeable about the entire science behind the minerals. In the mine, you'll see a shaft and how it operates. -Just keep in mind, the mine gets slightly misty and the floor is wet. One large area was filled with different minerals. Gerrard spoke about how the minerals reflect different colors under fluorescent light. Zobel Exhibit Hall displayed beautiful colored minerals from all over the world and incredible fossils from NJ. The museum is probably best for children at least age 5 and up. I noticed some people with strollers having some minor difficulties maneuvering in the mine. Many thanks to the brothers Richard and Robert Hauck. They purchased the property at auction. The brothers opened the museum in 1990. In 1991, it was designated a National Historic Site and continues to house the most extensive collection of fluorescent minerals globally. Prices for Tours: -Adults: 13 years and older $15.00 -Seniors: 65 years and older $14.00 -Children: 4 to 12 years $13.00

Stopped in hearing it looked pretty cool they have a great display of rocks for sale and plus…read morethere's plenty of history on the actual site and outside in the surrounding area. I was going to go on the 2-hour guided tour into the mine itself. But the first tour started at 1:00 And by the time I went to get tickets there was already a large group of senior citizens and parents with small children,toddlers and babies. I don't know why you would take such small children on a 2-hour tour but to each their own. So I might come back on a weekday to do the tour hopefully less people will be there and it will be a more adult crowd. But it is worth stopping in if you're in the area

4/24/26: The Met Cloisters is a must see when in NYC!…read more It's been ages since my last visit. The Cloisters overlooks the Hudson River. It officially opened in 1938. The museum is dedicated to medieval art and architecture. The Cloisters itself is a stunning building. Our first Tour Guide took us around the wonderful medieval statues and gardens. She explained thoroughly about all the herbs and plants that are culinary and for their medicinal purposes. Our second tour guide Valerie was excellent for the "Highlights of the Met Cloisters. A major museum highlight is the Unicorn Tapestry Room (Permanent Display). These 7 tapestries were created approximately 500 years ago. (The Narrative: The Unicorn series tells a story ranging from the hunt's start and the unicorn at a fountain to its defense, capture, and, finally, the famous "Unicorn in Captivity" image). The museum does have a café (The Trie Cafe) on the premises. It's very good for a quick bite along with garden view seating. Museum times as follows: Sunday through Tuesday 10 AM - 5 PM Wednesday- Closed Thursday-Saturday 10 AM- 5 AM. It's best to arrive at the Cloisters upon opening. During the first tour, it wasn't too crowded, but the second tour was extremely crowded. The Met Cloisters is located at 99 Margaret Corbin Drive Fort Tryon Park, New York City, NY 10040. Highly recommend visiting the stunning Met Cloisters.

I hadn't been to the Met Cloisters in almost 20 years, but I finally made a return visit this past…read moreweekend. It's as wonderful as I remembered. The Cloisters is a museum in Fort Tryon Park, governed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It specializes in European medieval art and architecture, and its buildings are centered around four cloisters --the Cuxa, Saint-Guilhem, Bonnefont, and Trie-sur-Baïse. The museum was designed to evoke medieval European monastic life, making it a very special place. It houses about 5,000 works of European art and architecture (doors, arches, columns) mostly dating from the 12th through 15th centuries. Perhaps its most famous works are the Unicorn Tapestries. When I visited this past weekend, it was quite crowded. And it's easy to see why. The museum is gorgeous and peaceful. Plenty of people were reading or journaling or relaxing in the sunlight in the Trie Cloister (I found a little nook and read my book for a bit as well). Many more were relaxing in the Bonnefont Cloister. Inside the museum was crowded as well - lots of people were enjoying a spring day at the Cloisters. I distinctly remember the last time I was at the Cloisters, and it was a cool, foggy day. I think I almost prefer the Cloisters then - it's less crowded and you really feel like you could be walking around a medieval monastery where the cloisters are under a blanket of fog or if it's drizzling. Whatever the weather, the Cloisters is a unique museum. A ticket to the Met gets you into the Cloisters on the same day as well (and vice versa), so you can make a full day of the Met art by spending time at both. It's accessible by subway (A to 190th St or 1 to Dyckman Street), so don't miss this special place in NYC.

This started as a mission to find a Hash (expat international) group meetup somewhere in this vast…read morepark, but since we didn't connect it turned out to be a "walk in the park" and pure joy. Central Park may be in a more convenient location for tourists, but Prospect Park is a divine place to explore, with plenty of twists and turns, and what the heck is that? Lots to look at! The other thing I liked was that we found free on-street parking right across the street on Ocean Avenue. Amazingly we also found parking right by Central Park as well. (This trip was a superb driving one) Even hanging out in the van, having a cold one at the parking spot was a fun experience. There's even a cafe in the middle of the park that is super nice! Worth seeking out when visiting Brooklyn.

One of my favorite things about Brooklyn is Prospect Park. Even though it's large, as you can…read moreimagine it gets busy on the weekends. Lots of families, etc. Still, it can be an enjoyable time. I do prefer weekday visits myself. The walking/bike paths are a great way to see the park in its entirety. Plenty of green space for a picnic, playing frisbee, etc. Playground and splash pads as well. Of course, I can't forget the lake with all of the ducks splashing about. It's really a wonderful way to spend a day in Brooklyn, getting away from it all.

I forgot how huge this museum is. Wonderfully designed…read moreexhibits spaced out enough so that you can actually appreciate each piece Very helpful staff

I used to love it here for years, but it's gotten too popular and lost the charm it had for me…read more The popularity is great for the museum itself. It's experienced an undeniable glow up. People I could never get to step a toe in a museum now beg me to come with them to see some trendy exhibit they heard about. Marketing has improved immensely. They've expanded their reach beyond geeks and schoolchildren to a wide variety of people, and that's good. It keeps the museum alive. It's just no longer one of my favorite places personally. What I miss the most are the old First Saturdays that no one knew about. I'd look forward to them all month like a child looks forward to Christmas. It felt like Brooklyn's best kept secret. Now you have to preregister to get sardined. I'm not much of a noisy crowd person, so I end up leaving early the rare occasion I attempt to go. I do enjoy the salsa parties. Those are fun. Staff can be rude as all else. I've never personally had an issue, but I've seen some uncalled for behavior towards other patrons, especially if they give touristy vibes. The littlest thing can set someone off. It's completely uncalled for.

After six years I have come back to the Whitney Museum to look at what they have. This place was so…read morebusy that it was packed with so many people looking at the art. I was a little shocked since the last time it was quite empty but it was fun to walk around all the levels to see what had changed. Or what has been stated is the same. The view is still amazing so please check that out!

Went to the Whitney yesterday and accidentally wandered into a live-action remake of Radical Chic…read more Endlessly aggressive self-congratulatory "activism," and rooms full of wealthy white patrons nodding solemnly at art that felt engineered more for moral signaling than aesthetic experience. Less museum, more luxury-branded political group therapy. To be fair, the Edward Hopper floor was a real treat and reminded me what actual artistry looks like. But overall? Not remotely worth the admission price. If you absolutely must go, make it a free-admission day.

Yes it's a museum ... but not any museum! This museum has everything and anything science related…read more We mostly went for the dinosaur exhibit and my song loved it. The museum is so nice and so detailed he loved everything else he saw! Be prepared to spend a long time here! I came thinking may 2 or 3 hr ... since a smaller city is what you get. Nope! This can be an all day event and well worth the price

We visited American Museum of Natural History on Jun 25, 2025. Tickets were purchased online by…read morescanning the QR code posted by the entrance. My primary concern was my backpack being too large to be allowed in per their policy. In addition, it contained my laptop. Then I noticed that a departing visitor had a backpack about the size as mine. At the was security checkpoint, my backpack was searched, and then we were allowed in. The first hall we went to was the David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, or Planet Earth as shown on the map. Its exhibits offered a wealth of information on everything geological about the planet. It would take me at least an hour to peruse them all. Next was the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall - devoted to the namesake half-term Governor of New York, Rough Rider boss and President of the United States. There was also another hall on Floor 2 bearing his name but we didn't get around to see it. I was however amazed by the next hall. It bore Roosevelt's name but is simply known as Biodiversity on the Floor 1 map. Hundreds... no, thousands of life-sized replicas of creatures of various shapes and sizes on the walls and ceiling - the Spectrum of Life. I didn't think squids were that large, but there they were. The Rain Forest exhibit was there, and so was the Siberian Tigers exhibit. If the Biodiversity hall was amazing, the next one was epic. Named the Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life and spanning two stories, its biggest star is the life-sized model of the great Blue Whale hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the hall. No matter where I was, the whale was in my line of sight. There were more exhibits on the lower level, including the Walruses. I did not take more pictures because the lighting was poor. I could sit in this hall all day and do nothing but marvel. I would even pay to spend the night here in front of the great blue whale. (It's not the real thing but still magnificent.) Time was limited so we moved on... to the Futter Gallery. To all the party-lovers out there, this is the place to host a party. You can claim you partied with celebrities... well, portraits of them. Next was the Northwest Coast Hall for exhibits of Native American culture. Wife liked this one the most. The collection was impressive. One exhibit was a set of Tlingit artefacts enclosed in glass located near an alcove. These artefacts supposedly had a history of occultic usage with a sign on the glass warning against any form of photography. Though not superstitious, I chose not to take any pictures. At this point, Wife was ready to call it quits. I wanted to see the dinosaur exhibits, which was on Floor 4. She was interested in Gardner D. Stout Hall of Asian Peoples that was on Floor 2. According to the map, Asian Peoples had the largest floor area and certainly felt like it. Unlike the layout of Northwest Coast where one could access to and from any point in the hall, Asian Peoples had wall partitions and aisles flanked on both sides by enclosed exhibits. Lots of life-sized dioramas of human figurines in period costumes, minimalist homesteads, domestic tools and wares, weapons, statues and miniature ships that represented the diverse cultures across Asia. Most notable were the Chinese and Japanese ones with artifacts from religion (especially Buddhism), mythology (including the Eight Immortals) and theater (Noh and Chinese opera masks). Finally, the dinosaurs on Floor 4. In the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs, I saw the t-rex and the apatosaurus. A guide told us that we happened to be in the final hall and suggested that we backtracked using the arrows on the floor to see the others. From there, we went into the long, large Hall of Vertebrate Origins. Unlike the former, the latter had life-sized models and fossils hanging from the ceiling. I didn't realize a pterodactyl was in my photo until much later. The Orientation Center did indeed have the titanosaur with its neck stretching to the next hall. Sadly, the pictures I took of it didn't turn out good. On to Paul and Irma Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals, then the Hall of Primitive Mammals, and finally the Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs for the triceratops and the stegosaurus. I'm pleased that the five original Dinobots (from "The Transformers" series) were represented. After almost two hours in the museum, Wife wanted to leave. Otherwise, I'd have spent the rest of the day exploring the rest of the museum. It would take more than a day to appreciate every exhibit in every hall on every floor. The ticket price felt like a bargain, but we got $30 worth of it. My top three favorite exhibits are Ocean Life, the entire Floor 4 of dinosaurs, and Biodiversity. I'd love to come back here again.

Took the ferry from Battery Park to Ellis Island this morning and took the 90-minute Hard Hat tour…read moreof the hospital. Both the museum and the 90-minute tour are worth the time. The Hard Hat tour - led by Melissa - was a fascinating introduction into the history of the Ellis Island facilities and hospital, progressing from its inception to very busy facility for evaluation and care of incoming immigrants, to a coast guard hospital to present day preservation efforts. A portion of your ticket price goes to the preservation efforts. Melissa was very knowledgeable, invited questions and told interesting stories about the site's uses and history and some of the people involved. Ticketing: One thing I was confused about was the timing of the tour in relation to the time I purchased the ticket for. When I purchased the ticket online, I "assumed" an 11:30 am tour ticket was for an 11:30 am tour. Nope. The 11:30 am is the time you need to be at Battery Park or Liberty Park to get on the ferry to Ellis Island. The tour can be up to 2-1/2 hours later. And we were told that we shouldn't arrive before 11:30 am, because we would not be allowed on an earlier ferry, even if we wanted to go to Liberty Island beforehand. (I got that express direction from the tour group as a response to my specific email question.). Anyway, we arrived at 11:00 am and got the 11:30 am ferry. At Ellis island a little after 12:15 pm, we were told our tour would be at 2:30 pm. We asked if we could be added to the 12:30 pm tour, and they agreed. So we were able to do that. I think the ticketing is confusing and the rules about taking an early ferry are awkward. Maybe it's during very heavy tourist season? But today I didn't see why we were told we couldn't take an earlier ferry. The 30 minute video in the museum is worth seeing. We grabbed something to eat at the museum after our Hard Hat tour My partner got a grilled chicken sandwich, which was quite good on a fresh bun. I ordered a side salad ($5) as an entree and it was quite large, fresh and tasty.

Our first visit to the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration was on Sep 10, 2008. I had but…read morepassing memories and few photos to show for. Our second and most recent visit was on Jun 23, 2025 as part of Road Scholar's "American Mosaic - An NYC Exploration" tour program. It felt like a much more enriching experience. We indeed did much more. For starters, we went to the Ellis Island Cafe. Lunch coupons (provided by the tour group) covered our meals, so no out-of-pocket expenses. After that, we started with the familiar Baggage Room. Then came the America Immigrant Wall of Honor kiosk, where we entered our family name for a commemorative certificate that we visited Ellis Island. Next was the Citizenship Gallery and "New Eras of Immigration" gallery. I don't recall both being around in 2008. The content is extensive. Loads of prose and photos on walls, numerous kiosks of personal stories (four per kiosk), and exhibits showing the immigration journey by sections (L-M-A-S-B, total of five) just to name a few. There was a console where kids could take the Citizenship Test. It looks similar to the one I took in Nov 2011 during my naturalization process. I liked the console that filters citizens by demography (ethnicity, country of origin, gender, etc.). I got a photo that shows how many Kryptonians are living in the United States. We then saw the Great Hall (don't remember much of it from the first visit), and then the exhibits on the upper floors. These included Peak Immigration Years gallery and Through America's Gates gallery on the second floor. Both were good but not as impressive as Citizenship Gallery and "New Eras of Immigration". While the third floor had natural lighting from the ceiling windows, but the exhibits on this floor got none of it. The displays were enclosed in glass walls with lighting that was dimmer within than without. Every time I tried to take a picture, my reflection appeared vividly on the walls. The Ellis Island Chronicles gallery - on the third floor - has miniature models of buildings on (models of) Ellis Island through the decades from the mid 19th century to WWII. It was a wonder to behold the sheer growth of capacity necessary to accommodate the increasing influx of immigrants. Also on the third floor is "Treasures from Home" gallery. This would be my #2 most impressive of all the exhibits. It displays numerous items - those that were donated - brought by the immigrants through Ellis Island. Again, dim lighting plus reflection on glass windows = no photos taken. We would have spent more time if we weren't on a schedule. Someday I might return and spend more time on Ellis Island and museum. I recommend visiting anytime of the year except during the summer vacation period (Jun to Aug). It was very crowded when we were there. Bodies were pressing against us while we were waiting for the boat back to the mainland. The weather was in the upper 90s deg. F. The waiting was long and uncomfortable. Nonetheless, the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration was an enjoyable experience.

It isn't very often that I walk into a space and have my breath taken away. This was my experience,…read morehaving walked into the Metropolitan Museum of art in New York City for my very first time. I found the ticket purchasing and overall check-in process very smooth. I happened to go on a very busy day, so it was crowded, but nothing that distracted from my actual experience. There aren't very many words to describe the abundance of international treasures on display. And the amount of history you learn while walking around is truly overwhelming. My favorite sections are the Egyptian and Greek and Roman wings of the museum. I saw many famous piece there that I previously saw in textbooks. As far as some of the cafés there offer really basic American fair, but with a fresh twist. Because it was so close to the lunar new year when I visited, there were special lychee drink s available for purchase. This museum is enormous and really needs a dedicated 5 to 6 hours to truly enjoy it so don't pack in too many other museum visits on the same day. I made that mistake.

There isn't much more I can add to the already gushing reviews about this place…read more It is incredible? Yes Is it overwhelming? Yes Does it require multiple visits? Yes Is it one of the most impressive museums in the US? Yes Does it compare to places like the Louvre? On this side of the pond, yes Do you have any recommendations? Yes Hit one to two sections of the museum hard. The Egyptian exhibit is incredibly impressive and warrants several hours in itself. The collection of global art is also extensive, so hit up one or two regions of the world on top of that. After that, come back another time. This museum is so rich in content you could return 4-5 times before you can say that you have fully been to the Met. I appreciated their collection of American and European art - especially the art from the Impressionist era. Will I be back? Yes, many times. Enjoy your visit!

I can't believe I've never reviewed the Strand. I guess I haven't visited in years?! Well, I…read morecorrected that oversight last Sunday, and I still love it as much as I did when I was in college. I love bookstores, and NYC has lots of great ones. But the Strand Bookstore might be the best? It's a classic. It's the largest independent bookstore in the city, carrying 2.5 million used, new, and rare books (their tag line - "18 Miles of Books" refers to the fact that the shelf space in the store supposedly stretches over 18 miles)! Plenty of people just shop front their discount racks outside the sidewalk (where all books are $3-7) and then pop in just to pay. But the inside is incredible. More books than almost any bookstore I've ever been to. Still family-owned, over 100 years old, and with an emphasis on bookseller recommendations, it's just an excellent bookstore. When I stopped by on Sunday, I made it past about four tables and end displays - new fiction, signed books, and employee recommendations - about 50 feet into the store. I already had six books in my hands and decided I better leave quickly before I had a problem! Despite the size of the store and the number of shoppers, the line to check out was short and quick. With friendly customer service to boot. It's simply one of the best bookstores in the city. Maybe in the country, too?! Definitely check it out.

I was so surprised to see I have not written a review for Strand even though I have visited several…read moretimes. Strand Book Store is a landmark family owned bookstore famous for its "18 miles of books" and a massive inventory of over 2.5 million new, used, and rare titles. There are four floors - the first floor which is usually very busy and chaotic features a vast collection of new releases and best-sellers, and a wide variety of Strand themed merchandise The lower level is mainly non-fiction and music and travel section. The second floor has art, photography, architecture and children's books. The third floor is rare books. The store is packed with books and if you cannot find a book here it may not exist. It is easy to spend hours browsing through the aisles.