Let's talk about T-Rex, baby

Dinosaurs! Yes, the American Museum of Natural History has many other delights but let's face it, most visitors are there for one thing only - the huge dinosaurs. And huge they are. A cast of the 122 feet Titanosaur (honestly, it sounds like they are getting children to make up these names now), the biggest dinosaur ever found, is so large that its head and neck don't fit in its hall. It could have flattened me with a stamp of one foot, or sent me flying 50 metres with a flick of its tail. You know, if it was alive. Actually, I think even the re-animated skeleton would probably kill me.

Let's go back to the beginning. The American Museum of Natural History, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is one of the largest in the world. It is arranged into 'halls' - the hall of African mammals, the hall of fossils, the hall of human origins etc. It even has a space centre which features a planetarium.

Repeating the pattern from our visit to the Met, my friend and I split up to tackle the museum and I headed straight to the third floor to see the dinosaurs. I wasn't one of those dinosaur kids. I watched Jurassic Park and The Land Before Time and all that but I never really cared to find out the proper names or learn the history. Even now I describe dinosaurs like, "the one with the long neck," or "the one with the spikes on its back," or "the one with the tiny hands". I'd like to say I learned a lot more about dinosaurs in this museum trip and I am now full of interesting dinosaur facts. I did learn a lot but it unfortunately all left my head as soon as I stepped out of the museum doors. What can I say, I'm just not meant to be a dino girl.

The David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing consists of two huge halls and a whole lot of, you guessed it, dinosaur fossils. According to their website, 85% of the models you see are the real fossils, rather than casts and the halls are separated into Saurischian and Ornithischian specimans. I'm going to pretend I remember the difference between them or, indeed, what they even are. But even for clueless me, the halls are fantastic. The fossils and casts are large, numerous and impressive and though the halls were crowded, I didn't feel squashed or rushed. There was plenty to look at and while the exhibits were informative, they were not overwhelming.

After the dinosaurs it was time for a show. Our ticket allowed us into either the Hayden Planetarium show or a 3D Amazon movie and we chose the planetarium because space is cool. We were led into a circular room with reclined seats and settled ourselves down as Neil deGrasse Tyson explained the mysteries of dark matter. It was a good show, very interesting and visually pretty but I did find myself closing my eyes and beginning to drift off to Neil's dulcet tones. What can I say, it had been a very busy few days and I had a cold.

We split up again and I tried to power-walk my way through as much as the museum as I could before it closed. I spent a good amount of time in the halls of mammals, which were quite cool but it turns out there are so many stuffed animals you can see before you get bored of them. There was a very interesting exhibit about Native American culture and origins, which led onto South Pacific peoples and eventually an Easter Island head which I (shamefully) remembered was also in the Night at the Museum movie.

Because time was running out, I didn't get to see the Hall of Human Origins or many of the other space things which is a bit of a shame. Like almost everything in NYC, the museum is massive and there is so much to see - too much for one afternoon. Did I like the museum? Very much. Was it my favourite museum in New York? No, that currently still belongs to the Met. Do I prefer it to the London Natural History Museum? Well, given that I haven't been to the London one in years, it is yet to be decided. But the NYC one might inch ahead if I'm honest. If only because of the dinosaurs.