There’s a bit of irony in the Museum of Natural History — note that “natural” part — setting up an ice-skating rink filled with synthetic ice, instead of frozen water.

Nevertheless, it sounds like it’ll be pretty cool when it opens next month:

The Museum’s new Polar Rink… is located on the Arthur Ross Terrace, with magnificent views of the glowing Rose Center for Earth and Space and the surrounding Theodore Roosevelt Park. Skaters will glide around a 17-foot-tall polar bear made of openwork stainless steel festooned with pine boughs and twinkling lights.

It’ll be worth the trip to the Upper West Side just to see what fake ice looks/feels like. If it doesn’t measure up, there’s always the other traditional rinks around Manhattan, including The Pond at Bryant Park, which I noticed going up for the past week.