New York... Days flying by...

Entering the second week of our New York adventure, the days began to fly by as we continued to tick off our list of things we wanted to see and do...

I was generously allowed a 'Mummy only' shopping day whilst Daddy entertained the kids for the day. We had discovered a small, quiet and little-known ice skating rink on one of our earlier walks at the South Seaport, so the kids spent about 3 hours having the best time skating. For about 2/3 of that time, they apparently had the entire rink all to themselves!

Meanwhile, I was having a ball shopping... Century 21 was great for bargains, and I enjoyed the best homewares store (Crate and Barrell) where I found some cute Christmas decorations for 50% off. I was still keen to go back to the New York Public Library, so wandered around there and refuelled with a hot chocolate whilst enjoying the front courtyard and playing on Beth's camera...

After a long day, both parties met up at MoMa (the Museum of Modern Art) at 4pm, where entry is free from 4pm to 6pm on Fridays. We were all a little tired and hungry, but we still wandered through and admired some of the Monets, van Goghs, Picassos, eventually finding some of Andy Warhol's well-known Campbell's Soup pop art.

On Saturday, we were keen to check out the farmer's markets at Union Square on what was a gorgeous and warm day. Here we had heaps of fun trying and purchasing some of the best and freshest local New York/ New Jersey produce. Our favourite discovery was probably the hot apple cider (basically hot fresh-pressed apple juice), and we went home with organic whole milk, fresh artisan bread and cheese, local apples, organic yogurt, and some fresh local veg straight from the farmer. Yummmm...

Sunday turned out to be a winter 'heatwave', with temps up around 19 degrees. It was funny to see some New Yorkers making the most of the heat and getting around in shorts and Tshirts!! We had a quiet day, visiting a local church (Hillsong New York), doing laundry and a little Christmas shopping.

That evening, we took advantage of the warmer weather to do 'Top of the Rock', which is the viewing platform at the top of the Rockefeller Center. It was much more bearable than the top of the Empire State Building had been and the lights of the city were certainly dazzling and pretty. We could even see the Empire State Building dressed up in Christmas colours.

Following this, we were wide awake and ready to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere with the thousands of other people who were walking the streets and enjoying Christmas displays and lights. Streets were blocked off for pedestrians, there were NYPD cops everywhere directing people and traffic, and street carts selling all sorts of delicious smelling food. Everything felt alive, buzzing, and heaps of fun!

Our last stop for the night was the much-anticipated Nintendo World. Liam and Beth were both extremely happy to finally visit this most exciting shop. There were game consoles to play everywhere, as well as plenty of merchandise to consider taking home as a souvenir. (Sadly, the shop closed about 5 minutes after we went inside, so we had to plan a return visit another day).

 

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New York... Remembering 9/11

A trip to New York these days is hardly complete without a visit to the 9/11 Memorial, and it was on our list of places to see, too. Before our visit, we tried to explain to the kids about the events of that day to help them understand why it was so important for us to go and see. In the 'Preview Site', where we collected our visitor passes, we showed them the pictures on the wall that roughly outlined the events of that morning. It may have been a little hard for them to understand, but to us it brought back many memories, and for me I couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed with emotion... Here we were, at the actual place where the two tall buildings used to stand and that planes crashed into, where they actually crashed to the ground, etc etc. I wondered about the buildings in the immediate area around the site: if they could speak, what stories would they tell us?

But upon entering the actual memorial site, it hardly felt like a place where tragedy had been. There is renewal, quiet (well, apart from the noise of construction that still goes on around the perimeter of the site), growth, the calming sounds of flowing water. It all feels peaceful, hopeful, honoring, ordered, and even in winter it's very, very pretty.

When you visit the memorial, you see the occasional white rose placed beside the name of a person who died that day. It signifies that today is their birthday... Every day, a white rose is placed beside those whose birthday it is. Even now, the thought of this special gesture brings tears to my eyes.

And then there is the new building, towering high above the memorial square, all shiny and new and very, very tall.

I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to visit this place in person and to see how it has moved forward after such terrible tragedy.

*************

Following our visit to the World Trade Centre, we took the subway uptown to Soho, where we made our way to the highly recommended Housing Works Bookstore. This turned out to be the discovery of the trip so far. Not only does this place stock hundreds of second-hand books that could pass as new and for just a few dollars, the look and atmosphere of the place is just how any good bookstore should be: oh so bookish! It's the sort of place you'd picture in the movies... Oh, wait, it HAS been used in movies! And weddings and other functions, too.

We spent a good hour or two here and didn't even realise we were hungry for lunch until we left and realised it was 2pm!

It was a late lunch we had at Nom Wah's Tea Parlor in Chinatown. As soon as we exited the subway, we could tell we were in Chinatown just by the smell of grease and deep fry oil. We'd heard Nom Wah's has been around since the 1920s and is very good, so headed there. We weren't disappointed (although admittedly we were starving and could have eaten anything) and all left with full, satisfied tummies.

 

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New York... 6th Day...

We packed a lot into this day...

Andy turns 40 in January and he decided to kick off the celebrations early by taking a helicopter flight over the city.

He had a fantastic time, despite it being rather short at about 15 minutes duration. He also managed to get some good shots of some of the sights:

Afterwards we hopped onto the Staten Island Ferry for what we thought would be a quick trip over to Staten Island and back in order to view the Statue of Liberty. We chatted to a New York man on the ferry who kindly gave us a $2 note and $1 coin, both of which are rather difficult to come across over here. We also managed to get some photos of the Statue...

...as well as some pics of some other cheeky monkeys!

After disembarking from the return trip, we headed for Grimaldi's for lunch, but soon discovered that to get to Grimaldi's, we'd have to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge first. We put aside our rumbling tummies and strolled across the bridge, enjoying the icon and all the views it provided of both Manhattan and Brooklyn.

We also noticed the many 'love locks' attached to various parts of the bridge.

When we finally reached Grimaldi's, it was after 2pm, and we were grateful to be seated at a table straight away. We ordered one large Grimaldi's pizza to share, and as Liam has already reported, it was very very good!

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New York - Day 5

Another day of snow showers...

Back to Times Square for some shopping. We were caught up by these familiar faces to pose for a photo, which, as it turned out, we had to pay a tip for!!

'Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes'...

We lunched in 'Bubba Gump Restaurant' right in Times Square, which originated in the Forrest Gump film from the 1990s, and we also visited Toys R Us, the Swatch shop, MM world and the Hershey's shop.

Later, we battled through the snow to visit the New York Public Library. This was an absolute haven on such a cold and bleak day. We entered right where the children's section is, and spent 3/4 of an hour in the warmth reading books. Bliss...

Our time in the Library was far too short, and the gift shop there was especially tempting. Perhaps, if there's time, we might try to make a second visit???

 

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New York: Day 4

Clear. Bright. Sunny.

It was the perfect day for using our Empire State Building passes and viewing New York as far as our eyes could see.

(And, as it turned out, for as long as we could stand the bitter winds and sub-zero temperatures at the top!)

It was so cold up on the viewing platform, which is open to the elements, that there was solid ice on the ledges! Brrr! But the views of this huge city were nothing short of spectacular.

It was with relief that we soon went back inside to thaw out!

After a little shopping, we stopped off at Times Square that evening to experience all the glitz and lights. By this time, the freezing temperatures we experienced at the top of the Empire State Building had now settled down on the streets, so after a few quick pics, we headed for home and warmth!

 

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Guest Post: by Beth in New York

This is my new watch that I got in a shop called Swatch. I really like it (especially the dogs)!

I got these three fingers painted in Toys R Us. In the bottle

of nail polish one side is nail polish and the other

is a special pen that can draw on the nail polish when it's wet.

I bought this gorilla in the Empire State Building. Her name is America.

In a shop there was a big display of cheese (like the one in the photo).

I thought it was weird that there was so much cheese.

In China Town we went to Nom Wah's Tea Parlor for lunch. It is an awesome

Chinese restaurant and has quick service.

These lobsters are alive! I knew because their eyes were moving.

 

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Guest Post: by Liam in New York

Hello there family and friends!

I have been living in New York about one week and if I have to put New York into two words they would be:

Amazing and Cold.

Of course that's really three words.

Although it is quite fun to be here... Especially if you want to be trapped inside a giant bubble:

Anyway, yesterday we went to the Empire State Building.

And this is one of the many views:

After we looked at the views, we went to the gift shop and I was quite surprised to see this Lego version of the Empire State Building right in the middle of the store. (The gorillas are so cute!)

The food is probably one of the best bits about New York.

Shirley, our Big Apple Greeter, told us to go to Grimaldi's for lunch one day...

AND IT WAS A GOOD THING SHE DID!!!!

It was, in fact, a bit too good! It was the best pizza I have ever had!

The hardest thing here to take a photo of is the Statue of Liberty.

Why? Because we only saw it twice: Staten Island ferry and from the top of the Empire State Building. You're either moving or very high and far away. It's still pretty though.

Anyway I enjoy New York and will enjoy blogging in Orlando!

 

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