We drove from Boston to New York - The Empire State. It was only 3 1/2 hours, but as with all our driving, add in breaks, and lunch - it took us a lot of the day! We were pleasantly surprised with the traffic as we headed into New York. Phil had driven most of the way, but I ended up in the driver's seat as we headed into the city. We found our accommodation, in the Hell's Kitchen district of New York. It was a nice place, but it was very obvious that real estate is at a premium - it was the most we paid for a room on our whole trip, and it was the smallest! The two queen beds barely fit in the room, and there was only just enough space for our suitcases. We had a view a carpark out our window, and the cars were all stacked up like on the car trucks, on top of buildings - it was crazy.
On our first day in NY, we headed into Times Square, which was not far from us. It was about 8.30am and was the quietest we saw it the whole time we were there.
We decided to go for a walk, and headed up Fifth Avenue. Looking at all the shops was amazing, as most of the flagship stores were along here, for Guess, Saks, Gucchi, Lindt and Tiffany's. We went into Tiffany's, which was lovely to look, but didn't stay for long with our entourage! Along the way we stopped at St Patricks Church, which is a beautiful old church in the city, and it was being restored, so there was heaps of scaffolding around - but it was air conditioned, and a nice reprieve from the humidity outside!We made it all the way to FAO Schwarz, which is the biggest toy store, close to Central Park. It was lots of fun, and the boys were just in awe (as were we!) It had every toy, separated into boys and girls over 3 levels, and a candyland at the back. They had life size lego figures of Batman, Statue of Liberty and Skylanders, just to name a few. There was also the piano from the movie BIG, which the boys had a play on - until Ryan had a stack and hurt his ankle.
We left here and went across to Central Park, near the zoo. We had lunch at the Zoo, then went for a bit of a walk around the park. We had hardly gone anywhere, when the boys found this massive rock (as had a lot of other kids) and spent ages here, climbing with the NY skyline behind it.
It started to rain, and we headed back to our hotel - thinking it had a pool, but unfortunately, it didn't. I think it was the only place we stayed, that didn't! I tried to get a picture of the NY cabs, as they really are everywhere in the city!
The next day was our first adventure on the subway - we headed down to the 9/11 Memorial. You have to get 'free' tickets to enter the Memorial, but they ask for a donation of $5-$10 per person. It is then a short walk to the Memorial site, but there is a lot of security which you need to get through first. It is quite a process, and a lot of people. Once you get inside, it is just like a park, until you get to the waterfalls, and see the names of everyone who died on the Memorial. It is a very sombre atmosphere, as you would expect, but I think the security guards take their jobs a little too seriously. I got chastised as Quinn had his head in where it shouldn't have been (see in the picture below - he was where the lady has her hand, which is where the water comes out, so of course he is going to want to look there!), and then the boys got in trouble for running - it was all a bit much, so while it was a fitting remembrance site, I was happy to leave there.
The new World Trade Centre building
A closer look at the Memorial (there are two, one where each of the Twin Towers stood)
This is the 'Tree of Hope' - the only tree that survived after the attacks
We left there and then headed in the direction of the water, as we wanted to go and see 'Lady Liberty'. Ryan had learnt poems at school this year, and Lady Liberty was one of them, so he was really excited to see it, for real. On the way there, we found this park, so it was a nice distraction, and good fun for the boys to cool down. It was only around 27 degrees (80F), but it was almost 90% humidity, which was just draining!
