As a follow up to last years epic trip to Chicago and Nauvoo, we planned our 10 days of October break this year to be spent in New York. In an effort to go NATIVE, we rented an apartment in Gramercy Park with 4 bedroom 3 bath and a full kitchen. This was key. It was 1/2 the cost of staying in a hotel. We loved the space and the way we felt like the LOCALS, including morning runs for fresh fruit from street vendors and still hot bagels. Oh, and we were on the 27th floor of a 27 floor building. Truly the high life. Not sure all of the young, hip and active singles living around us had ever seen that many kids at once inside their building. We definitely made a presence!
7 days in the city. 1-2 days in Palmyra. 1 day in Buffalo visiting Niagara falls
and home from there.
7 days in the Big Apple held all sorts of opportunity for culture and unforgettable experiences. Just like in Chicago, we bought a City Pass which got us in to many of the main attractions. Among those we visited were the Empire State Bldg., Rockefeller Center, Ground Zero, Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Chelsea Square, St. Patrick's Cathederal, Central Park, Statue of Liberty and many others.
Touring is great but what I think we will all remember most are the sights, smells, tastes, and time spent together. Our culinary journey was nothing short of amazing. We ate more Italian food than any other. The pizza was literally the best we've had. We all loved the accessiblitly to what we liked. My favorite was the fresh salads made to order. Jess loved the pizza by the slice. Josh the hot and loaded dogs. Jack the pastries. Olivia loved the hot cocoa. Scot, well he liked it all!
Day one was exhausting as we tried to become accustomed to the time change. We didn't get to bed until 2 am and tried to get an early start on the day to get our systems
on East Coast time.
We figured we would go big right out of the gate and hit the tallest building in the city. Apparently we weren't the only ones with this great idea and we spent over an hour in line just to get to the elevators. Jesse made the comment "I thought we were in America" after seeing so many people from outside the U.S. After this long wait, the elevator only went to the 80th floor and if you wanted to get to the observation deck, you needed to get to the 86th floor. Tired of standing in line, we decided to climb the last 6 flights of stairs instead of waiting 20 minutes for the 2nd elevator. I (Denise) tore a muscle climbing those stairs that day. The view was worth it...I think.
Times Square
......... is chaos X 10!
I could not believe the amount of people. I glued Jack to my side!
We ended up here several times during our stay to shop and eat. The kids loved the Hershey store and FAO toy store with their indoor Ferris Wheel. It was Columbus Day and they had the Parade all day Monday through Times Square as well.
It brought even more people than normal.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art-MET
There were certain areas of this museum that were just amazing.
Everyone had their favorites.
Scot spent a bit of time in the Egyptian rooms, the boys loved the knights in full armor. Olivia wasn't that interested and I loved the sculptures and art. At one point as we were on the roof, there was a display of large metal items painted very bright colors. Jack looked at us and asked "Is that art?"
One of my favorite paintings by Seurat.
I (Denise) just loved this room! The sculptures were amazing! All I could hear running through my head was the music from Pride and Predudice. Some may think it provacative but it was just beautiful to me!
Oh, and the awkward pose reminds Scot of a High School Dance, minus the buff naked dude in the background.
The Museum of Natural History
We watched the most interesting movie on the stars and galaxy. Having a gospel perspective made the film that much more amazing, knowing that their are other worlds like ours and that this world is not the result of some random circumstances. Afterwards we went to the Space exhibit and realized that on certain planets we would weigh only about 10 pounds. Where is space travel when we need it?
The boys really liked the dinosaur exhibits. They were life size!
Scot and Josh posing as flamingos. Joshua's favorite animal. Hmmm.......
HONK, HONK!!! This city is 90% taxis. We had some "special" rides that were pretty unforgettable. It's truly an art to be able to drive those streets the way they do. WOW!
We survived!
We got around mostly by the subways which is an experience all its own. We loved going to Grand Central station and eating the yummy food or shopping the stores. I was so impressed by the kids ability to keep up. Jack especially. He never tired. We made many a train transfer and walked several miles a day. AND......Oh we slept soooo well. :0
By the end of the week everyone knew that we took the Number 6 Local train to 28th Street, exited to the Southeast Corner by McDonalds, walked three blocks down and one block over to our apartment. Amazing how adaptable kids are.
Sky Writer leaving a message to the members of Wall Street. In a city where people look at the sidewalk as they go about, nearly everyone was looking up
waiting to see the final message.
Central Park
For years, probably 25 plus, I (Scot) have been singing my favorite lyrics from Danke Schoen, as sung by Ferris in the shower in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "I recall Central Park in Fall, How you tore your dress, what a mess, I confess..." You can listen to it here. Well I finally had the chance to experience Central Park in Fall and it was beautifully serence. Sunday Afternoon at one of the greatest City Parks in the world was no letdown.
The Boys enjoyed crawling around the huge rock formations, while the ladies watched the row boats and carriages roll by, dreaming of some Elizabethan time when their man would
take them out
and speak poetry to them. I digress.
We came back several times because Jack just loved it!
He would say, "can we go to the park and play on the rocks".
Josh has a fascination with the Beatles so we went to see The Dakota, the apartment building where John Lennon lived and was murdered.
Amazing how many tourists come to this place of mourning.
Eating at BIG Nick's
This pizza place came highly recommended by some friends.
So we gave it a try and fell in love.
I (Denise) actually have a favorite calzone back at home that I love to get. It has spaghetti and ricotta cheese in it. Then you dip it in this divine marinara. WELL, I told the "big Nick's waiter" I wanted to create this amazing calzone. He looked at me a little funny and then went to the kitchen to explain how to make it to the chefs. They kept looking at me and then angrily talking. Finally they came out with the most delish calzone I have ever had! They were actually surprised at how good it looked. They said they were going to make themselves one and see for themselves. Scot told them to put it on the menu and call it the "Denise." Maybe next time we go we will find it on the menu! Jess said it was the best pizza he's ever had!
My cousin Amy and her family went back to New York about the same time and we got to saying how much it's like a huge MALL. There is so much shopping to be had.
Everywhere you go.
New World Trade Center is about 2/3rd's of the way complete. It is already huge. Finished height will be 1776 feet. Scot had a meeting right next door with the Director of Security over the reconstruction to discuss bringing his product to the contractors there. We'll wait and see...
This was actually a huge market that had an amazing selection of food to eat. It reminded us of a Whole Foods or Wegmans. Wegmans is a grocery store chain back East that is a dream. We had never even heard of it till we got back there. We ended up eating there a few times once we headed upstate. A family favorite for sure. I have pictures in part 2 that we'll share. I did get into a little trouble by the management for taking them. Oh well.
The Garbage
I actually hate to be negative but, I just could not believe how much garbage was everywhere we went. Scot kept reminding me of how many people there were . I get it. But, can't you make arrangements for more garbage trucks or the frequency of them? Also, the smell of sewage was prevalent. Every once in a while you'd get a whiff and about pass out. Ok...enough negativity.
Brooklyn Bridge
Scot really wanted to see this amazing engineering. He recently read a book about it's construction and determined that we needed to walk it's length to truly appreciate it. So we did. We just added 2 miles to our already 6 mile day! I think we looked forward to sitting on the subway that day!
Half way point.
Boat Tour
We headed out on this huge boat loaded with about 500 people, no joke. There was one guy at the front inside giving his stories as we went. I think it would have been interesting to hear but, since there were so many people and the fact that most of them didn't even speak the language, they didn't care what he was saying so they were just talking.
Oh well.
Right as we left the port to head to the Statue a group of jet skiers came by doing all sorts of tricks. it was really quite entertaining. I think they liked the audience.
Statue of Liberty
One of the best things about the trip was that we didn't feel rushed. We took 6 days on purpose. It gave us the time to hang together alot while seeing the sites.
This was a very fun day. We sat around a bit relaxing, boys wrestling, Olivia having fun with the camera and Mom and Dad just chilling. Dreaming of where we were to eat next. Yum!
Rockefeller Center
Amazing views.
Chelsea Square
A cute, quaint strip of eateries and shopping.
Just one of the many bakeries we walked through.
This guy was playing beautiful cello music while we ate our soup and sandwiches.
What a fun time to visit. Halloween was in full bloom!
This fish market.
The bread being made.
The smells were just incredible. Between culinary delights and fresh flowers it was a very pleasant place to hang out. Much different from the streets.
A cupcake shop we just had to try. WOW! Banana Cream, red velvet, red raspberry, and boston cream.
Ooh la la.......
Loved the variety. Isn't it just beautiful!!!
Anthropologie.
A must see in New York. The tile and design of lighting was so awesome. Olivia and I had to pay a visit. We could have spent hours here but, the boys were calling. We got our pics. Coming soon to a home near us? Maybe..........
St. Patrick's Cathedral
Joshua made the comment "it's really funny that they have built all this and their Church doesn't even have the truth. Good boy. As we were leaving some guy at the front of the cathedral starting screaming, as if a demon was being exorcised from him.
That was our cue to get a move on. We all walked out the doors, looked at each other and said "What was that?"
Magnolia Bakery...
One of our many stops to Grand Central station. Stopping to get a famous treat at Magnolia.
Cupcakes were divine. Hot cocoa too.
This was late one night heading back home from the musical "STOMP".
The play was fab! We have never laughed so hard.
The kids loved it. A very memorable day.
Another neat experience was visiting the ward in Manhattten. It was neat for our kids to see that the truth was somewhere in all that mix of caos. Great ward. Good people. We felt the spirit.
We also visited the Manhatten Temple. Beautiful enclosed building away from the noise of the world.
Part II is coming.......but, I do need to address Jesse and Jackson's Birthdays before
that portion will debut.
Busy times.......Great memories.
Love it!!!
1 comment:
WOW! someday (:
Olivia your hair looks amazing.....no wait, you look amazing in every shot!!
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