New York Trip: Part Three

Day Four

On the west side of Manhattan there are some old elevated railroad tracks that have been turned into a public park, called the High Line.  We started off our morning walking along the path, which is about a mile long.  Besides Central Park, I thought this was one of the prettiest areas we saw in New York.  I loved the contrast of all the big buildings in the background with all of the greenery, and the landscaping was amazing. 

In some areas the plants are growing right in the old railroad ties.

Cool benches for resting. 

If I lived near here, I would want to come read a book here every morning.

Pretty flowers.  Empire State building in the background.

The High Line also commissions temporary art and sculpture exhibits to be put up in different areas throughout the park.  I loved how this one looked, with the flowers in front of it, and the graffiti on the building in the background (I don’t think that was commissioned).                              

Here is another fun one – the High Line Zoo. 

After the High Line, we walked to the subway.  Here is Daniel in front of Madison Square Garden.

We found another Grimaldi’s pizza place on 6th street, but it wasn’t open for lunch yet, so while we waited, we shopped around and got little presents to take home for all the kids.  I don’t know if it was just because it was Saturday, or what, but the whole street was shut down and full of little tents and booths and fun things to buy. 

Then we had pizza at Grimaldi’s for lunch, and it really was as good as they say.  We were pretty glad we didn’t wait in line for 2 hours at the Brooklyn location – there was no wait here.

Walking to the Empire State Building:

When we were looking up things to do on our trip, some people said that it wasn’t worth it to wait in the long lines at the Empire State Building, and they recommended just going to the Top of the Rock observation deck at Rockefeller Center.  We ended up doing both, and I’m so glad we didn’t skip the Empire State Building (even though the lines were long).

For one, it’s just neat to be there.

Also, it’s in a really good location for seeing all the areas of Manhattan.  We got our tickets through City Pass, and it came with a free headset audio tour – I thought I wouldn’t use it, but it was actually really helpful and interesting.  There were little signs with numbers out on the observation deck, and if you pressed the matching number on your headset, a recording would come on that told you exactly what you were looking at, and a little bit about the area. I was glad we had decided to come up during the day, so we could actually see where everything was.

Here is the view looking south (and a little bit west), toward Lower Manhattan and the Hudson River.  You can see Liberty Island (with the Statue of Liberty) and Ellis Island in the background. 

I like this one, because I had the hood on the camera to block the sun, and it made it look like a little peephole.  Like you’re looking through the little hole in your door to see who knocked, and there’s New York!

Brooklyn Bridge:

Looking north.  You can see Central Park up there towards the top:

After the Empire State Building, we took the subway up to the Museum of Natural History.  We hadn’t planned on going there, but tickets came with our city pass, and we had extra time.  Plus, our kids love the Night at the Museum movies, so we knew we had to get a picture of this dinosaur:

They have amazing animal exhibits:

And more masks for Cindy to love:

And this giant head:                 

After the museum we had a few hours before our dinner reservations, so we decided to explore Central Park some more.  I know I already said this, but I really love Central Park. 

I just can’t believe how huge it is.  I always knew it was big, but I imagined it still with one main grassy area, maybe one lake, and then tons of trees. And maybe one scary area where they find the dead bodies in Law and Order. 

But really, there are so many different areas.  You could spend hours walking around, and still not see the whole thing.  We decided to just explore the northern part before we had to catch a subway back to midtown for dinner.

We made it back to Midtown just in time for our dinner reservation at Trattoria Trecolori.  It is a fun little Italian place near Times Square, and we liked it a lot.  Our waiter was super intense – he was hustling and bustling around everywhere, and when we ordered, he would say, “oh, no – you don’t want that.  You want this and this and this.”  And he was right – I loved everything he recommended. 

After dinner we walked over to the Rockefeller Center.  We got our tickets to go to the Top of the Rock, but we had about an hour before it was time to go up, so we decided to walk back over to Times Square and hang out there for awhile.

Times Square is crazy.  It’s fun to just sit there and watch everyone.

Daniel talking on the phone to our kids.  They were doing just fine back at home with Grandma. 

Top of the Rock:

We thought it worked out perfectly to do the Empire State Building during the day so we could see the whole city, and then Top of the Rock at night, so we could have a good view of the Empire State Building when it was all it up.

I love how Central Park looks at night:

Another look back at Times Square before we went back to our hotel. 

End of day four.

 

Day Five

This was our last day in New York.  We had pretty much done everything we had planned on doing, so it was nice to have our schedule open.

We spent the morning at the MoMa (Museum of Modern Art).  Mostly we just wanted to see this:

And this:                                  

And these:

Next we walked up the Upper West Side to see the Dakota apartment building where John Lennon was shot.

We also saw the John Lennon memorial in Central Park.  I didn’t know this before, but the area of the park by where he lived is now called Strawberry Fields.  I think that’s one of Daniel’s favorite Beatles songs. 

We spent the rest of the morning walking through Central Park.

We saw this castle the first day we walked through the park, but we hadn’t stopped to take a picture, so I was glad we were able to see it again.  This time we went inside and climbed to the top.

The view from the top of the castle:

We finally said goodbye to Central Park, and took the subway back down to our hotel.  We ate lunch at a little café and then took a taxi over to the airport in Queens. 

Here’s the view from the airplane window as we were flying away:

It was a great trip.  I think we spent the perfect amount of time there, and saw what we wanted to see.  The funny thing about going to New York is that before you ever go you already know so much about it, because of how many movies and shows take place there.  Daniel and I were talking about it and realized that of all the cities we’ve been to, New York turned out to be the most exactly like what we thought it would be like.  You would think this would take away from the excitement of actually going, but it didn’t for me – instead it felt just right.  It’s exciting in movies and exciting in real life, because it’s just a really cool place. 

Thanks to my mom for taking such good care of the kids while we were gone.  We obviously couldn’t do these trips without her.  I am sad that I forgot to take a picture of her with all the kids before she flew back home.  The only one I have is this picture of her reading to Cynthia and Lizza the morning that we left for New York.  The kids loved having her here, and it always makes it easier for me to leave when I know they are in such good hands. 

The end.