*Warning* this is a long post with lots of pictures and lots of info - most of which is for my own memory...
Brett parents flew in on Monday, Nov 21 evening. We picked them up from the Newark Airport and headed back home. Brett went to school the next day and the three of us just drove around the area checking things out.
On a side note, Brett's brother Brian and his wife Sher were supposed to fly in to NYC on Thanksgiving day and meet us in The Big Apple. Unfortunately, Sher's grandfather passed away on Monday night (Nov 21) and the funeral was on Saturday following Thanksgiving so they had to cancel their adventure to NYC. We sure missed them in the city/on the trip.
Wednesday
We left our house for the city around 11 am we had intentions of walking through Central Park for a few hours before checking into our apartment. However, with the parade happening the next day there was zero parking and the all of the lots were around $22 per hour! So we opted NOT to park and just drove around the park and on some of the streets that go through the park.
*We passed 77th street where they blow up the balloons for the parade and were able to see (from the car) some of the smaller balloons that were going to in the parade the next day.
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The Temple is 2 blocks from Central Park so we decided to at least drive past the temple and see if it was opened, the whole time we were driving there we were looking for a place to park along the street and did not have ANY luck. When we pulled up to the temple there was a spot literally right in front of it. How lucky?!?! I think it was meant to be. The Temple closed at noon for the holiday so it wasn't open when we got there but we did get to take some pictures and walk around the area around the temple.
*We saw
Lincoln Center/Square and then walked over to
Central Park and walked thru part of the park. We even saw the Elders in the Park! :)
*We had to check into the apartment we were staying in promptly at 3 pm. We were there 10 minutes before and waited for almost an hour! Grrr! But we got checked in and the place was lovely. We felt like true New Yorkers for a few days.
*We headed out to find some food and walked to
Grand Central Station, they have a food court(ish) thing there and we found a place Juniors to enjoy some good food. Sue and I had chicken dumpling soup and a half of a sandwich and the boys had Rueben-type sandwiches.
*We headed to
Times Square and walked around there for awhile - the only stores we went in were M&M and Hershey.
*Lastly, we saw the Broadway play
Memphis - which was amazing! Very good singing, very good story and great acting. We loved it!
Thursday
*Craig and I left at 6:45 am and walked 7 blocks straight down our street to view the
85th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with 3.5 million other people! It was
packed but it was worth it! Very fun! We got back to the apartment at 11:30 am, before the parade was over on TV (ended at 12 pm). We had a little nap and then headed to get some Thanksgiving dinner.
*Ate Thanksgiving dinner at no other place than
McDonald's! :) Yum....
*We took our first taxi to
Macey's but
Herald Square was still closed due to the parade still being cleaned up, we were not able to get close.
*We went in the
Empire State Building and walked around the first floor. We didn't go to the top because there was about a 2 hour wait.
*We walked to
Madison Square Garden
*Then up to
Times Square
*Then to the
Rockefeller Plaza where we saw
-Radio City
-Ice skating rink
-St Patrick's Cathedral
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| They were doing mass when we were there so we got to see the Bishop |
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| Rockefeller Plaza - angels, tree, and building |
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| Today Show Set |
-Top of the Rock (we went to the observation deck on the top floors of the Rockefeller Building) and saw spectacular views!
-Saks (they had decorated windows with a bubble theme)
-Boys went to find food (they ate at TGI Fridays on 5th Ave) and go home and the girls headed back to
Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes
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| Chandelier in Radio City |
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| Before the show - we had AWESOME seats |
*After the show, Sue and I walked home and on our way we decided to head up 5th Ave and check out some of the windows. We saw
Tiffany's, Trump Towers, and Bergdorf Goodman - they were very pretty. We got home (to the apt) at about 11:30 pm.
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| Tiffany Window |
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| Bergdorf Goodman Windows were a little strange but cool |
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| Tiffany's is the fist building and Trump Towers the darker building |
Friday
*Taxi to 9/11 Memorial
*St Paul's Cathedral - they have a memorial set up for the firefighters and rescue workers of 9-11
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| St Paul's Cathedral - you can tell it's literally across the street from the towers and it's amazing that there was no damage done to the church |
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| These were some the original flyers that were posted by people looking for loved ones lost in 9/11 |
*9/11 memorial
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| The new Freedom tower will stand at 1776 ft tall when it is finished - to represent the values that were attacked on 9/11 |
*Wall Street and the NY Stock Exchange
*Trinity Church
*Federal Building
*Pier 17 and took a water taxi that went over to Brooklyn. One the way over we saw BMW (the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges).
-Then the Statue Of Liberty
-Ellis Island (pics to come later)
-New Jersey Transit Center (pics to come later)
-Then up the Hudson River and saw the George Washington Bridge
-the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier
-where the plane crash landed into the Hudson River
-a Superyacht (1 of 10 currently on the water that costs over 350 million dollars)
-Battery Park (pics will follow)
*After seeing all of that we got off in Brooklyn and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge back Manhattan.
*City Hall
*Chinatown, where we ate a China buffet place that was a little on the questionable side but none of us got really sick so I think we got lucky.
*Canal Street - we didn't get any pictures, it's insane how crazy packed the streets are. We were focused on getting out of there and didn't get any pictures. The highlight of this street was a lady trying to sell Sue a scarf said "Usually 15 dollar but 10 for you, mama!"
*Took the Subway to 59th Street, where we saw Bloomingdale's windows and then went inside to visit the 8th floor where Santa's Workshop was located (not that impressive... so no pics)
*Boys went home and Sue and I headed to MOMA (the Museum of Modern Art) - we got in for free because they have Target Free Fridays from 4pm-8pm so we got to enjoy it for free :) There were lots of really cool things in there but these two were my favorite...
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| I would like a chandelier like this someday |
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| VanGogh's Starry Night |
*Took a taxi home at about 8:30 and were in for the night after a very long day!
Saturday
*Checked out at 9:30 am, drove to a new parking lot closer to the Temple
*Attended the 10:30 Endowment Session at the Manhanttan Temple
*Taxied to High Line Park, which is a converted high line railway system that has been converted into a walking trail. The old rail lines run along the sides of the path and it's very nice and relaxing. I believe that we had a record-breaking High for the weather temps that day and it was a beautiful day to be out! It felt like September
not the last week of November. I believe we were pushing 70's.
*Ate lunch at The Famigila Pizza - YUM! It was very tasty!
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| They take a picture of all the famous ppl that come into the store and I thought we should get a pic of the most important ppl that have been there.... |
*Walked up to Macy's and got a close look at the windows and then headed to the 8th floor to check our Santaland. I'm telling ya - Macy's really knows how to do Christmas. Everything there was A-MAZ-ING!
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| Windows were amazing! But the glare on them does not make for a good picture... |
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| Absolutely incredible |
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Santaland - Incredible decorations everywhere.
It really felt like we were in the middle of a winter wonderland |
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2 things to note from this picture: the incredible decorations
and the thousands of ppl in the store! |
*Then we took a taxi back to our car, left for home at about 5 pm and arrived back in CT at about 6:20.
*Then the boys watched the Aggie Football team win and become Bowl eligible for the first time since 1997, and then the b-ball team win against Idaho State.
We sure had some long days of sightseeing but it was a fabulous trip to the City!!!!
