NYC! Days 1 and 2

At the beginning of the year, I'd planned a trip to Japan for the last 2 weeks of November. I've always wanted to go. In the summer, however, I cancelled the trip. Because we'd be visiting all urban places in November, the trip sounded like more work than fun. When a friend told me there'd be an exhibit celebrating the 20th anniversary of the American publishing of Harry Potter in NYC in November, I decided that would be our substitute for Tokyo. We are here for 5 nights. Urban trips are a lot of work but they are also fun.. although they might be more fun for adults than kids.

On the first day, we walked 10 miles.

We took the subway

We walked along the Highline

We visited the Intrepid: a decommissioned aircraft carrier built for WW2. Years ago, when the aircraft carrier was decommissioned, it was put up for sale with the expectation it would be turned to scrap. A wealthy New York businessman thought it would make a great museum. He parked it on the lower west side of NYC. I was surprised the Intrepid got on of the Space Shuttles-- the training unit but that's more than Seattle got when they bid to host one of the shuttles.

One of two shooter seats for large anti-aircraft machine guns.. seems like a slice of hell to me but Jack liked it.

We then took a cab to the Tenement Museum on the lower east side. It turns out that in NYC walking and taking a cab take about the same amount of time. Before the Tenement Museum, we went to a famous Jewish food/culture restaurant called Russ and Daughters. The restaurant is owned by a 4th generation member of the family and started in the early 1900's. I thought that since we'd arrive around 230, we'd be able to get in for lunch pretty easily. I've also learned the lunch hour in NYC starts at 2. Ryan thinks it's because so many people work with businesses on the west coast so they don't start work until 10. I think there are 1.6 million people who live in the 22 square miles of Manhattan and then 1.6 million more tourists who are there at any given time. NYC is popular so there are lines.

It was worth the wait though. We had bagels and smoked salmon and matzah ball soup among other things. Great food.. this is one of the reasons for 1.6 million tourists.

The tenement museum was interesting for us but pretty boring for the kids. You have to sign up for a tour and the shortest one was 90 minutes. The kids did a good job but Jack asked the tour guide many times when the tour would end. No pictures allowed.

We headed back to our hotel's wine and cheese hour and then onto an Italian food court where we had gelato and canoli. 

Day 2 started with a trip (by taxi when we should have taken the subway) to the NYC Historical Society for the Harry Potter exhibit. It was great.. They have some of JK Rowling's original notebooks where she wrote HP in long hand. The books are such a phenomenon that it's hard to imagine these ideas just leapt out of someone's brain onto a piece of paper.

We walked through Central park to the upper east side where we walked into the lobby of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The kids were adamant that they didn't want to go in but I at least wanted them to see the lobby. Maybe they'll return as adults. We then walked to midtown through Central Park. We stopped at lots of playgrounds and enjoyed the nice weather.

Alice in Wonderland statue

Sonia throws leaves when I snap the picture. Jack shows you how he feels about walking around Central Park.

We walked down to midtown so Jack could visit the Nintendo store and Sonia could ice skate at Rockefeller center.

lots of Christmas decorations and so many people it was hard to walk on the streets.

Even walking two streets over from the Avenue of the Americas meant less people traffic. We headed back to the hotel. We walked 8 miles today.