NYC with Alivia and Mimi

We just got back from a really fun trip to NYC. I feel like I really understand the city more now than ever since I did all of the navigating while we were there. I really love visiting, but I have to say I was ready to come home. The constant noise, crowds and concrete get tiresome after awhile.

NYC - here we come!

On the flight - Southwest rocks! We had a direct flight from AUS - Newark

We stayed in the Doubletree Suites Hotel right in Times Square on Broadway and it was GREAT. We each had our own bed and there was a sitting room with a TV that allowed us to lounge and relax in the morning and gave us extra space.

Right outside our hotel!

View of Times Square

The first day we arrived around 3 pm so we hit the ground running! First we went to "Ellen's Stardust Diner" and had crummy food while listening to waiters sing with amazing voices! Usually the line is around the block but since we went during an off time we got right in which was good. Then we took the Subway to the Financial District and did a walking tour that was great. The guide book that I used was really helpful.

Walking through Rockefeller Center - always iconic NYC

Financial District Walking Tour

Stone Street - what NYC looked like in 1837

Fraunces Tavern - where Sons of Liberty met to plot how to evict the British

Another view of Fraunces Tavern


That night we made our way to Serendipity 3 for frozen hot chocolate. Not sure I would make the trek to this place again but it was fun for a one-time adventure.

The next day we got up early and headed to Battery Park to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I am so glad we got to head up into the crown. That was a highlight for me. Seeing the inside of Lady Liberty was really cool. I wish we had picked up the audio tour (my fault) right as we walked in because I think we missed some cool highlights without it. Although Alivia was never really into the audio tours!

Waiting for the cruise

View of Lady Liberty

We bought tickets through Statue Cruises - I'd do this again

Ellis Island. Fascinating place. We looked for Chima, Reisinger, Zipperian, Cochrane, and Curcean ancestry to no avail

Inside the Statue of Liberty

Gorgeous day!

Then we headed to Lower East Side for the Tenement Museum. Another highlight for me. This is such a great museum. We took the "Hard Times" tour and it just spoke to how hard life was to immigrants when they first arrived in this country.

After that we met a lame tour guide who showed us around SOHO and Chinatown but I would have much rather just gone on our own. He took us to a restaurant in Chinatown for dinner that was nothing special. I wish I could have chosen the place for us! I would not recommend anything like this in the future. He talked too much about architecture that we did not care about and we felt like we could not shop the way we wanted to which was a bummer. We never did see any purses underground in Chinatown! Ha ha!

View of Chinatown

Vegetable Dim Sum that Alivia really liked!

We had lovely desserts in Little Italy which Alivia loved, though. Instead of cabs, we always took either the Subway or Uber. Getting around really is a breeze in the city.

The next day we slept in and headed out to see the Empire State Building. We got Expresses Tickets (worth every penny) to skip the lines and rocket to the top. It was a beautiful day and we could see for miles. Another highlight for me! The city is awesome to see from a birds-eye view. We bought extra passes to go up to the 102nd floor but you can't go outside on that floor, so it's not worth it. Next time, just buy the tickets that let you go outside and leave it at that.

We headed to the New York Public Library and looked around briefly. Alivia kept asking "where are all of the books?" as they seem to be hidden away. The building is massive and does not really seem like a library - more like a large museum of sorts. I would have liked to take a tour but having Alivia along curtailed some of the extra tours and such. We then walked a bit further to reach Grand Central Station where we had lunch at the "Oyster Bar." The food was just OK but it was nice to have a sit down restaurant to serve us. Once again we got a seat right away which was really nice. After that we breezed through the American Girl Doll store, but it was a little anti-climactic since Alivia is not really into AG anymore. The vignettes are still really fun to see though.

See Mimi and Alivia walking to the library?

Iconic lions in front of the library

Grand Central Station shadowed by the MetLife building

Oyster Bar inside Grand Central Station

AG store!

AG Store!

St Patrick's Cathedral

We were all so tired at this point - Mimi sat down and closed her eyes at one point in the church

We were all so tired after lunch. . . .we headed home to NAP.

After wonderful naps, we got up and headed to a French dinner at "Le Parisian". It was fun to go to a true local, neighborhood restaurant. The food was pretty good. The restaurant was TINY. I got escargot that was excellent and Alivia couldn't believe they were snails! There were even shells on the plate. :-) The desserts were fun to sample, too.

On day #3 we slept in late. We also lost an hour due to daylight savings time which was a bummer, too! We made our way to a precious, local tea place called "Alice's Tea Cup". They initially told us it would be an hour late, but it actually turned out to only be about a 15 minute wait! The food was yummy and it was fun to have high tea for brunch.

After that we headed to Central Park and strolled along there until we got to the Museum of Natural History. This place is MAMMOTH.  I had planned for us to take an "overview" tour at :15 past the hour. We got there around 1:20, so I thought "no problem - we will just take the next tour." Well, there were NO MORE TOURS that day. I was so bummed. That meant I was utterly unprepared to guide us through this place. It is very poorly marked (although there is tons of staff to ask) but even finding the restrooms proved to be frustrating and annoying. We saw some highlights on our own (dinosaur bones, dioramas, iMax movie on National Parks) but overall, I had really wished we could have had a guided tour. I know we did not get as much as we could have out of that museum.

Next, we were debating between catching a horse and carriage ride (which was about 20 blocks away) or using Citibikes and riding through the park. Alivia was VERY apprehensive when she read that she needed to be 18 years old to ride them. My little rules follower was going to have none of us riding anyway. So I had to force her! The bike was really big for her so we did our best to never stop once we started going, but it was a blast to ride one large loop twice - we passed the Dairy, Tavern on the Green, and lots of others with dogs, walking, riding, etc. It was another highlight for me!

How she really felt about it. :-)

One of my favorite pics from the trip - walking along Central Park

After we returned our bikes, we ended up walking back to the hotel which was about 20 blocks! But the weather was so nice and it was short blocks. We grabbed a Coke and pretzel along the way. Once we got back to the hotel we quickly changed our clothes and headed to see "Matilda" at the Shubert Theater. I am so glad I read the book beforehand and got a hearing assist device - both of these improved my experience tremendously. We had EXCELLENT seats - literally right in the middle of the theater. They were perfect!

Mom had to get a pic in front of her Presidential hopeful's building

After this we were dog-tired, but headed to Jon's Pizza for pretty good pizza with an excellent arugala salad.

Jon's Pizza

The next day we slept in and packed up to go. Howie's Limo (quirky man that loves to talk a lot) picked us up at 11:30 and we headed to Newark Airport for our Southwest direct flight home (highly recommend a direct flight!)

Alivia's favorite tourist trap - the M&M Store in Times Square!

While we were there the weather was AMAZING. It really enhanced our trip. The day we left was cold and rainy and I was so thankful we did not have to put up with rain while we were there.

See you in a few years NYC!!!