New York

On Monday we left our car at New Haven and caught the train for a 90 min. trip to New York City, suitcase in tow! We arrived at Grand Central Station and booked into our hotel which was conveniently located in Midtown close to Grand Central. No snow and lovely sunny weather while here, but still very cold. Jordan was a little sick with a fever but fortunately nothing a little Tylenol (Northern hemisphere Panadol) didn’t fix. Although it did slow us down somewhat having to piggy back him around New York occasionally.

So we set off to see the sights of New York City. Stumbled across Time Square after a glimpse of the Chrysler Building along the way and into Toys R Us where we spent a considerable amount of time while Ivan and the kids had a ride on the ferris wheel inside and perused the enormous Lego exhibits and the latest fads in toys. Next a walk to Broadway and a visit to Ripley’s Believe It or Not, while I checked out a few shops. Headed home after that and out to a Thai Restaurant for tea.

Next day we caught the subway to the Staten Island ferry for a view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and a few of the harbour sights. On return to Manhatten we walked to Little Italy and Chinatown seeing Wall St, The Wall Street Charging Bull (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charging_Bull), The Federal Courthouse, Ground Zero, Empire State building etc along the way. Kids were tired after all this walking so we headed back to the hotel for a take away dinner.

Wednesday we walked back to Time Square for a spot of souvenir shopping and to get some tickets to a show on Broadway. Saw a matinee of Grease which wasn’t our first choice but great nevertheless. Then we caught the subway to Uptown as Ivan was keen to see the Seinfeld district. We had dinner at Tom’s Restaurant which featured in many scenes of Seinfeld! Food was yuck though! (http://www.bigwaste.com/photos/ny/toms/) Then another subway home with some tired kids again.

Thursday we subbed it to the American Museum of Natural History where we did a tour of the main attractions as we would never have enough time to see the entire museum. You need about 3 days just to see that alone. (http://www.amnh.org/) We went outside for a glimpse of Central Park, which wasn't looking too special in the height of winter with no leaves or grass around. Back to our hotel to pick up our suitcase and catch the train back to New Haven, now with a slightly sick Ella as well.
We spent another lovely night with Kata and Peter before the slightly quicker journey home, bypassing scenic routes for the shortest route this time. Arrived home Saturday evening to a Barry’s Bay full of snow! Apparently they had nearly 18 inches the weekend we left. Thanks to our wonderful neighbours we had a nice clear driveway, path and porch so getting inside was no problem thankfully.