New York City trip

Wow. There are almost no words to describe New York City- it really is a city that never sleeps, and I am almost certain you could see or find anything you could ever think of within its limits. I consider myself to be reasonably well traveled, and I have been to lots of major U.S. cities, but nothing I have experienced has even come close to the Big Apple. It is, without a doubt, king of the hill, A number one.

Arrival:We arrived at La Guardia after a 4 hour delay to our quick, non stop flight up from Virginia. We stayed with our friend, Marne, who is working at a firm in the city for the summer. Her apartment was incredible- a spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bath that made me forget everything I'd ever heard about tiny NY apartments ( I think this was the exception!). She was so gracious to host us, and the location in the heart of Midtown, just blocks from Times Square, made our trip even more amazing. The girls were thrown off by our late arrival, so neither of them (and neither of us) slept that well the first night.

Day 1: Staten Island Ferry, Financial District, Little Italy and Chinatown

On our first morning, we set off for a full day of sightseeing with a bit of trepidation at navigating such an intense city. We easily got to the subway and quickly realized that all subway stations are not equipped for strollers or wheelchairs. No big deal- we just carried the girls (25 pounds of Caitlyn, 15 pounds of Lorelei, 25 pounds of stroller and all of our junk!) down the stairs, where Caitlyn promptly began to cry at the sights and sounds of the subway. She was fine after a minute and no longer afraid of the trains. Our first destination was the Staten Island ferry for a free cruise through NY harbor. It was a glorious day, and the skyline and Statue of Liberty were breathtaking. Caitlyn loved the sights, and she made a few friends on the boat.

After that, we hiked up to Wall Street and to Ground Zero. The observation area for the World Trade Center site is temporarily closed, but it was gut wrenching to see the wide open expanse of sky and turf right in the middle of so many buildings, and it took both Jason and I back to Sept. 11. I can't believe that was nearly 8 years ago.

We continued walking, just taking in the city and the sights, as we made our way to Little Italy. We stopped at a sidewalk cafe for the most delicious lunch of the trip. I am kind of a foodie, and my meal was perfect- penne, with lots of garlic, chicken, spinach and olive oil. YUM! We also had a giant cannoli for dessert, and then topped that off with amaretto gelato. I could have gone back every single day.

We did a quick run through Chinatown- I was happy to see it, and I was happy to leave it. The markets were interesting, but the smell was . . . pungent, to say the least, and the giant frogs, skinned ducks, finless sharks, flopping fish, and ensnared turtles were a bit much for me.

We took the subway back to Midtown, had a quick dinner at home and fell into bed!

Day 2: Times Square, Garment District, 5th Avenue

Today was our shopping day. We hit Times Square around 10

am, and shopped most of the day. We picked up some candy for the boys at the M&Ms store, explored every Barbie on the market at Toys R Us, and then I got to shop a bit at H&M, a store I loved when I was in Germany back in high school. We were overwhelmed by Macy's- an entire city block with 8 floors of STUFF. After that, we ambled up 5th Avenue and browsed in some of the famous label stores, stopping to look at the watches in Cartier (holy hell!) and jewelry at Tiffany and Co. I really wanted to find a small piece of jewelry, but the girls were restless and didn't give me much time to look around, which is probably a good thing!

The biggest hit of the day for stores was, surprise, surprise, The Disney Store. If you haven't noticed, we are Disney freaks, and the store was magical- true Disney pixie dust and GIANT like the other NYC stores. Caitlyn had already fallen in love with the Statue of Liberty, and she almost went ballistic at the sight of Minnie as the statue. We bought her a pin in the same theme to add to her Disney pin trading lanyard, and the cast member was so tickled at Caitlyn's reactions that she brought her a special Mickey pin, too. It was very sweet. Lorelei was taken in by the giant Eeyore, and she giggled her way through the stuffed animal section.

Our last store of the day was FAO Schwartz, the famous toy store. It was neat, but the highlight was when Caitlyn stood in the window, waving and blowing kisses to everyone who passed by. By this point in the trip, we'd noticed that New Yorkers rarely smile while they are walking, but Caitlyn thawed them out- they smiled, waved, blew kisses, etc. One grumpy business man, glaring at the world, softened when he saw her sweet greeting and pretended to catch her kiss before he blew one back. It was precious.

For dinner, we met our friend, Liza and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. It was great to introduce her to the girls and catch up on life. I met Liza in Oklahoma back in 2004, but we lost touch for a short time. For the last couple of years, we have just kept in touch by phone and email, so it was nice to visit in person!

And so ended another fabulous day!

Day 3: Museum of Natural History, Central Park

By this point, we'd discovered that sometimes it is easier to walk 15 blocks, rather than haul the stroller down to the subway, so we hadn't gone near the subway since Day 1. On this morning, we returned to the noisy depths of the city and rode up to the Upper West Side to go to the museum.

Our family loves museums, and we visit one on nearly every trip we take. We even have memberships to 2 or 3 different places, so of course, we had to see this! First, like everything else in the city, it's huge! There was no way to see everything in one day. Caitlyn loves the movie Night at the Museum, so her big requests were the Easter Island statue, Rexy the dinosaur and, of course, sharks. We saw all of those, explored the Hall of Human Origins (very well done and a big hit for Jason), toured the other big halls, and then we moved on to Central Park.

Central Park is gorgeous. There are tons of rocky outcroppings, lush lawns, gorgeous flower beds and tons of trees. It was an exceptionally nice spring day, and we meandered through the park, just trying to take it all in. We stopped to watch an amazing pair of performers- they tumbled, flipped over people, and had amazing strength and control.

Caitlyn and I rode the carousel, and I think it is the best ride I've ever had on one. It was dizzingly fast, almost with a feeling of flight. While Caitlyn and I shrieked our way through the ride, Jason and Lorelei played in the grass nearby.

Finally, we ended up at the zoo with just an hour before closing. It turned out that was plenty of time to see all of the animals (there really aren't many exhibits). The girls both liked the penguin area, despite the smell, and they fell asleep on the long walk back home. Just to give you an idea of the amount of walking we did- we walked 3 blocks over and 3 blocks up to get to the subway. We walked 7 blocks to get to the museum (at 79th). After wandering through Central Park to get to the zoo, we walked from 60th down to 45th to eat dinner, then 2 blocks up and 3 blocks over to get home . . . and this was not even our busiest day!

For dinner, Jason, Lorelei, and I stopped at a great little cafe while Caitlyn slept in the stroller. We had the best pizza, delicious drinks and a hefty piece of Heath toffee cheesecake.

Day 4: Ess A Bagel, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Toys R Us, Airport :(

Our last day was an early one since the girls got up at 6:15 after a full night of sleep! We treked over to Ess a Bagel since Marne told us they were worth the walk. Oh, were they ever! The bagels were perfect, and the selection of cream cheeses was enormous, made fresh right there. Since there were so many options, we ended up ordering 4 combinations (salt bagel with cheddar cream cheese, wheat bagel with blueberry cream cheese, cinnamon raisin bagel with chocolate chip cream cheese, and a plain bagel with plain cream cheese for Jason). They were very tasty, but I think all of us especially loved the raisin with chocolate chip cream cheese.

After breakfast, we hit the subway to the Upper East Side for the Met. We'd been apprehensive about taking the girls there, but we needn't have worried. Lorelei slept, and Caitlyn was entranced by the art. For a little girl who is not even 3, she has an incredible attention span and she is interested in almost everything. She liked looking at all of the paintings and sculptures, and she asked a lot of questions. One painting in particular, Massacre of the Innocents, caught her eye with its bright colors and realistic details. She and I must have looked at it for 5 minutes, and one of the docents even commented on her mature observations and focus. Part of our conversation went something like this:

C: "That's not a painting. It's a picture."

Me: "No, it looks like a picture, but it is a painting. Look at the brushstrokes- like when you paint. See the little lines?"

C: "Oh. But I love it. It is very beautiful."

Me: "Yep, it is pretty. Who do you think the people are?"

C: "There's a little girl like me, and her mama, and that's her friend, and there's a baby like Lorelei. But Daddy's not there. But who are those other people back there?"

Me: "Those people are not very nice, and they are hurting the nice people."

C: "Oh. That makes me sad. Is that why they are crying? That IS why they are crying. I don't want them to do that. I want to look keep looking at this one. This one is my best favorite."

And so it went, throughout the museum.

After the museum, we took the subway to Grand Central Terminal to see the ceiling and eat lunch. The constellations on the ceiling are magnificent, and the terminal certainly is grand and beautiful. While Caitlyn and I went to the restroom (yay big potty trained girl who did the whole city with no accidents!!!), Jason and Lorelei entertained the people seated next to us. Lorelei showed off "Touchdown!", her newest trick, and the girls lavished her with attention.

As we walked back to Marne's to wait for the car service, I asked Caitlyn one more time to ride the ferris wheel inside Toys R Us. Previously, she'd been afraid of it, but on our last day, she finally agreed. The ferris wheel really is something- 4 stories tall with each gondola decorated with a different toy. She ended up riding 2 times, once with each of us, and she beamed for both rides. She never was scared once she got on it, not even when we stopped at the very top. It was the perfect end to one of our best trips.

Whew, what a nice, long weekend (and a nice long recitation of what we did!). We had so many great experiences, and that is one more city we can cross off of our list of places to visit!