Last Saturday, August 6, 2016 my family and I took a day trip to NYC. I've been to NYC four times in the past few years. The first time we spent a lot of time around Time Square and Rockefeller Center. We watched a show called West Side Story. The next time we went we explored more fancy shopping, Trump Tower, FAO Schwarz toy store, the American Girl store, the Park Plaza and Central Park. The last two times we came to be in the audience of "America's Got Talent." We walked down Park Avenue, walked by the Empire State Building, and went to Madison Square Garden one time and another location the next time. We went to Macy's, and just had a lot of fun.
This time we decided to take the NY Subway and see more of the city. We arrived at 11 am at Grand Central Station, and left around 9:30 pm, but even in that time, we still only saw a few places. But it was a lot of fun, and as I took pictures throughout the day, I anticipated writing about my trip. The one thing that really stood out to me was the family spirit that was there. We came on a Saturday, whereas at least the past two times were on a weekday, so it seemed a lot less busy. There were bicyclists everywhere, and seemed like that is becoming a popular mode of transportation around the city. There seemed to be an actual event that day for bikers, and people of all ages were riding their bikes.
This first picture is in Milford, CT where we were about to get our 9:28 am train.
Here we are on the train, enjoying the express ride to NYC, which was still about an hour and a half ride by train. The kids had their cameras and phones to keep them busy. My husband and I did some crossword puzzles in an "old fashioned" book with an actual pen, not a stylus! ha ha!
Here we are as enter Grand Central Station at around 11 am. There are people everywhere. I still am amazed every time I come here, at how beautiful the architecture is, as well as so many old buildings in NYC. People used to take such craftsmanship and artistic style with anything that was built, with so much detail. I love it!
My Cinematic Arts daughter Rebecca is behind me. She was on a mission that day to get some great photographs and video. I can't wait to see her movie when it's done!
This is Park Ave. looking back at Grand Central Station. It's so beautiful!
There are a lot of fountains around NYC. In all the concrete, there were still some trees here and there, including on some roof tops. It's just amazing how many buildings and businesses there are in NYC.
Amazing how small Grand Central Station looks with all the tall buildings around it.
Lots of awnings and cute little "Mom and Pop" shops around NYC, such as this bake shop with lots of cupcakes in the window. My daughter was out to find a cute coffee shop.
Ooh! A Baptist Church in NYC - I was happy to see that!
First stop: lunch at Tasty Cafe. They had GREAT sandwiches! I had tuna...
...and my husband had chicken parmesan. It was one of his favorite parts of the day!
After lunch we started walking down the sidewalk and came across this American Academy of Dramatic Arts. There are many famous actors and actresses who went through this school, new and old, including Danny Devito.
On the walls there are many framed pictures of famous people who graduated from this school. We knew a lot of them from TV.
We loved seeing all the restaurants and coffee shops. Rebecca and I did the "unpardonable sin", buying a coolatta from Dunkin Donuts. Amanda was going to find a drink at an authentic NYC coffee shop.
There we go - Amanda found one!
This place had style; it looked like a great hang out for college students wanting to have a treat while they study.
Le Trapeze is an old NYC swingers club which has been permanently closed. I hear it was once a famous club. NYC has its share of immorality, but that wasn't the feel of NYC on the day we were there. It had a friendlier, family feeling.
Rocco Steakhouse's menu that was posted outside looked very expensive. As I looked back at it, I noticed the buildings in the background, which looked really cool, the way they looked "stacked" next to each other.
Here we are at Madison Square Park. It was a pretty park with a playground and little water park area. Again, a nice, family friendly feeling this day in NYC.
An authentic NYC pigeon!
Interesting artwork! There's a lot of culture and artwork throughout NYC. I really enjoyed it.
There were benches around and seating with tables near this concession stand. There were lights in the trees above the tables that must look really pretty at night!
Can you see the lights?
This is the famous flatiron building. It comes to a "point" here at the intersection, and the building widens as it follows along the two roads. From the top it looks like an iron!
Some authentic NYC music. He wouldn't likely get on America's Got Talent, but he was singing his heart out! There was a talented man singing and playing his guitar in one of the subways as well, which was really special.
That's the Empire State building in the distance. This crossroad is where Broadway and 5th Ave. intersect. When going down the highway and looking over at NYC or seeing it from an airplane, it looks so crowded, but it's interesting when you are walking down the streets how there is so much personality and space in between building after building...it's amazing how much is there!
This is just one example of the beautiful buildings and shops. We went in some stores, including Kate Spade, which made Amanda very happy! We also went into an art gallery that was free and open to the public. It was quite an experience to see the perspectives of the artists as they drew or painted the world around them.
Washington Square Park - this was also a beautiful park, and was fun to get a little wet.
There were also some guys providing some authentic NYC entertainment!
There were also playgrounds interspersed around, as well as basketball courts.
And what is more welcoming than an ice cream truck?
We jumped on the subway and went from Greenwich Village down to Trebeca. We got to see the World Trade Center memorials at Ground Zero.
I believe this tall building is the new World Trade Center.
It was sad looking at all the names carved into these memorials. Very sad, and hard to believe that the Twin Towers once stood here. There was another one on the other side of the museum where the other tower once stood. Hard to believe that occurred 15 years ago.
This appeared to be the new World Trade Center building. We saw another skyscraper under construction as well as some other construction in this area.
This is the Brookfield Mall, located across the street from the twin tower memorials. It was so beautiful! You can see that skyscraper going up across the way. There were wonderful views of the water in the windows behind me and on the other side of the lobby area. These balloons overhead looked like flying birds, and their wings moved.
That family in the forefront were getting ready for a surprise proposal, which we were able to witness as we were leaving after lunch! She said yes! Was so cool all the things that happened around us on that day of just walking through the city.
This was a view from the window where we ate at the food court; I had to zoom. I'm not sure if that is New Jersey, but appears to be a building for Colgate Toothpaste.
This is the view not zoomed. The Colgate building was all the way to my left.
Rebecca really loved this red balloon statue. The children loved running through the fountain...including my husband, who got his hair wet! It was so hot that this was really refreshing!
The Federal Office Building near the former Twin Towers.
I thought that really old building with the great architecture was so beautiful! It's surrounded by a lot of newer looking buildings, but none stood out to me like this old one.
This tall skyscraper was pretty cool, tho, with the mirrored windows. I can't get over how many businesses are located in this city. It's like 20 cities in one!
I loved the little newsstands! We had taken the subway back to the Central Park area, even though I wanted to go to Battery Park and see the Statue of Liberty, and Amanda wanted to check out Soho. Next time! We went to a juice bar and I got to try papaya juice - it was good! Then we had a long walk through Central park to get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was really cool!
I don't know what this building was, but it was gorgeous!
Central Park was beautiful!
Authentic NYC rats near the garbage! There had to have been at least 20 of them!
Another great family activity - boating in a lake in Central Park. So beautiful!
Raccoons! I never saw so many! There were probably about 15 of them!
There were rats crossing the walkway, as well as these raccoons. Everyone was respectful of nature and kept a safe distance.
Isn't that a beautiful picture?
People were sitting on blankets with the beauty of the city in the background. Some people were having picnics. While there is danger and sin in this city, I admired the good and the beautiful things I was seeing throughout the day. It depends on what you focus on, and where you choose to spend your time that will determine your impression and experience. Later when we were walking through another part of the city to get back to the subway, there were some pretty scary buildings that had bars on the windows and looked like places that would house sex traffickers.
This is at the east side of Central Park as you come out of it onto 5th Ave.
Another creepy yet beautiful old building in NYC.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Some of the remnants of Greece were amazing - I couldn't believe the detail put into their artwork!
Marble head of a satyr playing the double flute, from the Roman Imperial period 1st century A.D. I thought that was an interesting one!
The next room was from I think New Zealand or New Guinea, very different artwork from the Greeks, although for some reason many of the artists have a fantasy about naked bodies! So many rated X artwork! Ugh! These looked really creepy to me; not my favorites. Some of the other rooms had beautiful furniture and dishes, so much to see, but we only saw the tip of the iceberg compared with all that was there.
My favorite spot of the day, last but certainly not least, was the garden rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This was our main reason for coming, so Rebecca could get some good shots for her video. This was a magnificent view. Once the lights went on in those buildings in the distance, it was even more beautiful, but it was after these pictures that my battery died!
This seemed kind of random, but there was a haunted house looking prop up there.
That's Central Park, and we're looking Southwest.
It was like a party up there.
Looking south.
I thought the clouds looked really cool!
Literally in about 5 min. the lights came on, and it looked like twinkle lights - brought this city view to life!
After this we walked to the subway, about a 10 min. walk, and just made the 9:36 train back to Milford. It was a lot of walking that day, but a really fun time. I'm anxious to go back and see Tribeca/Soho and Wall St., and get a view of the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park. I hope you enjoyed experiencing this day with me. It was a lot of fun and a nice time with my family.
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