New York Vacation

On our New York trip we did all the tourist things. This is because my husband has done all the NON-tourist things many times when a close friend lived in NYC and he used to visit all the time. This was before I entered the picture and began making all his choices for him.

We kicked the trip off with a Circle Line ferry tour, which was beautiful. I recommend a 4 pm tour if you go, so you can see the city in daylight, sunset, and night - three for the price of one!

After our brief Philly detour, we returned to NYC for several more days. We had purchased City Passes, so we were on a tight museum-seeing schedule. We were across the block from the Museum of Modern Art. One-sentence review: I hope you like Picasso. Our trip also took us to the Guggenheim (One-sentence review: If you don't want your walls and floors to crack, consider more angles in your building construction) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (One-sentence review: Go ahead and buy a year's membership and just sleep in the lobby if you want to have time to adequately appreciate the art).

The Metroplitan Museum of Art - at night

We went to the American Museum of Natural History briefly. One sentence review: I've been to small-town science fairs with better exhibits and fewer grammatical errors in the informative placards. I honestly could not believe the lack of quality and interesting displays, and I think I was actually less-informed when I left. Don't waste your money here. You'd do better to buy a train ticket to DC and go to the Smithsonian for free.

Of course we did the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I realized while I was there that I always associate Lady Liberty with immigrants embarking on a new life, but that perception does not accurately reflect the meaning behind the statue. It was originally meant to celebrate the liberty we have in this country (really more in a military sense), but thanks to its location it became a symbol to the thousands who entered the USA by Ellis Island.

Central Park was lovely and we got a run in and a few walks.

And we braved frigid temperatures at the top of the Empire State Building one night.

I indulged my addiction to libraries and visited the famous lions. What a beautiful library this is!

Best of all I got to see autumn again! I've missed having four seasons!
Later, I'll review the City Passes we bought for our trip.