First Trip With Our Princesses April 2012 - Day 18 - Exploring NYC: Open-Top Bus, St Paul's, AMNH

[moosha]

Day 18 - Tuesday 24th April 2012 - Exploring NYC: Open Top Bus Tour, St Paul's Chapel, Natural History Museum, Chimpanzee

This morning we had breakfast at Pergola, the sandwich shop / cafe a couple of doors down from the hotel on West 40th Street. A lot of locals seem to get their breakfast / lunch there, and we soon found out why: the coffee, juice, bagels and pastries were all excellent. We sat in and enjoyed our breakfast in the warm, watching all the Midtown office workers coming and going. The girls were able to have cereal and milk there and were very happy about that

All fed and watered, our first stop this morning was Times Square to collect our pre-purchased tickets for the open top bus tour. We had researched a couple of sightseeing bus companies and decided on City Sights NY for three reasons: 1. we liked their tour options and prices, 2. we preferred their blue buses to some of the other companies' red ones and 3. all seating on their buses is upstairs and un-covered. This seemed like a real benefit until we arrived in New York and were confronted with shocking weather. We had booked 72 hour tickets and had planned to use the buses as a hop-on / hop-off way of getting about the city as an alternative to the Subway as we'd see the sights while getting from A to B

We were directed to the bus stop around the corner with our tickets. We were second in the queue for the first bus of the morning, which I think was at 8.30 am. It was ridiculously cold waiting for the bus and obviously the appeal of sitting upstairs on an open-top bus had worn off. We had to wait about ten minutes for the bus and when it arrived there was some serious pushing and queue jumping from the other American and European families who had arrived at the bus stop after us and had to be reminded by the tour guide that there was enough room on the bus for everyone :angry:

The tour guide was excellent, he was a proud New Yorker and his commentary was very informative. It was just such a shame that it was so cold sat up there on the top deck. The seats on the bus were also wet for some reason so we had wet bottoms. Though we were enjoying the sights and the commentary, it was far from pleasant being so cold and windswept. About half way through our journey downtown, the tour guide beckoned Freya and I to move to the front of the bus as it was slightly more sheltered. Freya was shivering and he was very concerned, bless him

Freya before the novelty wore off and she started shivering:



Here is our fab tour guide on the left:



We learnt some interesting things about Manhattan from our guide and took some good photos



Seren was not amused that her earphones didn't work and so she couldn't listen to the guide



Mat noticed this sign in a coffee shop window...



... and took this arty shot of some street signs



As we travelled downtown, the guide told us about his experience on the morning of 9/11 as his apartment was close to the World Trade Center and he saw the towers burning from his home. He also talked about how the city has changed since then. He said New Yorkers had become more compassionate and had learnt to appreciate the city more since 9/11, but that they were convinced that it would happen again, they just didn't know when

Our plan this morning was to visit Ground Zero. We got off the bus at the Woolworth Building (explaining to Seren that this was the building used at the end of Enchanted - a film we all love.) There was a Starbucks at the bottom of the building so we went in to thaw out and warm up with a coffee

On the bus, the guide had talked to us about St Paul's Chapel which was where the rescue and recovery workers had been based for eight months after 9/11. He said it was a place everyone should visit. We had read about the church in one of our guidebooks and it had been on 'the list' so it was to be our first stop. The church is right opposite Ground Zero so was an obvious place for the 9/11 rescue efforts to be based

As I have already mentioned elsewhere in my report, we were in Florida on our honeymoon on September 11th 2001, and having witnessing the whole horrific experience and aftermath in America, we were very affected by it. As I have also said, New York is our favourite city in the world, and we feel like we have a real affinity with the place. I cannot watch any footage of 9/11 without getting upset. But for some reason I wasn't prepared for how unbelievably sad visiting St Paul's Chapel would be. As soon as we walked in, I started to feel emotional, the place definitely has an atmosphere. The chapel itself has been cleared of pews now (the volunteers had used them as beds during the rescue efforts) and so now it is a mainly empty space with a few displays such as artwork from schools, flags, photos and other artefacts. I was in tears as I walked around the displays. Mat had taken the girls to look at some other bits and pieces and I was glad to just be alone for a few minutes to pay my respects and take it all in. By far the saddest part was a small board with tributes to individuals that were lost, like all those 'missing' posters that were put up at the time. I am getting choked up just remembering it, nearly a year later. It was just incredibly sad. The last thing we looked at was a video documenting what went on at St Paul's in those weeks and months after 9/11. It was fascinating and I felt very humbled to be in that building where amazing examples of humanity had taken place

When we had watched the whole documentary, we went outside to look at the Liberty Bell which had been a gift from the Mayor of London and Archbishop of Canterbury on the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The bell is rung on the anniversary of the attacks, and also when there were attacks in the likes of London and Madrid



After buying a fascinating souvenir book, we left St Paul's feeling very sombre. Ground Zero itself is obviously not Ground Zero anymore, as it had been when we came in 2005, and it was good to see the redevelopment



We wanted to visit the fountains that had recently opened on the site of the twin towers, but a quick look on the internet told us that only a limited amount of tickets were available for each day and needed to be purchased in advance. We decided to try and buy tickets for another day and to take a subway train uptown. We caught the C train from Fulton...



... to 81st Street to visit the American Museum of Natural History, reasoning that after doing something for Mummy and Daddy this morning, it was time to do something that the girls would enjoy. Plus, the museum was indoors and tickets were included in our City Pass

First stop at the museum was the food court where Mat and the girls had sandwiches and I had a salad. Crisps and cakes were also consumed to keep us going and then we headed up to the dinosaur exhibit. We spent quite a while looking at the dinosaurs



I think I read that this is the largest collection of dinosaur remains anywhere in the world. For me, there's only a limited number of dinosaur bones I can look at before I switch off, but Mat and Seren were really interested. Freya was too for a while, but being only four, her attention span was shorter. We moved on to the animals which was much more up Freya's street. The displays were very impressive. It's quite creepy looking at dead stuffed animals when you think about it, but it does give you a chance to have a very good look at them because they're not moving about which was very interesting. We saw the North American mammals, African mammals, small mammals, and some of the birds, and then having been in the museum for about three hours, we decided it was time to head back out into the cold

We had a walk around the Upper West Side and took some photos of some of the gorgeous Brownstones (I love them and would never get bored of wandering around the residential streets)









We popped into a second hand bookshop that was 'on the list' and Mat bought a couple of books. They didn't have much in the way of children's books so we also visited a nearby Barnes and Noble so the girls could sit down and have a little read. We find bookshops are great rest-stops when we're walking around cities, we do the same in London. The girls love books, so they were in their element in the massive children's department at B&N. We bought them a book each while we were there and then went on our way to Alice's Tea Cup which was on 'the list'

Continued below...

[moosha]

...continued

There are four branches of Alice's in the city. They are basically British style tea rooms with proper tea, lots of cakes, sandwiches and mismatched china. It also seems to be targeted at young girls, with Alice In Wonderland murals on the walls, and the girls were given fairy wings to wear while we were there (not sure why they had them, but it certainly made them happy)



Mat, Seren and I enjoyed a good few cups of tea, I didn't realise how much I had been missing a good cuppa until then



We all had a cake too, I remember I had a big sickly cupcake, and Mat had a slice of some sort of cake that was his third choice as his first two choices had sold out . The tea room was very busy and there seemed to be only one poor girl serving, so service was pretty slow. Eventually we were all settled up and on our way again



We decided to walk down Broadway back towards the hotel as we were looking for a cinema. We wanted to watch the Disney Nature film Chimpanzee that had been advertised with a huge sand statue at Epcot. We didn't tell the girls what we were planning in case we weren't able to find anywhere. We were hoping to find a nice cinema around Columbus Circle as it's all very nice up there, but unfortunately we were in Times Square (as I've said, we're not big fans of Times Square) before we found a multiplex that was showing Chimpanzee. The girls were very excited when they realised what we were doing. The entire multiplex was pretty deserted on this Tuesday teatime, and there were only about ten people in our cinema. We got some drinks from the fountain (we only saw about two members of staff in the whole complex; tickets were from a machine, and drinks were from a fountain. They had lots of different Coke flavours available, Mat had orange Coke. I think I just had a diet or diet cherry as I have tastebuds .) It was lovely just to sit and chill out, and we all really enjoyed the film. I have never heard anything about Chimpanzee again since we came home so I'm not sure whether it ever actually came out here, but it was very good, definitely worth watching

When we left the cinema, we popped to John's Pizzeria on West 44th Street to get some pizzas to take home. We had been to the original John's on Bleecker Street on our last visit in 2005 and really enjoyed the pizza. The decor of the Times Square restaurant was completely different, much more modern and stylish which wasn't necessarily a positive thing, but we knew the pizza would be good anyway. We had to wait quite a while for the pizza, and I sat with the girls in the waiting area while Mat spoke with the young guy serving him for what seemed like ages. It was all very strange, the guy was chatting away to Mat for ages and I started to think maybe he was a bit dodgy and was maybe trying to sell something illegal as it was very much a one-sided conversation and Mat seemed a bit awkward. Eventually the pizzas were ready and we could escape. As soon as we got outside, I asked Mat what the guy had been saying. He was a poet who had come to New York for his art and was testing out his work on Mat, I guess assuming that he is a lover of culture and art. I think Mat quite enjoyed listening to him actually, a moment of high culture before we tucked into our pizza

The pizza itself was actually a bit of a disappointment. We didn't enjoy it as much as the one we'd had at Bleecker Street seven years before. I've since learnt that the two John's outlets are no longer run by the same people, which probably explains why we didn't like it as much. Although I've just done some googling and found that John's of Bleecker Street was shut down in December 2012 (I guess temporarily?) by the Department of Health due to poor hygiene standards including mice in the kitchen . Not sure what that says about us if we preferred the pizza there

I think it was about 9pm by the time we got the girls in to bed, which was a late night by our New York standards. And it was to be an early start the next morning. We were going to the Top of the Rock...exciting

Day 19 is here

[OllieT]

Super day, what troopers the girls are in the cold

[mick]

Busy day shame about the cold

[Lisa29]

What a great day.

What a shame about the cold. I imagine coming from Orlando didn't help and made you notice it even more.

[moosha]

Originally Posted by OllieT

Super day, what troopers the girls are in the cold

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Thanks, I don't think the girls even really noticed the cold most of the time (apart from the bus), we were the ones struggling with it

Originally Posted by mick

Busy day shame about the cold

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Yep, the good news is the sun came out on day 19, and it was slightly warmer

Originally Posted by Lisa29

What a great day.

What a shame about the cold. I imagine coming from Orlando didn't help and made you notice it even more.

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Yes, definitely. We probably wouldn't have felt so cold if we'd gone to New York from home, but having spent two weeks in the Florida sunshine, it was quite a shock

[collybird]

I am so impressed with how the girls have coped with NYC.

Like you and Matt it's our favourite city in the world and for a long time we've been convinced that when we have kids we'll have to sacrifice our trips there until they're older. You're proving me very wrong.

[moosha]

Originally Posted by collybird

I am so impressed with how the girls have coped with NYC.

Like you and Matt it's our favourite city in the world and for a long time we've been convinced that when we have kids we'll have to sacrifice our trips there until they're older. You're proving me very wrong.

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Great! The girls loved exploring New York, we had kind of acclimatised them by taking them on trips to London from when they were tiny. Getting children used to visiting cities from a young age really helps I think

There is so much for families to do in New York: museums, parks, playgrounds, theatre, shops, interesting buildings... we bought a book called 'Frommers New York City With Kids' which was great for ideas and family-friendly places to eat. It really reassured us that we weren't crazy taking a four and five year old to New York. We had such a good time that we booked to go back this Spring

[disney owl]

another good day apart from the cold weather

[moosha]

Originally Posted by disney owl

another good day apart from the cold weather

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Thanks Sue. Keep your fingers crossed that it'll be warmer for us when we go this May