The Grand Tour...Day 28 NYC

charly77 · 11 Apr 17, 04:05 PM

We headed out early today to the 'Red Flame Diner', being the nice mum I am I let the kids have waffles and ice cream for breakfast! I had bacon, eggs and hash browns and DH had similar but with more meat.

We walked back through Times Square as it's nice and quiet early in the morning! Saw some morning TV being filmed so we hung around for a bit, a country band performed who were actually very good think they were called Old Dominion, we spotted ourselves on the TV screens as the cameras panned round.

Rather than walk we jumped on a subway today and got off at Wall Street and took photos of the Chasing Bull.

We had tickets for the 9/11 museum for 10.30am but first paid our respects at the memorial pools.

The Survivor tree...

After entering the museum we had to go through security which was effortless but it wasn't overly busy, I imagine it will be very different on a busy day. We were told to put our backpack in a locker, which was fine but around the museum many people still had theirs so not sure why we were told to do that?

The museum was very well done, lots of information which was respectfully shown, as adults we knew most of it but for the kids they read it first hand and saw evidence of that awful day which I think shocked them. We were there for around 2.5 hours, when we left we all felt we needed some space to just reflect on what we had just seen. DS had lots of questions, he was actually born the day after it happened so finds it very significant.

We grabbed a coffee and went and sat in the sunshine at Battery Park admiring the Hudson views. A group of older men were playing volleyball, not quite Olympic style but fun to watch. Think it was good to see that people still get on with life in NYC even after the 9/11, the kids found solace in that I think.

Once we felt ready we walked over to the Freedom Tower, One World Observatory. When we visited in 2014 this wasn't yet open so I'm glad we've had the opportunity to visit New York again to be able to experience it.

I don't want to spoil too much but honestly if you're visiting NYC you have to get tickets to here, amazing isn't even a good enough word to sum it up. From start to finish it was just fantastic, marvellous, breathtakingly wonderful... It was all the little details that had been so thought through. Just a fab experience and the views...Wow!

From here we had a wander over to Westfield, World Trade Centre. As fantastic as this shopping centre was, it got very stressful. We wanted something to eat and even though there were signs we never actually found anywhere... in the end we headed to the subway which was underneath and by chance found a Dunkin Donut shop so grab a snack before hanger took over! Here I experienced my first cronut, O M G! So good...

We popped back to the apartment for a freshen up then we hit Times Square for some shopping...DD bought loads! She got a Superdry coat for $69, back home it was £250! So some bargains were had!

For dinner we thought we'd try five napkin burger in the Hells Kitchen area, I tried fish tacos whilst everyone else had burgers. The food was nice, service was okay but it was very expensive.

We thought maybe we'd go to the cinema to see Ghostbusters but DS really didn't want to and again it would have been quite pricey so we didn't go! Instead we experienced Carlos Bakery, The Cake Boss, the cakes looked amazing and surprisingly enough weren’t overly expensive.

The format here is that you grab a ticket, they call your number you order your cakes, pay then wait for them. A good set up but it’s so busy and everyone queues along the display units so you can’t see everything on offer and then the staff get annoyed waiting for you to order! It was a long process but we got there in the end! I had the Red Velvet cupcake, DD a carrot cake cupcake and the boys had cannoli’s, they were all very tasty.

Steps today; 19,558

Floors climbed; 27

*Tip of the day* Visit One World Observatory!

Melbatb · 11 Apr 17, 07:13 PM

You packed a lot in.

We didn't go to the museum as DD aged 12 would have found it too sad. The pools were enough for her. I think it is hard for the kids to understand why (hard for us too I guess)!

Jake71 · 21 Apr 17, 04:41 PM

I always find people's visits to the 9/11 memorial and museum very moving and that's just from the photos.

disney owl · 12 Aug 17, 09:51 PM

great photos

11 Apr 17, 04:05 PM	#1
	11 Apr 17, 04:05 PM charly77 Very Serious Dibber
charly77 Very Serious Dibber Join Date: Feb 08	The Grand Tour...Day 28 NYC We headed out early today to the 'Red Flame Diner', being the nice mum I am I let the kids have waffles and ice cream for breakfast! I had bacon, eggs and hash browns and DH had similar but with more meat. We walked back through Times Square as it's nice and quiet early in the morning! Saw some morning TV being filmed so we hung around for a bit, a country band performed who were actually very good think they were called Old Dominion, we spotted ourselves on the TV screens as the cameras panned round. Rather than walk we jumped on a subway today and got off at Wall Street and took photos of the Chasing Bull. We had tickets for the 9/11 museum for 10.30am but first paid our respects at the memorial pools. The Survivor tree... After entering the museum we had to go through security which was effortless but it wasn't overly busy, I imagine it will be very different on a busy day. We were told to put our backpack in a locker, which was fine but around the museum many people still had theirs so not sure why we were told to do that? The museum was very well done, lots of information which was respectfully shown, as adults we knew most of it but for the kids they read it first hand and saw evidence of that awful day which I think shocked them. We were there for around 2.5 hours, when we left we all felt we needed some space to just reflect on what we had just seen. DS had lots of questions, he was actually born the day after it happened so finds it very significant. We grabbed a coffee and went and sat in the sunshine at Battery Park admiring the Hudson views. A group of older men were playing volleyball, not quite Olympic style but fun to watch. Think it was good to see that people still get on with life in NYC even after the 9/11, the kids found solace in that I think. Once we felt ready we walked over to the Freedom Tower, One World Observatory. When we visited in 2014 this wasn't yet open so I'm glad we've had the opportunity to visit New York again to be able to experience it. I don't want to spoil too much but honestly if you're visiting NYC you have to get tickets to here, amazing isn't even a good enough word to sum it up. From start to finish it was just fantastic, marvellous, breathtakingly wonderful... It was all the little details that had been so thought through. Just a fab experience and the views...Wow! From here we had a wander over to Westfield, World Trade Centre. As fantastic as this shopping centre was, it got very stressful. We wanted something to eat and even though there were signs we never actually found anywhere... in the end we headed to the subway which was underneath and by chance found a Dunkin Donut shop so grab a snack before hanger took over! Here I experienced my first cronut, O M G! So good... We popped back to the apartment for a freshen up then we hit Times Square for some shopping...DD bought loads! She got a Superdry coat for $69, back home it was £250! So some bargains were had! For dinner we thought we'd try five napkin burger in the Hells Kitchen area, I tried fish tacos whilst everyone else had burgers. The food was nice, service was okay but it was very expensive. We thought maybe we'd go to the cinema to see Ghostbusters but DS really didn't want to and again it would have been quite pricey so we didn't go! Instead we experienced Carlos Bakery, The Cake Boss, the cakes looked amazing and surprisingly enough weren’t overly expensive. The format here is that you grab a ticket, they call your number you order your cakes, pay then wait for them. A good set up but it’s so busy and everyone queues along the display units so you can’t see everything on offer and then the staff get annoyed waiting for you to order! It was a long process but we got there in the end! I had the Red Velvet cupcake, DD a carrot cake cupcake and the boys had cannoli’s, they were all very tasty. Steps today; 19,558 Floors climbed; 27 *Tip of the day* Visit One World Observatory! __________________ Whistle-stop Tour Of Copenhagen Feb 2017 The Grand Tour (West to East trip) 2016 The 'Bombshell' Trip to NYC @ Christmas 2014 Trip report, Our first time to WDW Sept/Oct '08;