12 Year Old Son’s First Visit to NYC
Dec 23rd, 2006, 03:29 PM
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12 Year Old Son’s First Visit to NYC
For several years, our youngest son has been pleading with us for a trip to New York City, as his older siblings have done before him. A week long business trip I had to the city in mid-December provided the opportunity for him to miss a day of school and fly to New York to meet me and spend the weekend there at the height of the Christmas season. Since the trip was planned close to the last minute, we did not have the time (or the desire) to make reservations or plan a rigid itinerary. Therefore, I was resigned to potentially long waits or even not being able to see certain things. The following may be useful for other parents planning their pre-teens’ or early teenagers’ first visit to NYC.
Friday, Dec. 15
I decide to take public transportation rather than a cab from Midtown Manhattan to JFK to meet my son’s JetBlue flight that arrived at 11:30 a.m. I took a cab ($10) to Penn Station, the Long Island Rail Road to Jamaica Station ($5), and the Port Authority’s AirTrain from Jamaica to Kennedy ($5). Total trip time from hotel to JFK Terminal 6 baggage claim: 1 hour, 15 minutes. My son’s flight is on time, and he is accompanied to baggage claim by a JetBlue employee who, appropriately of course, checks my identification and has me sign a release before releasing custody.
Mom has prepacked all his stuff in a medium sized backpack so we don’t have to return to the hotel to drop anything off before the sightseeing begins. We grab a taxi to Grimaldi’s Pizza in Brooklyn almost under the south side of the Brooklyn Bridge - www.grimaldis.com . He devours the delicious thin-crust pizza and atmosphere and we walk a block to the Brooklyn waterfront to get the magnificent view of the bridge and lower Manhattan. We decide to walk over the bridge into Manhattan for his first introduction to the Big Apple. (cont'd)
Friday, Dec. 15
I decide to take public transportation rather than a cab from Midtown Manhattan to JFK to meet my son’s JetBlue flight that arrived at 11:30 a.m. I took a cab ($10) to Penn Station, the Long Island Rail Road to Jamaica Station ($5), and the Port Authority’s AirTrain from Jamaica to Kennedy ($5). Total trip time from hotel to JFK Terminal 6 baggage claim: 1 hour, 15 minutes. My son’s flight is on time, and he is accompanied to baggage claim by a JetBlue employee who, appropriately of course, checks my identification and has me sign a release before releasing custody.
Mom has prepacked all his stuff in a medium sized backpack so we don’t have to return to the hotel to drop anything off before the sightseeing begins. We grab a taxi to Grimaldi’s Pizza in Brooklyn almost under the south side of the Brooklyn Bridge - www.grimaldis.com . He devours the delicious thin-crust pizza and atmosphere and we walk a block to the Brooklyn waterfront to get the magnificent view of the bridge and lower Manhattan. We decide to walk over the bridge into Manhattan for his first introduction to the Big Apple. (cont'd)
Dec 23rd, 2006, 04:05 PM
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His reaction reassures me that this is a great way for a kid (or even an adult) to see the city for the first time. The temperature on the bridge is chilly, but the wind is light and Midtown is bathed in a light haze. He is eager to locate the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building that he’s seen dozens of times in pictures. He easily spots their distinctive silhouettes in the light fog, which makes them look even more imposing than usual. Under the first tower on the Brooklyn Bridge, we read the all the rusted plaques that detail the building of this remarkable structure and watch the traffic pass just feet below the wooden planks on the walkway. He wants to know where the Twins Towers stood, and I sadly point to the empty gap in the skyline and try to describe from my previous walks on the bridge how imposing they looked from even this far away.
As we leave the bridge and walk into Manhattan past City Hall, his eye is caught by the old Woolworth Building. From previous visits and a lay person’s interest in architecture, I know that it was designed by one of my favorite American architects, Cass Gilbert, and was for many years in the early 20th Century the tallest building in the world. I remembered its soaring gilded ceiling in the lobby from a visit maybe a decade ago, but unfortunately we can’t see it as the lobby is now closed to the public.
He wants to see the World Trade Center site, so we walk to the beautiful St. Paul’s Chapel and then walk the perimeter of the site, stopping at the World Financial Center food court for a Coke. Of course I can add nothing to the many moving words others have said about visiting the site, and my son is very somber during our walk. We then stroll to the Hudson waterfront to see view in the setting sun. He immediately spies the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and says these are the things he wants to see tomorrow. We walk back to City Hall and hop the No. 6 Subway (Green Line - $2 apiece) to the 51st Street stop and a short walk to our hotel – the Roger Smith Hotel at 47th and Lexington Ave. – for a brief respite before dinner and a show.
As we leave the bridge and walk into Manhattan past City Hall, his eye is caught by the old Woolworth Building. From previous visits and a lay person’s interest in architecture, I know that it was designed by one of my favorite American architects, Cass Gilbert, and was for many years in the early 20th Century the tallest building in the world. I remembered its soaring gilded ceiling in the lobby from a visit maybe a decade ago, but unfortunately we can’t see it as the lobby is now closed to the public.
He wants to see the World Trade Center site, so we walk to the beautiful St. Paul’s Chapel and then walk the perimeter of the site, stopping at the World Financial Center food court for a Coke. Of course I can add nothing to the many moving words others have said about visiting the site, and my son is very somber during our walk. We then stroll to the Hudson waterfront to see view in the setting sun. He immediately spies the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and says these are the things he wants to see tomorrow. We walk back to City Hall and hop the No. 6 Subway (Green Line - $2 apiece) to the 51st Street stop and a short walk to our hotel – the Roger Smith Hotel at 47th and Lexington Ave. – for a brief respite before dinner and a show.
Dec 23rd, 2006, 08:32 PM
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The Roger Smith, 501 Lexington, is a nice “European style” hotel I discovered on a previous business trip. Our room is reasonably large, by Manhattan standards, with two comfortable double beds and a nice bathroom ($299 per night, breakfast included). We’re on the fourth floor so the horns and car noise from Lexington Ave. are always apparent, but turning the fan on the window unit on the “high” setting largely drowns out the city noise sufficient to allow us to sleep soundly during our two nights there. We each take a brief nap, then are refreshed enough to head towards Broadway for dinner and a show. Ollie's Noodle Shop, 200B W. 44th St. conveniently across from the Schubert, hits the spot. It reminds us a little of Wagamama in London – high traffic, tasty Asian food served quickly and cheaply. We scarf meat dumplings, sesame chicken, mai fun noodles, chased by a Coke and a Ching Dao, and head to the performance.
Our seats at the Schubert are second row balcony, high above the stage, but the sound turns out to be great there. Young son and his older brother are big fans of Monty Python. Dad is less so, but we laugh pretty much non-stop at the string of silly Holy Grail skits. Much of the humor is a little risqué, and a surprising amount does not go over 12 year old son’s head, but I think most teenagers who have even a passing acquaintance with the Python crew would be thoroughly entertained by the show. I particularly enjoy the score, which is a send-up of Broadway musicals.
After the show, we make an obligatory but mercifully brief visit to the Toys “R” Us megastore at Times Square, though we are both still amazed by the giant Lego sculptures of the Statute of Liberty and the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings. A cold rain begins to fall as we walk back to our hotel. We duck into Rockefeller Center and exit by the giant Christmas tree. Although it is near midnight, a huge throng crowds around the tree and the skating rink. Young son is understandably thrilled by the spectacle. To top it off, Saks Fifth Avenue has a great sound-and-light show with giant snowflakes illuminated on and off with a blaring techno version of Carol of the Bells, a fitting conclusion to son’s long first day in New York. After a good night's sleep in the comfortable Roger Smith beds, we're ready for Day 2.
Our seats at the Schubert are second row balcony, high above the stage, but the sound turns out to be great there. Young son and his older brother are big fans of Monty Python. Dad is less so, but we laugh pretty much non-stop at the string of silly Holy Grail skits. Much of the humor is a little risqué, and a surprising amount does not go over 12 year old son’s head, but I think most teenagers who have even a passing acquaintance with the Python crew would be thoroughly entertained by the show. I particularly enjoy the score, which is a send-up of Broadway musicals.
After the show, we make an obligatory but mercifully brief visit to the Toys “R” Us megastore at Times Square, though we are both still amazed by the giant Lego sculptures of the Statute of Liberty and the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings. A cold rain begins to fall as we walk back to our hotel. We duck into Rockefeller Center and exit by the giant Christmas tree. Although it is near midnight, a huge throng crowds around the tree and the skating rink. Young son is understandably thrilled by the spectacle. To top it off, Saks Fifth Avenue has a great sound-and-light show with giant snowflakes illuminated on and off with a blaring techno version of Carol of the Bells, a fitting conclusion to son’s long first day in New York. After a good night's sleep in the comfortable Roger Smith beds, we're ready for Day 2.
Look forward to day 2.
Dec 25th, 2006, 01:22 PM
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Sat. Dec. 16
I wanted to be up and out the door by 8:00 or 8:30, but we sleep in an extra hour, something we’ve almost never regretted doing when traveling with out kids. We breakfast in the Roger Smith’s small dining room, which offers a nice selection of breads, fruits, cereals, and beverages (wish they would add some hard boiled eggs to the mix). A “free” breakfast is not to be underestimated as a huge cost saver, especially for a large family. The morning has a wintry chill to it, but clear skies promise warmer temperatures later in the day. Because we’re now running behind in my mental schedule, we take a cab from the Roger Smith to Castle Clinton at the tip of Manhattan (about $12) instead of the subway. While my son thoroughly enjoys the subway, the cab of course is a much better way for him to see the city for a first time.
At Castle Clinton, the walled 19th century coastal fortification, we purchase our ferry tickets, including the audio tours at the Statue and Ellis Island (($17.50 with the audio guides for me, $10.50 with the guides for my son). Not surprisingly, the line through security to board the Circle Line ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is quite long (about an hour), but young son is a good conversationalist and we’ve had a busy falls with work and school, so we enjoy the focused one-on-one time together and the wait doesn’t seem too long.
Approaching the Liberty Island from the water in the cold breeze, and bundled, we can only imagine what immigrants felt and thought when they first saw the magnificent statue. I tell my son that though I didn’t realize it at the time, this was my first experience of America too. I was born in Europe while my parents were stationed there in the military occupation following World War II, and we returned to the U.S. by sailing from to New York harbor on a crowded troop transport ship. Though I’ve seen it before, the Statue and its history never fail to move me. Although we are way too late to reserve tickets to enter the Statue, when I learn from a park ranger that since 2001 no visitors have been allowed to climb the stairs within the statue itself I don’t feel that we’ve missed too much. The audio guide is well worth the money. There are eight stops around the base of the statue, and for both of us the commentary strikes just the right balance of interesting detail and brevity. Young son it completely absorbed in the story, and remarks on the large number of foreign visitors there. Indeed, it seems the vast majority of people we encounter are speaking different languages, attesting to the continuing attraction of the place to those from many walks of life.
We stop for a surprisingly good lunch at the food concession on the Island, and it is very reasonably priced (about $22 for the two of us) as well. Although my son is delighted by our visit to the Statue, I’ve never been to Ellis Island, so I have reservations about how interesting it will be to him.
I wanted to be up and out the door by 8:00 or 8:30, but we sleep in an extra hour, something we’ve almost never regretted doing when traveling with out kids. We breakfast in the Roger Smith’s small dining room, which offers a nice selection of breads, fruits, cereals, and beverages (wish they would add some hard boiled eggs to the mix). A “free” breakfast is not to be underestimated as a huge cost saver, especially for a large family. The morning has a wintry chill to it, but clear skies promise warmer temperatures later in the day. Because we’re now running behind in my mental schedule, we take a cab from the Roger Smith to Castle Clinton at the tip of Manhattan (about $12) instead of the subway. While my son thoroughly enjoys the subway, the cab of course is a much better way for him to see the city for a first time.
At Castle Clinton, the walled 19th century coastal fortification, we purchase our ferry tickets, including the audio tours at the Statue and Ellis Island (($17.50 with the audio guides for me, $10.50 with the guides for my son). Not surprisingly, the line through security to board the Circle Line ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is quite long (about an hour), but young son is a good conversationalist and we’ve had a busy falls with work and school, so we enjoy the focused one-on-one time together and the wait doesn’t seem too long.
Approaching the Liberty Island from the water in the cold breeze, and bundled, we can only imagine what immigrants felt and thought when they first saw the magnificent statue. I tell my son that though I didn’t realize it at the time, this was my first experience of America too. I was born in Europe while my parents were stationed there in the military occupation following World War II, and we returned to the U.S. by sailing from to New York harbor on a crowded troop transport ship. Though I’ve seen it before, the Statue and its history never fail to move me. Although we are way too late to reserve tickets to enter the Statue, when I learn from a park ranger that since 2001 no visitors have been allowed to climb the stairs within the statue itself I don’t feel that we’ve missed too much. The audio guide is well worth the money. There are eight stops around the base of the statue, and for both of us the commentary strikes just the right balance of interesting detail and brevity. Young son it completely absorbed in the story, and remarks on the large number of foreign visitors there. Indeed, it seems the vast majority of people we encounter are speaking different languages, attesting to the continuing attraction of the place to those from many walks of life.
We stop for a surprisingly good lunch at the food concession on the Island, and it is very reasonably priced (about $22 for the two of us) as well. Although my son is delighted by our visit to the Statue, I’ve never been to Ellis Island, so I have reservations about how interesting it will be to him.
Dec 25th, 2006, 06:33 PM
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Ellis Island is a highlight for both of us. I’m surprised how interested my son is in the immigrants’ story, but I attribute this once again to the well done audio guide, the National Park Service’s beautiful restoration of the Great Hall/Registry Room, and the logical order and quality of the exhibits. Coincidentally, a few days later after our return, we are watching the movie The Godfather, Part II. I had forgotten the part of the movie depicting the young Vito Correleone arriving at and being processed through Ellis Island. We repeat those scenes several times and my son now feels qualified to declare that they are quite authentic.
We left Castle Clinton at 10:00 a.m. and return on the ferry around 4:00 p.m. We agree that six hours is a reasonable amount of time to allocate to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The day before, while visiting the WTC site, we noted banners for the Museums of Lower Manhattan. One in particular – the Skyscraper Museum – caught our attention and knowing that it is only a couple of blocks north of Castle Clinton/Battery Park and closes at 6:00, my son wants to scope it out. As we walk north, we see at least twenty to thirty police cares lined up on a side street with their lights flashing. We’re intrigued by what is going on, but before we can ask, the cars zip away in single file.
The Skyscraper Museum is a modern, small museum occupying the bottom floors on the north side of the same building in which the Ritz Carlton Battery Park Hotel is located. (Interesting web site at: http://www.skyscraper.org/home_flash.htm .) It looks closed as we approach, but upon close inspection we realize there are a few people inside so we enter and I’m pleased with the very reasonable admission prices - $5 for me and $2.50 for my son The only exhibit on display in the museum is on its second floor: “GIANTS: The Twin Towers and the Twentieth Century,” devoted to the conception and construction of the World Trade Center. We spend the next two hours immersed in the numerous multimedia displays of this remarkable story, made even more poignant but the absence of any reference to the events of September 11, 2001. The exhbit will run until March 25, 2007 and we enthusiastically recommend it to any adults or teenagers who have an interest in architecture or the Twin Towers.
We take the No. 5 Lexington Avenue Express (Green Line) subway from Bowling Green and decide en route to disembark at Grand Central Station, for young son wants to see what it’s all about. It is in the full glory of holiday chaos, and he’s entranced by the frenetic energy of the place. We decide to stop for delicious bowls of spicy turkey chili at Manhattan Chili Co. on the Food Concourse – just right for the cold weather (about $12 for the two of us), then walk through the fabulous food hall at Grand Central Market. We have a small refrigerator in our room at the Roger Smith, so next time we’ll buy some food here to store in the room for snacks.
We wind down for a few minutes in the hotel room. Youngest son asks if we could go to another show, perhaps Les Miserables, which we understand returned to the Broadhurst Theater this fall for a limited run. I’ve seen it a couple of times before. He’s seen only the movie version of the musical’s highlights in school, but knows many of the songs. I tell him that it’s doubtful that on a Saturday night at the peak of the holiday season we can simply walk up a buy good tickets, but we can try as I’ve had luck with last minute purchases on other occasions. It’s already 7 o’clock, so we have to hustle/jog down long, crowded blocks to the Broadhurst. There is a long, discouraging line out front, but we realized the line to the will call window is open. I ask the cashier whether there have been any last minute returns. We’re in luck – two tickets on the third row, center left orchestra section! We buy immediately, and thirty minutes later we’re watching the performance, so close, younger son says “that we can see the actors spit when they sing.” This wasn’t the best Les Miz that I’ve seen, but he’s fascinated by the spectacle and mouths along the words for most of the tunes – a very special evening for him.
We walk home once again via Rockefeller Center and gawk another time at the Christmas tree and the Saks’ sound-and-light demonstration, this time without the cold rain. Thirty minutes later we’re back in the room, fast asleep after another great day in the big city.
We left Castle Clinton at 10:00 a.m. and return on the ferry around 4:00 p.m. We agree that six hours is a reasonable amount of time to allocate to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The day before, while visiting the WTC site, we noted banners for the Museums of Lower Manhattan. One in particular – the Skyscraper Museum – caught our attention and knowing that it is only a couple of blocks north of Castle Clinton/Battery Park and closes at 6:00, my son wants to scope it out. As we walk north, we see at least twenty to thirty police cares lined up on a side street with their lights flashing. We’re intrigued by what is going on, but before we can ask, the cars zip away in single file.
The Skyscraper Museum is a modern, small museum occupying the bottom floors on the north side of the same building in which the Ritz Carlton Battery Park Hotel is located. (Interesting web site at: http://www.skyscraper.org/home_flash.htm .) It looks closed as we approach, but upon close inspection we realize there are a few people inside so we enter and I’m pleased with the very reasonable admission prices - $5 for me and $2.50 for my son The only exhibit on display in the museum is on its second floor: “GIANTS: The Twin Towers and the Twentieth Century,” devoted to the conception and construction of the World Trade Center. We spend the next two hours immersed in the numerous multimedia displays of this remarkable story, made even more poignant but the absence of any reference to the events of September 11, 2001. The exhbit will run until March 25, 2007 and we enthusiastically recommend it to any adults or teenagers who have an interest in architecture or the Twin Towers.
We take the No. 5 Lexington Avenue Express (Green Line) subway from Bowling Green and decide en route to disembark at Grand Central Station, for young son wants to see what it’s all about. It is in the full glory of holiday chaos, and he’s entranced by the frenetic energy of the place. We decide to stop for delicious bowls of spicy turkey chili at Manhattan Chili Co. on the Food Concourse – just right for the cold weather (about $12 for the two of us), then walk through the fabulous food hall at Grand Central Market. We have a small refrigerator in our room at the Roger Smith, so next time we’ll buy some food here to store in the room for snacks.
We wind down for a few minutes in the hotel room. Youngest son asks if we could go to another show, perhaps Les Miserables, which we understand returned to the Broadhurst Theater this fall for a limited run. I’ve seen it a couple of times before. He’s seen only the movie version of the musical’s highlights in school, but knows many of the songs. I tell him that it’s doubtful that on a Saturday night at the peak of the holiday season we can simply walk up a buy good tickets, but we can try as I’ve had luck with last minute purchases on other occasions. It’s already 7 o’clock, so we have to hustle/jog down long, crowded blocks to the Broadhurst. There is a long, discouraging line out front, but we realized the line to the will call window is open. I ask the cashier whether there have been any last minute returns. We’re in luck – two tickets on the third row, center left orchestra section! We buy immediately, and thirty minutes later we’re watching the performance, so close, younger son says “that we can see the actors spit when they sing.” This wasn’t the best Les Miz that I’ve seen, but he’s fascinated by the spectacle and mouths along the words for most of the tunes – a very special evening for him.
We walk home once again via Rockefeller Center and gawk another time at the Christmas tree and the Saks’ sound-and-light demonstration, this time without the cold rain. Thirty minutes later we’re back in the room, fast asleep after another great day in the big city.
Dec 26th, 2006, 04:07 AM
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=D>
Glad to hear you liked the Skyscraper museum. I'd heard it wasn't very good and that the website was better. http://skyscrapermuseum.org/
I guess it depends on the exhibit.
Glad to hear you liked the Skyscraper museum. I'd heard it wasn't very good and that the website was better. http://skyscrapermuseum.org/
I guess it depends on the exhibit.
Dec 27th, 2006, 05:28 PM
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Thanks DebitNM, NeoPatrick, mclaurie, Margo_Chester, wliwl, mp, and Michelle NYC for your kind comments. I’m interested in your suggestions for what to do when youngest son makes his second trip to New York. One thing I wanted to do with him that I had done on a trip several years ago with my wife was to visit the reconstructed brownstone where Theodore Roosevelt was born at 28 East 20th, between Park Avenue and Broadway. Alas, not enough time on this trip.
Mclaurie, since we didn’t know what to expect at the Skyscraper Museum and assumed it was small, we had no reason to be disappointed. While I would not recommend making a special trip downtown to see it, our visit there fit in very nicely with our schedule and we enjoyed it, each of us moving through the various exhibits and displays at his own pace.
Now for the final day:
Sunday, Dec. 17
We sleep in a again and after another continental breakfast at the Roger Smith Hotel, young son wants to walk to the Empire State Building. We check out, store our bags with the bellman, and head south on Lexington Avenue. It’s blue skies and a remarkably mild day for New York in December. My son, long before this trip, has been fascinated with pictures of the Chrysler Building, and he has pointed it out each time, day or night, that we’ve left the hotel. Now he wants to see it up close. It’s a great day for photos so he takes some pretty good pictures of the tall tower. It is an amazingly graceful building, often overshadowed by all the attention the Empire State Building receives.
We walk down Lexington to 34th and head west. The Empire State Building looms magnificently in the late morning sunlight. I anticipate long lines late on a Sunday morning during the peak holiday season, and am not disappointed. It takes us about 90 minutes to go through the security, ticket, and elevator lines until we reach the top. We laugh about buying as a gag gift the Tony the Taxi Driver audio guide CD they are hawking at counters near the elevator waiting line. We easily pass the time with good conversation between the two of us, some of our fellow visitors, and playing the bowling game on my cell phone that young son teaches me.
I’ve been to the top of the ESB four or five other times, one notable time with my wife in the 1980s when we watched a spectacular late afternoon electrical storm move in from New Jersey before they cleared the decks, yet I’m never disappointed by the view regardless of the conditions. Today is a fine day to be up top with only a light, cool breeze, and youngest son is understandably wide-eyed with the view. We spend about 10 or 15 minutes on each of the four sides, picking out dozens of landmarks far below.
We then head for the Burger Joint in the Parker Meridien Hotel, 118 W. 57th, where my son wants to eat lunch based on his older brother’s positive review a couple of years earlier. On the way, we duck in to Macy’s to buy him a belt, since he forgot one. He’s been in big apartment stores before, but is astonished by the size of this one.
The burgers at the Burger Joint are as good as advertised, but the day is starting to get away from us. We have an 8:40 JetBlue flight out of JFK and it’s now 2:45 p.m., so are options are narrowing rapidly. He wants to see Central Park and go to the Natural History Museum. I ask which one he wants to see more. He spreads his thumb and forefinger about a half-inch apart indicating that he’d like to go to Central Park about that much more, so we’re off.
It’s a great winter day to be in the park with walkers, runners, skaters, bikers, street dancers, and saxophonists seemingly everywhere. We stop above Wollman Rink while the zamboni driver smoothes the ice, and then are both astonished at the numbers of skaters who flood the rink after he’s finished. It’s almost a human version of demolition derby on the ice, with skaters falling left and right and our wondering whether those skating behind can avoid a major pile up. We continue exploring the park, and he enjoys a guessing game we make up, trying to see how few clues he needs to guess the identities of the busts and statues of the famous that seem to be everywhere in the park. The sky begins to darken as we walk The Mall in the middle of the park, between 66th and 72nd Streets, to Bethesda Terrace. Loud techno music is blaring nearby, so we investigate and watch some fabulous street performers roller dancing to the music.
Now it’s dark and time to go. We walk through the park to the East Side and catch a subway to the Roger Smith to pick up our bags. Youngest son has had a great first visit to the Big Apple. Soon the bright lights of Manhattan are fading in the distance as the taxi zips us to JFK, but we’ll be back and hopefully soon.
Mclaurie, since we didn’t know what to expect at the Skyscraper Museum and assumed it was small, we had no reason to be disappointed. While I would not recommend making a special trip downtown to see it, our visit there fit in very nicely with our schedule and we enjoyed it, each of us moving through the various exhibits and displays at his own pace.
Now for the final day:
Sunday, Dec. 17
We sleep in a again and after another continental breakfast at the Roger Smith Hotel, young son wants to walk to the Empire State Building. We check out, store our bags with the bellman, and head south on Lexington Avenue. It’s blue skies and a remarkably mild day for New York in December. My son, long before this trip, has been fascinated with pictures of the Chrysler Building, and he has pointed it out each time, day or night, that we’ve left the hotel. Now he wants to see it up close. It’s a great day for photos so he takes some pretty good pictures of the tall tower. It is an amazingly graceful building, often overshadowed by all the attention the Empire State Building receives.
We walk down Lexington to 34th and head west. The Empire State Building looms magnificently in the late morning sunlight. I anticipate long lines late on a Sunday morning during the peak holiday season, and am not disappointed. It takes us about 90 minutes to go through the security, ticket, and elevator lines until we reach the top. We laugh about buying as a gag gift the Tony the Taxi Driver audio guide CD they are hawking at counters near the elevator waiting line. We easily pass the time with good conversation between the two of us, some of our fellow visitors, and playing the bowling game on my cell phone that young son teaches me.
I’ve been to the top of the ESB four or five other times, one notable time with my wife in the 1980s when we watched a spectacular late afternoon electrical storm move in from New Jersey before they cleared the decks, yet I’m never disappointed by the view regardless of the conditions. Today is a fine day to be up top with only a light, cool breeze, and youngest son is understandably wide-eyed with the view. We spend about 10 or 15 minutes on each of the four sides, picking out dozens of landmarks far below.
We then head for the Burger Joint in the Parker Meridien Hotel, 118 W. 57th, where my son wants to eat lunch based on his older brother’s positive review a couple of years earlier. On the way, we duck in to Macy’s to buy him a belt, since he forgot one. He’s been in big apartment stores before, but is astonished by the size of this one.
The burgers at the Burger Joint are as good as advertised, but the day is starting to get away from us. We have an 8:40 JetBlue flight out of JFK and it’s now 2:45 p.m., so are options are narrowing rapidly. He wants to see Central Park and go to the Natural History Museum. I ask which one he wants to see more. He spreads his thumb and forefinger about a half-inch apart indicating that he’d like to go to Central Park about that much more, so we’re off.
It’s a great winter day to be in the park with walkers, runners, skaters, bikers, street dancers, and saxophonists seemingly everywhere. We stop above Wollman Rink while the zamboni driver smoothes the ice, and then are both astonished at the numbers of skaters who flood the rink after he’s finished. It’s almost a human version of demolition derby on the ice, with skaters falling left and right and our wondering whether those skating behind can avoid a major pile up. We continue exploring the park, and he enjoys a guessing game we make up, trying to see how few clues he needs to guess the identities of the busts and statues of the famous that seem to be everywhere in the park. The sky begins to darken as we walk The Mall in the middle of the park, between 66th and 72nd Streets, to Bethesda Terrace. Loud techno music is blaring nearby, so we investigate and watch some fabulous street performers roller dancing to the music.
Now it’s dark and time to go. We walk through the park to the East Side and catch a subway to the Roger Smith to pick up our bags. Youngest son has had a great first visit to the Big Apple. Soon the bright lights of Manhattan are fading in the distance as the taxi zips us to JFK, but we’ll be back and hopefully soon.
Dec 27th, 2006, 05:46 PM
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What a terrific report - a real pleasure to read, thanks. For your next trip, I'd suggest the Tenement Museum, particularly since Ellis Island was so successful. The Lower East Side Museum and walk around the neighborhood will really resonate, particularly if he's seen Godfather II. (A stop at Laboratorio del Gelato, is always appreciated, too)
Your boy seems very interested in architecture - another great walk would be from the east village to the west village - comparing the tenements and the coldwater flats with the townhouses and great buildings of lower Fifth Avenue. And walking around NYU and all the shops and student hang-outs is great fun for teens.
Your boy seems very interested in architecture - another great walk would be from the east village to the west village - comparing the tenements and the coldwater flats with the townhouses and great buildings of lower Fifth Avenue. And walking around NYU and all the shops and student hang-outs is great fun for teens.
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