New York Part 1

A travel recap, my favourite to read and write!  I'm going to break this into two posts but they will be hefty, so thanks in advance for hanging with me.

We went to New York last Friday, the day after Halloween.  It was an early flight, but we made out just fine.  It really helps to know we can visit the Maple Leaf Lounge. 

Ready to go!

We decided to take transit into the city from LaGuardia - free bus shuttle to the subway, and then got a subway line to our hotel. Q was free and then the rest of us would tap a credit card to get through the gate and that worked out pretty well for our entire trip. 

We stayed at The Moxy Chelsea, a Marriott property at 28th St. and 6th Ave. We weren't able to check in so early but we did drop our bags off and set out to explore.

First we went to Ess-a-Bagel. They have a million choices for cream cheese, but they also put way too much on it! We had to scrape some off.  

We then walked over to the Empire State Building. 

And then over to the Public Library.  We had just watched the new Ghostbusters movie the night before where this lion was blasted.  So the kids were excited to see it in person.  

And we walked over to see Grand Central Station. 

You'll note we are in shorts and t-shirts, it was about 25 degrees Celsius (on November 1st!!!) but it was great for touring around.

So iconic.

We had to go to the Apple Store.

Then we went looking for a geocache. This was the first of many geocaches we went looking for in the city, it was a nice little activity to keep the kids interested and moving along.

We went over to Bryant Park and it was already set up for their winter market and ice skating.  I don't know how the ice was holding up in the heat but people were out there!  We watched some of the chess players, they were entertaining.

Next stop was Rockefeller Plaza.

Ice skating happening here too.

St. Patrick's Cathedral looked so nice in the sunlight.

The Lego Store was a huge hit.  They do a great job! And we bought something so their marketing works ;)

This is the staircase to the second floor.

We wanted to find somewhere to get a quick bite to eat but there was nothing suitable there.  

We took the subway back down to our hotel area and found a place there, not great though, we just got some French fries and a drink. 

Then we were able to check into our hotel. Typical small hotel room but had some cool features. 

We were on the 28th floor and had an amazing view of the Empire State Building. 

The hotel also had a rooftop bar so Dave and I went up there for a drink.  E was watching the live Fortnite event that actually had Snoop Dogg performing live in Times Square, we were mere blocks away! 

Unfortunately as we were finishing up our drinks E texted to tell us that Q had thrown up, oh no!! We aren't sure what happened, but he wasn't well enough to go out for dinner. So he and Dave stayed back and E and I went for dinner at Carmine's, where we had a reservation.  I had gone there before but it really is better suited for full families, not for two people, and here I was back with just two people.  We failed miserably at eating the family style portions, but we had fun anyway. 

It's a struggle!!

Q had a good night's sleep, and we also picked up some Tylenol for him, and the next day he was raring to go.  We decided to just get an easy breakfast at McDonalds before setting out.  Our hotel was on a street with these plant stores with plants lining the sidewalks. 

Our first stop that morning was The Edge, the highest outdoor observation deck in the city. We could not have asked for a more clear day.

I did not step out onto this clear floor, but the kids were fine with it!

This is the Vessel, you can walk up there too but we didn't do that. 

We found the start of the High Line and started walking.  It was significantly cooler on this day, but we stayed warm enough especially in the sunlight. 

We left the High Line around W 20th Street to find a geocache and get a coffee.

Good find!

We quickly walked through Chelsea Market.  I would have liked to spend more time but we had a lunch reservation to get to.  Q found a toque that matched his outfit so we bought it for him. And then we found some cool t-shirts for Dave and E.

Until next time Chelsea Market!

Love Greenwich Village!

Our lunch destination was Emily Pizza.  If you are an Armchair Expert pod listener you will have heard of the "Emily Burger" so I wanted to try it.   It was pretty amazing!! And so was the pizza but we had to take some of it home. 

Beautiful day at Washington Square Park (and more geocaches).

We headed back to the hotel after that and then I went to do a little shopping.  However I wasn't very successful at the Nordstrom Rack or Target, and I was too overwhelmed to go into the famous 34th Street Macy's.  But I did get some photos.

Because Q and Dave had missed out on Time Square the night before, we went back there that night.  As usual there was a lot going on, but particularly a Dia de los Muertos celebration. 

We went to the M and M store, but it was underwhelming.

Because we had leftover pizza from earlier in the day, we decided to just get a couple of items at Shake Shack and have a simple dinner in our room instead of going out. 

Good night New York.

I'll post our last two days tomorrow.