New York City in late autumn!

Suz and I both love visiting New York City and every time we visit family in New Jersey we always try to make at least a few trips into the big city.

On this trip I went in on my own for the first visit, I had organised to have a “ride-along” with New York Police Department. This meant that I was going to get to experience what it was like working for the NYPD! I made my way to the 7th Precinct located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where my “ride-along” had been organised. I was handed a bulletproof vest and then sat in the back of the police cruise along with two officers. Throughout my experience we attended a number of small jobs, a potentially dangerous one (report of a male saying he had a gun aboard a subway train who turned out to be mentally unstable) and a final Domestic Violence job which had the potential to turn ugly but was handled perfectly by the officers. I had a blast throughout the “ride-along” and would love to try it again if I get another chance to.

A few days later Suz and I made a trip to the city together with both Xander and Eloise. Our first stop was the American Museum of Natural History. Here Xander was able to see large skeletons of dinosaurs and was able to not only tell us that his favourite is the Triceratops but he was also able to point out which dinosaur it was. After the dinosaurs we skimmed the rest of the museum as it’s an enormous place and would take hours and hours to properly see all that it has to offer. Xander’s favourite, besides the Dinosaurs was the Native American exhibition which he enjoyed watching…. Eloise just loved looking at birds!

After we finished inside the museum we made our way outside where we got some expensive food (Xander loved getting a giant pretzel) and then went for a stroll through Central Park for a while before we headed back into the madness of the NYC subway system.  It’s not that the subway system doesn’t work (it does), it’s just that when you’re travelling with two kids, a few bags and a stroller it gets really difficult as most stations are not wheelchair accessible. This means that the stroller has to be packed up and carried down the stairs….

We caught the subway to Rockefeller Centre where we observed the ice skating rink and the Christmas trees was in place, however not decorated (we believe they may wait until after Thanksgiving before this is done). On our way to Times Square we heard some music and saw a large group of people up the road and when we investigated we found a Veterans Day Parade in progress. Parades in the US are always fun to see so we stayed for a while.

We eventually made our way to Times Square where Xander and Eloise were mesmerised by all the bright lights and large signs. When Xander later found out that we were going inside a store that has nothing but M&M items, he was over the moon!

We eventually finished our day by walking to New York Penn Station where we caught the train back to New Jersey. We had a full day in NYC with the kids and both they and us were happy with what we managed to see and experience.

A few days later and Rene and I now headed into NYC and the Madison Square Garden to catch an NHL game between the New York Rangers and the St Louis Blues. We had great seats very close to the ice (thanks Rene) and were able to really appreciate the atmosphere. The match itself was also great, the Rangers took an early lead but the Blues kept scoring which made it a very exciting game with the right team winning it in the end (it’s always the right team when the Rangers win)!

Another few days later and Suz and I managed to get a day for ourselves in the city thanks to Zilia and Pär who looked after our little ones for us. As both Suz and I have seen and done many things in NYC in the past we tried to see and experience new places on this trip. To start with we made our way to the High Line. This is an disused railroad on the west side of Manhattan which has been redesigned as an elevated area with planted trees and artwork along it’s 2.3km walkway. It was great to walk “above” the city and get a whole new perspective of the city. At the conclusion of the High Line we found ourselves in the “Meatpacking District”. After a few obligatory stops at Magnolia Bakery and Joe’s Pizza we made our way to the World Trade Centre.

This was the first time we’ve been here since the site has been fully restored and we were both impressed over the serenity the twin reflecting pools offer. These are two large pools that sit where the Twin Towers once stood. While in the area we debated if we should visit the museum or the One World Trade Centre. In the end we picked the tower and were happy with our choice as it offered some amazing views over New York City and its surrounding suburbs.

We finished our day in Chinatown where we satisfied our craving for Asian food with some Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) and also stocked up on a few Asian groceries.

The next time we visited NYC was to visit Broadway and The Book of Mormon. We knew that we wanted to see at least one Musical and decided to see this play as we’ve heard nothing but greatness from it. As we exited the Musical we could not agree more, the musical was witty, hilarious and featured some great songs and dance numbers. We did manage to squeeze in one more Musical before it was time for us to return to Australia and we decided to go big and watch the new production of Les Miserables. This is always a great musical to watch and this version was just as good as any in the past!

We managed to see and do a lot in New York City on this trip but always feel that there is more we could do. Well, I guess you have to leave somethings for future trips as well!